Mark Stoops vs. Lane Kiffin: Successful sons of the family business go head-to-head

One is about defense, the other about offense, but when seventh-ranked Kentucky plays 14th-ranked Ole Miss on Saturday at Oxford, the two head coaches have much in common.

Both are proud products of the family business. Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is the son of Monte Kiffin, the legendary defensive coordinator who won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the 2002 season. Lane’s brother Chris is the Cleveland Browns’ defensive line coach. Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops is the son of legendary Youngstown high school coach Ron Stoops Sr., the late father of three college head coaches — Mark at Kentucky; Bob, formerly at Oklahoma; Mike, formerly at Arizona and currently linebackers coach on Mark’s staff.

Both Stoops and Kiffin have built winning SEC programs at schools that have struggled to win. The three years before Kiffin, Ole Miss was 15-21. The Rebels are 19-8 since. The three years before Stoops, Kentucky was 13-24. The Wildcats are 63-53 since.

Last year, Ole Miss went 10-3, including 6-2 in the SEC, and played in the Sugar Bowl. Last year, Kentucky went 10-3, including 5-3 in the SEC, and played in the Citrus Bowl. This year, both are 4-0 and ranked.

Better still, this fall the two found something new to share. The 47-year-old Kiffin owns a reputation for being outspoken. Last month, the 55-year-old Stoops made headlines by publicly challenging John Calipari’s assertion that UK was a “basketball school.” Countered Stoops, “Basketball school? I thought we competed in the SEC?”

No doubt Kiffin and Stoops benefited from their backgrounds, but both paid their dues. Kiffin bounced around several head coaching jobs — including a year at Tennessee in the SEC before departing for Southern Cal — and was Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama before landing in Oxford. Stoops worked as a defensive coordinator for his brother at Arizona and Jimbo Fisher at Florida State before taking the reins at UK.

His lineage is defense, but Kiffin is an offensive whiz kid with a twist. His previous two Mississippi teams were pass-heavy — 62.1 percent of Ole Miss’ 2020 yards came through the air, 55.8 last season. So far this year, 57.5 percent of the Rebels’ yards have come via the ground.

And why not? The Rebels are fourth nationally in rushing yards per game at 280.75 and eighth in yards per rush at 5.79. They rushed for 262 yards vs. Troy; 233 vs. Central Arkansas; 316 vs. Georgia Tech and 308 last week vs. Tulsa. Kentucky’s team rushing high is 103 yards.

“With Lane, he adapts to the players that are around him, really always have,” Stoops said Monday. “I go back to the days competing against Lane way back when I’m at Arizona and he’s at USC. Much different style of offense and much different style of defense. Obviously, just a lot of respect for him and the way that he coaches and their aggressive nature.”

The respect is mutual.

“Coach Stoops has done an unbelievable job at a place that isn’t traditionally winning eight, nine, 10 games,” Kiffin said at SEC Media Days in July. “I always think that’s really cool and special when someone can do that. Like I said before, doing things better than they’ve been done before. I would think he’s probably in the best run of the school.”

So can Stoops’ defense stop Kiffin’s offense Saturday? As head coaches, the two have gone head-to-head just once. Ole Miss won a 42-41 shootout in Lexington in 2020. Kentucky boasts a better defense this time around. The Cats are sixth nationally in third-down defense; 11th in scoring defense and 17th in total defense.

Plus, under Stoops, the Cats have learned how to win on the road. From 2013-16, Kentucky was 2-14 in SEC road games. From 2017 through the 26-16 win at Florida on Sept. 10, Kentucky is 9-13. Success in Oxford would earn UK’s first back-to-back SEC road victories in the same season since Rich Brooks’ 2009 edition won three straight.

It won’t be easy, of course.

“We’re playing a very good Ole Miss team,” Stoops said Monday. “That we know.”

Is Kentucky football really a top-10 team? We’re about to find out.

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