Lane Kiffin is "tentatively scheduled" to be announced as the Raiders' next head coach at a press conference on Tuesday. Oakland's team website still has no info on his hiring, but multiple reports have confirmed that Kiffin has reached an agreement in principle. Source: Oakland Tribune 31 years old. One of the youngest head coaches ever.
Wow and to think people used Mangini's age as a knock on him when we hired him... Now we have a 34 year old in Pitt and this guy in Oakland.
I wonder how many OC in college have gone straight to being a HC talk about not being qualified at all. How does a guy like Rob Ryan stay when there hiring this 31 year old coach with no experiance besides being the OC at USC who have a crazy amount of talent.
They'd of been better off with Fassel. Oakland's taking a gamble, and at this point does it even matter if it fails or not?
Fassel would have been the better hire here. If Al wanted Kiffin he could have pressured Fassel into stocking his staff with his chosen coordinators in Ryan and Kiffin. Kiffin would have left USC for a pro offensive coordinator job hes only 31 years old thats a huge step up...Fassel is desperate just to be a head coach again. I mean I still don't understand how this kid gets a head coaching job before Norm Chow...
Was he not "co-offensive coordinator" at USC? What's a co-offensive coordinator? One of two? One of three? More?
Seems like hiring coaches under the age of 35 is the new fad these days... it still wont help them win any games.
I can't wait to see RaiderJeaux try to explain this one. Can that organization look any more desperate, there is no way this works....
I think that this hiring actually makes sense in a few ways. Expectations are rock bottom, so either (1) the Raiders do unexpectedly well and Al Davis gets to feel like a genius for hiring him, (2) the Raiders do as expected but Kiffin does okay in his first year, in which case it's an okay hire, or (3) the Raiders are again a disaster and this guy gets canned immediately for the next coach du jour. If it's (3) there will be little outcry, which there might have been if Fassel or Norm Chow had been hired. I actually think it's Kiffin who is crazy here. Failing miserably at your first head coaching job (even if it's not your fault) is not good for the resume, and there's a pretty decent chance that that is exactly what will happen here. Working for a crazy man is not what I would consider a real attractive thing in a job either.
Madden was 33, Gruden was 34, Shanahan was 36, and Davis himself was 33 when they were hired. Everyone said "they're not ready", and all of them turned into good coaches. He also came very close to hiring Payton in 2004 before he was on anyone's radar. It's definitley unusual to hire a college OC to be a pro HC, but Norm Chow just interviewed in Arizona after only two years in the pros, he held Kiffin's job three years ago. Who knows if it works but if there's one area where Davis still gets the benefit of the doubt from me, it's in identifying good young coaches before the rest of the league catches on. Now I'll just let it play out...
He's the offensive coordinator while Sarkisian is the QB coach/Assistant Head Coach. Both collaborated in calling plays. My thoughts at this point are - Sarkisian already turned Davis down, isn't it odd that a) Davis went back to the same pot for another offer and b) the other guy from that same pot ended up accepting? It's just a little strange to me, but it is the Raiders!
I see what you are saying, and I'm a supporter of hiring young guys, I think they connect better with the players; however all of the guys you mention had more experience coming in before this Kiffin guy does. He was the co-offensive coordinator at USC, thats all. His only NFL experience is as "defensive quality control" in Jacksonville in 2000. IMO its the riskest pick for a head coach EVER. Sure its possible he could end up being good, but wow is it a risk.
I can tell you that Norm Chow threw him under the bus, and is not a fan of either Sarkisian or Kiffin. The Raiders are a disaster of monumental proportions. Part of the reason it came down to this is because no one wants that job. -X-
