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http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3617977

He's a good young coach and deserves better.

But it has finally happened.

Thats weak. I am a Charger fan, and I still think thats weak. No pay? Over the phone ?


Al Davis

The Raider Nation will be better off when he is gone.

Its about damn time.

Its Kiffin, BTW.

too bad for Lane, but the way this was going on it needed to happen

but the raiders are in a bad place right now

Kiffin had them playing hard, despite them not being a very good football team. Al Davis needs to go in Oakland. I don't understand why anybody would want to take on that job with Davis still in place.

As for Kiffin not being paid, he will be. He didn't do anything for him to lose what it says in his contract.

I agree sunshine. I have to admit, after the first game, I had some serious doubts about Kiffin, they looked terrible. However, since week 1, they have been playing pretty well considering the team they have.

Oakland will be much better off when Al Davis is gone.

Damn, thats too bad. Poor guy, he is a good coach IMO, but not in the NFL. I see him becoming a decent coach in college. I heard the Syracuse job is coming up,

FWIW though, I dont think Al is full of it... I think Lane has purposely embellished the story to get fired... everyone looks bad. But the fault still lies with Al.

I do not think Kiffin would be critical of signings he approved... what I see is two liars both desperately trying to save face in the public eye.

lane, you're always welcome in cleveland

come to oklahoma state

Phil_2.0 wrote:Thats weak. I am a Charger fan, and I still think thats weak. No pay? Over the phone ?


Al Davis

The Raider Nation will be better off when he is gone.

Seriously. The Raiders actually gave us a scare this week. I have to say they looked the best I've seen them in years. For the first time in a long time it wasn't a lack of talent or poor coaching that did them in. Just inexperience. They have good talented players and they seemed to be playing harder under Kiffin. As a certified Raider hater, I honestly felt that they were close to turning the corner and becoming a respectable team with upside. It feels good to know the Chargers just set them back at least another season.

510Reggae wrote:FWIW though, I dont think Al is full of it... I think Lane has purposely embellished the story to get fired... everyone looks bad. But the fault still lies with Al.

I do not think Kiffin would be critical of signings he approved... what I see is two liars both desperately trying to save face in the public eye.

That's my general read on it too. Lane clearly wanted to get fired to get out of the situation.

Al Davis is who he is, and everyone knows that when they go to Oakland. The coaches and players can't complain about how Al runs his team because he's done it his way for over 40 years. Shame on Lane Kiffin for believing otherwise.

I do really respect Lane Kiffin and he's going to be a good coach somewhere, someday. If I were him I would go back to being an OC or move down to college for a few years.

I would be interested to see him as an OC in the nfl. Get some experience and then take a head coaching spot. Unless his passion is college. Fact is, after the hell that is oakland he should do something to let him fall in love with football again.

you guys seriously believe its as much on lane as it on davis? i cant even see how one would approach that view point

Mr Smoke Weed wrote:you guys seriously believe its as much on lane as it on davis? i cant even see how one would approach that view point

Kidding me? In the history of Al Davis, has he ever gone to this great of lengths to discredit a coach? It's easy to chalk it up to senility, immaturity, and everything else that follows Al, but that is extremely unfair to just assume because of his history that he's 100% in the wrong...

Al didn't need to call this 2nd press conference to explain what happened. In fact, it would look better if he didn't do anything. But the truth is, he NEVER gets good press anyways, and Kiffin was trying to scored some cred on his name. I dont know Al Davis, but I do know a lot of people who have worked for him and do work for him, and I dont think there's any way in hell he doesn't communicate w/Kiffin about the team period. The team is his life (and ironically enough, we are slowly dying too)

After the initial situation, it becomes clear that Al's in the wrong for his methods, but Kiffin is some kind of idiot for not recognizing the situation. Gruden, Callahan, Turner, Shell.... for those who forgot, that's the coach who brought us from the .500s, our "Super Bowl" coach, the HC for the Chargers, and one of Al Davis' good friends / long time employees... All of them had to go through the same thing, not one kicked and screamed as much as Kiffin... why did he think he, the young former co-QB coach at USC, was going to change anything?

They are both dumb for different reasons. Kiffin however is intentionally trying to make Al look worse. So how bad does that make him look to you?

Mr Smoke Weed wrote:you guys seriously believe its as much on lane as it on davis? i cant even see how one would approach that view point

I don't see it either. Al has just learned his lesson from past arbitrations and wants to make his early case for not paying Kiffin. That's the only motivation behind the press conference. I don't see Kiffin in the wrong here, especially when I consider how much better the team looked under him than in any of the previous coaches in Al's carousel.

Its like people can't accept that you can be a good coach and a world class d-bag at the same time... Hell, Al Davis was... Kiffin did make fraudulent statements. Al's side has a case regardless of him showing up at this little media circus. He did it to present his side, and although it was rambling and childish, there was truth to it.

That's all I know though.. not sure what exactly is true and what isn't, but that no contact thing, no one believes that.

Kiffin wanted out but wanted his money as well. He took a very childish approach to attempt to get exactly what he wanted, knowing full well what it meant to be a HC under Al Davis.

Never thought I'd see the day I was actually defending Al a little...

Again, if Kiffin wanted to get fired he could have just tanked. But the Raiders were playing really well, and actually seemed to play harder when the firing rumors began. Asomugha and other players have stated that they liked Kiffin. I just don't see it. Alzheimer Al is just crazy. Maybe Kiffin IS a douche. I don't know the man. But it's not his job to be a saint and world class citizen. His job is to put his team in a position to win each and every week. He did that.

He was a co-QB coach at USC... dont care if his dad is Monte Kiffin, if you tank an NFL job at 32 you are not getting another one... he knew his time was limited in Oakland, and to stick it to Al by getting all his money, so he made obnoxious media comments one after the other... The team did play well, but here you have one coach who's trying to draw a line in the sand between the offensive and defensive sides.

I dont know what team is successful when coaches are already admitting to his players that he's conceded, that he doesnt know who the next coach will be, that the DC and owner are conspiring against him..

I'll know more soon I'm sure.. no one's talking right now with the impending appeals case for Kiffin to get the money.

Another thing about the tanking... as one person connected has put it (roughly, don't recall it word for word) "Has he ever payed his dues? He came in here to be the young puppet for Al just because of his father's credibility around the league. Can you imagine what Rob Ryan must have thought?"

The guy really has done little to show he deserves an NFL job. Yes the Raiders are playing better, but is that relative to the rest of the league, or to the disaster of hiring a motel clerk as our OC? Revamping our O-line and bringing in a new blocking scheme? If the Raiders come out the same or better in the next few weeks, what will it really say about the guy?

The same person has implied previously that Lane was liked by his players because he became a players' coach - why not? Gotta have some marketability left... there is no victim in this outside of all the Raider fans - as usual. Meanwhile, Al and Kiffin will likely both get what they want.