The year was 1990. I was in my first year of covering the Vikings for the Star Tribune, and I was trying to develop contacts around the NFL.

In those days of wide-open access and seemingly unlimited travel budgets, I could go pretty much anywhere there might be a good story.

So, when the Vikings played against the Giants in New Jersey, I asked to spend some time with then-Jets defensive coordinator Pete Carroll, a former Vikings assistant, favorite of Bud Grant's and a potential future Vikings head coach. In fact, he would finish second to Dennis Green when the Vikings made their next coaching hire in 1992.

I sat around Carroll's office, chatting with him, and a linebackers coach named Monte Kiffin joined in.

Kiffin died Thursday at 84. I would first cover Kiffin as a linebacker coach. He would go on to popularize the Tampa-2 defense, win a Super Bowl as a defensive coordinator under Tony Dungy with Tampa Bay, and become revered as one of the greatest assistant coaches in NFL history.

He belongs in the Hall of Fame, along with two other former Vikings assistants — Jerry Burns, who as Grant's offensive coordinator created a version of what would later become known as the West Coast offense, and Tom Moore, who ran the Colts offense when they won the Super Bowl.

To use a phrase from Kiffin's era, he was a firecracker. Energetic and passionate, he would draw up a play on the nearest scrap of paper if you asked, or even if you didn't.

He was the Vikings defensive coordinator in 1991 and their linebackers coach, when Dungy was hired to be defensive coordinator, in 1992.

After the '91 season, he called and asked me out to lunch, then thanked me for not being more critical of the coaching staff during Burns' last season, when the team finished 8-8.

We stayed in touch over the years, until I asked him over the phone about the controversial coaching antics of his son, Lane. Our relationship cooled after that.

What a football life Monte lived. He was drafted in the 15th round in 1964 and wound up playing for the Brooklyn (football) Dodgers, Toronto Rifles, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Vikings.

He would coach for 15 different college and pro teams, some in multiple roles.

He is a reminder that when the public blames a team's woes on a coordinator, it might be blaming one of the greatest ever to do the job.

When Lane played football as a child in Bloomington, Monte was known to offer unlimited free advice to his coaches.

We celebrate players who display their love for the game. Nobody loved football more than Kiffin. He loved the strategy. He loved the competition. He loved his players. He loved trading ideas with other coaches.

Kiffin's rise to prominence was hardly linear. His first coaching job was as a graduate assistant at Nebraska in 1966. His only head coaching job was at North Carolina State from 1980 to '82. He was a linebackers coach with four NFL teams before he got his first pro coordinating job, with the Vikings in 1991.

He was demoted when Green arrived and hired Dungy in 1992 to create one of the deepest coaching staffs in NFL history.

How about this lineup: Green as head coach, Dungy as defensive coordinator, Jack Burns as offensive coordinator, Moore as receivers coach, future Notre Dame head coach Ty Willingham as running backs coach, future Ravens head coach and Super Bowl winner Brian Billick as tight ends coach, the beloved offensive line coach John Michels, highly regarded veteran defensive line coach John Teerlinck, veteran special teams coach Tom Batta and future Raiders and Rams defensive coordinator Willie Shaw as secondary coach.

That staff turned the Vikings into an 11-win team that made the playoffs in 1992. Kiffin became Dungy's right-hand man, just as he was for Carroll in New York.

Maybe Kiffin would have succeeded as an NFL head coach, but successful coordinators tend to be different from head coaches. They get closer to their players and they have time to obsess over tiny details.

Kiffin became one of the greatest defensive coaches in NFL history. It's a shame the Hall of Fame doesn't honor more assistants. He and Moore belong in Canton.