The circle of life for a football coach can be interesting.
Guys find themselves at high-profile positions, and then sometimes as they age they revert back to support roles that earned them a big-time gig in the first place.
According to a report from The Associated Press’ Mark Long, the Jacksonville Jaguars have added long-time defensive guru Monte Kiffin as a defensive assistant.
Kiffin, now 76, spent time as the defensive coordinator at Arkansas in the pre-SEC days (1977-79), and was also the defensive coordinator at Tennessee in 2009 when his son, Lane, served as Vols head coach.
He followed his stop at Arkansas with a stint as head coach at North Carolina State, and spent nearly three decades as an NFL defensive coordinator before joining the SEC for a brief stay.
His latest role prior to Jacksonville was as a defensive assistant with the Dallas Cowboys.
Long also reports that former Vanderbilt offensive coordinator John Donovan will join the Jaguars staff as an offensive quality control coach.
Donovan oversaw some of the best seasons for the Commodores offense, helping Vanderbilt to 24 wins in three seasons from 2011-13 under former coach James Franklin. He was fired by Franklin in November after two seasons as the offensive coordinator at Penn State.
The Jaguars have added Monte Kiffin as defensive asst, John Benton as asst O-line coach & John Donovan as offensive quality control coach
— Mark Long (@APMarkLong) March 21, 2016
Nick Cole is a former print journalist with several years of experience covering the SEC. Born and raised in SEC country, he has taken in the game-day experience at all 14 stadiums.
