For players and coaches in the NFL, the pinnacle of personal achievement lies in being enshrined at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. An incredibly selective panel adds a small group of players and coaches each year, usually announced during that seasons’ Super Bowl festivities.
This year marks the Second annual class of the NFL Award of Excellence recipients, honoring select members of the NFL community that before 2023 may have never had the opportunity to join their football brethren in the mecca of professional football. These Awards are reserved for handful of team related positions. The categories include assistant coaches, public relations staff, athletic trainers, film & video directors, and equipment managers. Two members that formerly worked for the Buccaneers, respective giants of their professions, will join the inductees in 2024.
First recognized is former Bucs’ defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin. Father of Ole Miss Head Coach Lane Kiffin, Monte is universally respected in the football community at large. He still serves as player personnel analyst for his son at Ole Miss, but is being recognized for his DC work here in Tampa, where his name commands respect.
Kiffin served for 13 years as Defensive Coordinator under fellow Bucs’ Ring of Honor members Tony Dungy & Jon Gruden. After being added to Dungy’s staff in 1996, his defense improved from a bottom 6 defense to 11th best in the League. His units consistently competed in one of the most physically demanding eras of pro football and he notably helped perfect the “Tampa 2” defense that is maybe the most well-known defensive scheme to this day.
Monte Kiffin also coached the most dominant Bucs defense of all time to a Super Bowl XXXVII victory. The “Who’s Who” of NFL greats coached by Kiffin include Buccaneers legends Warren Sapp, Ronde Barber, and Derrick Brooks. There could not be a more deserving former Buccaneer, player or coach.
Congratulations to our former video director of 29 years Dave Levy on earning @ProFootballHOF’s Award of Excellence! ????️
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— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) March 27, 2024
Also selected to receive the 2024 Award of Excellence is former Buccaneers’ Video Director Dave Levy. Though not the traditional on-field example of the NFL’s elite, Levy is the perfect example of why the League added the special wing in Canton to enshrine the Award of Excellence recipients. Levy spent nearly three decades as Tampa Bay’s Video Director.
Six committee members, including one that had a front row seat to Levy’s ingenuity in the industry, working under him for 15 years, voted on his inclusion in the 2nd annual award. While he no longer works in the NFL, the Buccaneers’ website notes that after a couple seasons working with XFL, Levy now works in photography but keeps tabs on the League, regularly popping into the NFL Combine to catch up with his peers. Levy will always be considered a “Titan of Industry” in his former profession, and now the highest of honors will be bestowed upon him with his plaque at the Hall of Fame.
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