Lane Kiffin, Head Coach Of?

For the past few months, chaos has surrounded the Oakland Raiders. From the reports of Kiffin trying go back to the college ranks, to Al Davis trying to force Kiffin to resign. It wouldn't be an off-season without controversey in Oakland now though would it? Every year, there is always something new, exciting, and unbelieveable leaking out. A lot say it's because of the man upstairs, Mr. Davis.

Entirely true, because as the years pass Al by, he gets more and more unpatient, stubborn and risky. This leads to the firing of many coaches, players not playing to their full ability, and free agent aquisitions that more or less make you scratch your head instead of jumping out of your seat.

Let me break it down for the ones who don't know what to believe, or are waiting for Al's "State Of The Raiders" address that he tends to make once a year, because there is usually a new coach every year. Lane Kiffin is still the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, but he may have actually wanted out of Oakland to get a college head-coaching gig possibly with Arkansas.

Well, he came out and said numerous amounts of times he wasn't interested, but why oh why did this drag on all the way to the combine? Well, reporters need something to write about right? I'm not saying that everything that has been reported is false nor true, but all they've done has fed the fire more and more ever since the Kiffin-to-Arkansas rumors heated up.

Who can you believe? The Raiders executive Herrera? He said that Kiffin is here to stay and the reports of him and Arkansas and him getting fired or in a dispute with Al davis is untrue. Also, the story of Rob Ryan being fired by Kiffin and Al Davis not approving, was dismissed as untrue and that everythign is dandy between Kiffin, Ryan and Davis.

There has to be some truth to all of this. Honestly if there is anything believable, at least to me, it's the report that Kiffin wanted Ryan out. Kiffin showed his displeasure of the defense at the season's end, and hinted that we could see Huff switch to free safety and that there would be some "changes". Well, Kiffin came here knowing he would have to get the offense out of it's horrible funk of 2006, which he did. In 2007 he established a really good running game led by Justin Fargas after Lamont Jordan's injury.

For being a head coach for the first time, and taking on the role of calling plays, I would say Kiffin did a solid job for a 31 year old college offensive coordinator out of USC. Now, when Kiffin came here, he obviously smiled when he saw how Rob Ryan's unit did in 2006, and only thought they could get better. Guess again. Rob Ryan's defense only got worse, and it hurt the team especially when they were trying to close out games. A lot of people would jump the gun and say it's the offense's fault just as much as the defense's or that the offense did worse. Well, they were 6th in rushing, but struggled in the passing game because Josh McCown was the starter and there were no wide receivers that could stretch the field or be consistent for that matter.

The defense didn't hold up it's end, and Kiffin wanted a change. Ryan had a chance to build off of a successful defensive season in 2006, but dropped the ball big time in 2007. Is it all his fault? Probably not, because Al Davis watches Ryan's defense closely. Al love man-to-man defnese, with the defensive line getting pressure all day. Well, that has for the most part held back this defense because our whole defense is built to defend against the pass rather the run, which is very importnat to stop especially in the AFC West. Al Davis didn't approve of Ryan getting fired, and is obviously a little tense with Kiffin, a young coach who thinks he can do a lot even though his record was low (4-12), and is probably why all these stories started.

The Raiders have a lot of issues to work out to make the 2008 season stellar. Sure up the run defense, get some wide receivers, and make sure who their head coach is. There are still reports saying Kiffin is on a short leash and that he will be gone soon, possibly before the draft...time will tell.

GO RAIDERS