It has been rumored from week one and now it is a fact. The Oakland Raiders
fired Lane Kiffin Tuesday just four games into his second season.
Kiffin ends his career as a Raiders head coach at 5-15.
The Raiders said the move was made for cause, meaning they will likely try
not to pay Kiffin for the remainder of his contract. He signed a two-year deal
worth about $4 million with a team option for 2009 when he took over last year.
Kiffin's agent Gary Uberstine had no immediate comment
Amazingly, Kiffin was not the first coach to be fired this season as the Rams
fired Scott Linehan yesterday, making this the second firing at the quarter
point of the season. The last time a coach had been fired this early in the
season was when Davis got rid of Mike Shanahan after four games in 1989. Now
profootballcentral.com is reporting that the Cincinnati Bengals are nearing a
decision that could result in head coach Marvin Lewis being fired by the end of
the week. It is beginning to look like this could be a record season in coaching
turnover.
We wouldn't worry too much aboutKiffin though, Kiffin is following the path
of Shanahan, who was hired at age 35 in 1988 and then fired four games into his
second season. Until this move, Shanahan had been the only coach Davis had fired
in the middle of a season since joining the Raiders in 1963.
Shanahan went on to win two Super Bowls with Denver. Given the history of Al
Davis and coaches, we have to assume that Kiffin will come out of this just
fine.
