Lane Kiffin is one of the most talked-about football coaches in America. Wherever he goes, cameras follow. His teams make headlines. His personality makes news.
His daughter Presley is building something completely different.
While Lane has spent his career moving from Oakland to Tennessee to USC to Florida Atlantic to Ole Miss, Presley has been quietly stacking championship hardware in volleyball. Two CIF titles. A state championship. A national title. Now a sophomore outside hitter at USC, playing for one of the most decorated programs in college volleyball history.
This is not the story of a coach’s daughter riding her father’s name. This is the story of an athlete who earned her own reputation on her own terms.
Born Into a Football Family
Presley Grace Kiffin was born on October 19, 2006, in Pasadena, California. Her father Lane was already deep into his coaching career by then, having worked as an assistant under Pete Carroll at USC before becoming the Oakland Raiders head coach in 2007.
Football runs deep in this family. Her grandfather Monte Kiffin spent 30 years as an NFL assistant coach. He helped design the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defense that won Super Bowl XXXVII. He later served as USC’s defensive coordinator from 2010 to 2012, working alongside Lane. Monte played college football at the University of Nebraska from 1959 to 1963.
The football bloodline doesn’t stop there. Presley’s maternal grandfather John Reaves played quarterback at the University of Florida from 1969 to 1971 and went on to play in the NFL. He later coached college football at Florida and South Carolina. Two of her uncles, Stephen Reaves and David Reaves, also played college quarterback football.
Three generations of football on both sides of the family.
Presley chose volleyball.
Two Schools, One Mission
Growing up around college football programs means constant change. Lane Kiffin’s career has taken him across the country. Presley navigated that reality while staying focused on her own athletic development.
She attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, then transferred to Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana. Both are elite programs with serious athletic traditions. Moving between them was not a step back. It was a step toward the best competition available.
Mater Dei is one of the most competitive high school volleyball environments in California. Getting onto that roster and contributing at a championship level is a real accomplishment. Plenty of recruits don’t make it.
Presley made it count.
The Championship Resume
Here is what Presley Kiffin built before she ever stepped onto a college court.
She won two CIF Championships with Mater Dei, in 2023 and 2025. The CIF Southern Section is the most competitive high school volleyball league in the country. Winning it once is hard. Winning it twice means you were part of something sustained and special.
She also won the Durango Classic Tournament twice, in 2023 and 2024, and earned a spot on the 2024 Durango Classic All-Tournament Team. She collected Queen of the Court Tournament titles in 2022 and 2023.
The biggest line on her high school resume: 2023 State and National Champion with Mater Dei. State and national championships in high school volleyball put you in a very small group. Most players chase those titles their entire careers without reaching them. Presley won both in the same season before turning 17.
She also picked up Athletic-Academic Achievement awards at both Notre Dame and Mater Dei. The athletic side gets the attention. The academic recognition is just as real.
Club Volleyball and the Grind Behind the Highlights
High school volleyball is only part of the picture. Elite players also compete in club programs year-round, and that is where real development happens.
Presley played for Southern California Volleyball Club and Mizuno Long Beach Volleyball Club. Both are serious club programs that compete at national levels. Club volleyball demands a different kind of commitment. The travel, the tournament schedule, the level of competition across the country. It is where college recruiters actually watch players closely and where athletic identities get built.
Playing through two high school programs and two club programs while maintaining academic standards and winning national titles requires the kind of mental toughness that elite athletes train for specifically. Presley did all of it during some of the most demanding years of her father’s career.
Choosing USC
When it came time to choose a college, Presley committed to the University of Southern California. She plays outside hitter, wearing number 11, for the USC Women’s Volleyball program.
The connection to USC runs in the family. Lane Kiffin was USC’s head football coach from 2010 to 2013. Monte Kiffin served as defensive coordinator during that same period. Presley’s favorite USC athlete growing up was quarterback Matt Leinart.
But USC Women’s Volleyball is not a program you choose because of family connection. It is a six-time national champion. One of the most respected programs in the country. Getting recruited there means the coaching staff evaluated you as a player and decided you belong at that level.
Presley is listed as a sophomore for the 2026 season. She plays outside hitter, one of the most demanding positions in volleyball. Outside hitters are expected to serve, pass, attack, and cover. They touch the ball constantly and carry a large share of offensive responsibility in every rotation.
She majors in communication at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, one of the most competitive communications programs in the country.
The Sports Hero She Chose
When USC’s roster page asks athletes to name their biggest sports hero, most volleyball players name another volleyball player. Presley named Serena Williams.
That is a deliberate choice. Serena is not a volleyball player. She is the most dominant women’s tennis player in history and one of the most fierce competitors any sport has ever produced. Choosing Serena as a hero says something specific about what kind of athlete Presley wants to be. Not just skilled. Relentless. Not just talented. mentally built to win.
That fits someone who came from a football family, transferred schools, played two club programs, and won a national title in high school before most kids finish their sophomore year.
What She Carries From the Kiffin Name
Lane Kiffin is a polarizing figure in college football. His career has had highs and sharp lows. He was fired by the Raiders after one season. The Tennessee tenure was short and chaotic. USC ended with controversy. His reputation was complicated for years before he rebuilt it at Ole Miss.
Growing up with that kind of public scrutiny around your family shapes you. You either shrink from it or use it. Presley has used it. She carries the Kiffin name onto a college court every time she plays and backs it up with a resume that has nothing to do with her father’s job title.
She also inherited something real from that football household: an understanding of what elite competition looks like up close. Lane Kiffin has worked under and against some of the best coaches in football history. Monte Kiffin built defenses at the highest level of the sport. Presley grew up watching people who take winning seriously do exactly that.
That education doesn’t come with a scholarship. It comes from the dinner table.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Presley Grace Kiffin |
| Date of birth | October 19, 2006 |
| Birthplace | Pasadena, California |
| High schools | Notre Dame HS, Sherman Oaks; Mater Dei HS, Santa Ana |
| College | USC, Class of 2029 |
| Position | Outside Hitter, No. 11 |
| Major | Communication, USC Annenberg |
| Father | Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss head football coach |
| Grandfather | Monte Kiffin, former NFL/USC defensive coordinator |
| High school titles | 2x CIF Champion, 2023 State and National Champion |
| Sports hero | Serena Williams |
Final Word
Presley Kiffin’s story is a volleyball story. Not a fame story.
She grew up in a family where football defined everything. Three generations of coaches and quarterbacks. Super Bowl titles. NFL head coaching jobs. She watched all of it and then walked into a gym and built something completely her own.
Two CIF championships. A state and national title. A roster spot at one of college volleyball’s elite programs. A spot in the starting rotation as an outside hitter at USC.
The last name gets the search clicks. The resume earns the respect.
