The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that the Raiders will fire head coach Lane Kiffin as early as this week and name defensive coordinator Rob Ryan in his place.The word on the street was that Kiffin would be fired if the Raiders lost to the Chiefs. Well, Oakland won that game, leaving the organization in a weird decision. A decision that may already have been made.
After last week's loss to the Broncos, there was a public war of words between Kiffin and Ryan over Al Davis' involvement in the gameplanning of the team. According to the Chronicle, once Kiffin fired on Davis and Ryan, Davis told Ryan to strike back ... which led to his public F-bomb laced tirade.
Davis has Ryan in his pocket (which he loves) and he's already drawn a letter of resignation for Kiffin to sign (which Kiffin wouldn't). It is quite obvious that Kiffin knows he will be fired at any time and is trying his best to facilitate it:
"We don't have a general manager; everything goes through the owner," Kiffin said Wednesday. "That sets up a difficult situation at times. Knowing who the owner is, you know from Day 1 there's no job security."
Of course, Davis may bite on his impulse ... but try to get out of paying Kiffin his salary. Word is that Davis would cite insubordination as a reason to fire Kiffin and not pay him the remainder of his contract. Davis would use the fact that Kiffin publicly questioned the owner's input into on-field matters as well as keeping Kiffin out of the loop on personnel moves.
And Davis could get his way. He did the same sorts of things when he fired Mike Shanahan nearly 20 years ago. He has never paid Shanahan the remainder of his contract, which leads to an extremely icy situation when the Raiders face Shanahan's Broncos.
Ryan isn't the only nominee for the job, but seems to be the leader right now since he showed loyalty to Davis. Nancy Gay of SFGate.com may have said it best:
Ryan would be the eighth coach Davis has hired since the franchise returned to Oakland in 1995. That doesn't make Ryan invincible. It simply means he's the next in line.
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Comments (Page 1 of 2)
AL DAVIS IS A PIECE OF SH-- I HOPE THEY ;OSE EVERY GAME
can we get AL to fire Al? It would solve so many problrms.
Al Davis should hire a manager, Leave Lane Kiffen alone and let him coach the team. I know it is he team and he can do what he wants, but I think the way the game is played today has bypassed him. The wide receivers are no longer the fastest players on the field.
Just my thoughts.
Lighten up Al. Kiffin is going to be an excellent coach. You shoulld lossen you reins and give him some latitude and control. Set back and enjoy yiur past sucess and watch your future unfold. There is talent at every statatigic position. Given time we will gave dominate defense and offense. Take it from me a professional evaluator of talent.
this shit is stupid Kiffin is the best coach since gruden and if we fire him we are gonna be screwed!!!!
Sorry to say but AL needs to lighten up. He is the reason the Raiders have not had a winning season since 2002. Kiffin has already beaten the Chiefs in back to back games. No other coach had done that since 2002. Kiffin play calling made it possible for the team to rush for 302 yards on Sunday. Kiffin must stay fire Bob Ryan his play calling have up 41 points against the Broncos.
It's no wonder the Raiders are so hopeless, having a new coach every other year or sooner with new game plans, etc. is not ever going to produce a winner...no matter who the coach is. Al has NEVER let the coach do what's necessary, yet likes to complain when it goes wrong. If you're not going to turn the team over to your coach, quit complaining Al, the losses are your fault.
I have been life-long Raider fan and life-long hater of Al Davis.
He has ruined that franchise with his horrible management style. He needs to hire a coach that is well qualified. Let the head coach hire his assistants, give them three years to build a quality program and evaluate and replace personnel. He also needs to hire a qualified general manager who understands football operations and recruiting and can blend and work together with Davis and the head coach.
Develop a business rather than a fiefdom.
It's too bad King Al doesn't hate losing as much as he hates employees not kissing his ring.
Keep it up Al! The way i see it, raider fans are always gonna be raider fans, and the rest of the NFL (not to mention the civilized world) will continue to laugh at the entire raider organization and its fanbase.
Coming from a niner fan, I can feel confident saying it turns out the best team in the Bay Area really are the Packers after all.
he's going to get paid millions to leave this crappy team. No wonder why Ryan spoke up and we actually got to hear what the D-coach had to say, and if you were listening he said it was his fault not kiffin..so why isn't he getting the axe..They need to hire Mike Ditka or the Ravens old coach
DIE AL U OLD SORRY S.O.B. ITS YOUR FAULT AND FAULT ALONE FOR THE TEAMS HORRIBLE PLAY THE PAST FIVE SEASONS, NO ONE BUT U!!!!!!!
Al looks liek the crypt keeper
Hey Raider Fans, lets just tuff any situation with any coach out. We all know that Al's time is almost up. He wont be around forever. Once hes gone, the Raider organization will catch up with the times. Lets just hope the chargers or chiefs dont pick up kiffin when hes fired.
The biggest problem the Raiders have is Al Davis, and a whole boatload of true A-holes for fans.
As a general manager my job is to keep everyone happy and keep them focused on the ultimate goal. Sometimes people say the wrong things out of anger or just not thinking, I could fire them but what is the benefit I will only get someone who I don’t know as well or maybe not as qualified as the person I have now. People do and say strange things under pressure. my job is to remove the pressure and help them do their job to the maximum and to help them become a part of the team. If I don’t instruct as I perform than how do they know how I think and what I want of them. The Japanese found that principle out years ago in the auto industry and involved their employees into the team concept. I think the Raiders need to follow a few basic principles of good business management, and act like professionals.
Mr. Davis needs to take a leadership role and act and follow basic principles of good business management. If there is a breakdown in communications which apparently it seems there is then it is his responsibility as the general manager to bring harmony, direction and good leadership to the organization as opposed to the mystical, disenfranchised and dysfunctional appearance there appears to be from an outsider and long-term season-ticket holder.
huh...
uh---what the hell's doc23 talkin about. i'm a radier's fan, not a freegin brain surgeon...
I have been a Raider Fan since day one. But the last few years I have not paid much attention to them. THE RAIDER'S WILL NEVER HAVE A TEAM THAT CAN COMPETE ON EQUAL TERMS UNTIL AL DAVIS IS PUSHING DAISY'S................
CAN SOMEONE FIRE AL DAVIS...HES THE OWNER..NOT THE COACH..SOMEONE SHOULD TELL HIM THAT..KEEP INTERFERRING MR. DAVIS AND YOU'LL NEVER HAVE A WINNING TEAM AGAIN..YOU ARE FAR TO OLD TO BE COACHING
could someone fire AL DAVIS needs to leave coaching to coaching staff...who by the way are very capable...MR DAVIS to old to coach...with all changes he has made...5 coaches in 5 years..no consistently..no leadership...HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO HAVE A WINNING TEAM MR. AL DAVIS...or maybe you just don't care....but us raider fans DO...cut your crap and by the way why don't you come down from your perch and COACH..simce you obviously think you can...and come up with a winning team