FARGO, N.D. — The fathers of the Tampa 2 defensive philosophy are generally considered to be two giants in the NFL: Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin.
Last week, Kiffin died at the age of 84 and with it an incredible legacy. It’s a fraternity — Alpha Tampa Two-mega. Initiation comes in various forms but in the case of the Division I FCS excellence of North Dakota State University, it started with former head coach Craig Bohl and his Nebraska connection to Kiffin, also a Nebraska guy.
One Bison assistant, Zumbrota native Gus Bradley, picked up the scheme rather quickly. A reporter (me) walked down the hall during the winter of 2006 at the old Bison Sports Arena, when the NDSU football coaching staff was stuffed into small offices. Toward the end with a small window facing Dacotah Field was Bradley’s space.
“Hey, come in here,” he said. ADVERTISEMENT I walked in. “Shut the door,” he said in a sly sort of way.
I was intrigued. When you got the shut door request, something was up. Bradley went on to talk about how he traveled to Tampa, Fla.
, and had an interview with Kiffin. This was all on the down low, like almost all football coaching interviews are. He talked about how Kiffin continually grilled him on the Tampa 2 defense.
Questions apparently got quite complicated and intense. Then came the three words that told me Gus was not long for the college ranks. “I killed it,” the Zumbrota-Mazeppa High School graduate said in his enthusiastic tone.
If you know Gus, he .
