It is a commitment to execution.
For the sixth time in the last seven hires the Oakland Raiders disposed of a head coach after no more than two years on the job, and that suggests one of two things: Either they employ incompetent people or Al Davis has no clue what he wants.
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| Al Davis' unique management style is an issue. (Getty Images) |
But they didn't, and now Kiffin is part of the Oakland alumni directory -- sent there courtesy of an Al Davis phone call. Beautiful. I guess it was Davis' way of communicating the real meaning of an NFL bye.
So Kiffin walks, and the Raiders do ... what? Hire offensive line coach Tom Cable? Offensive coordinator Greg Knapp? Consultant Paul Hackett? Who in the world would want this job?
I need a show of hands, please. Someone. Anyone.
I know one guy who considered it until he heard the conditions put down by owner Al Davis. Then he left town. He would not have a job where he couldn't operate without the owner filling out the roster and/or coaching staff for him.
But who would? I'll tell you who: 1) Assistants, often young and from unlikely places, who couldn't get sniffs as head coaches at 31 NFL organizations, and 2) former NFL coaches who have nowhere else to turn for head-coaching jobs.
Kiffin was one of those young assistants, and he got the call after USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian -- then the quarterbacks coach -- got smart and walked away from the opening. But Sarkisian had an advantage Kiffin did not: He knew what he was in for. He worked one year in the Black Hole before escaping to USC in 2005.
So the Raiders kept looking until they found someone who couldn't say "No," and that someone was an aspiring college coach known more for his father (Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin) than his résumé -- and that tells you a little something about how attractive the Raiders' job has become.
Once the Raiders stood for something, and that something was winning. Love them or hate them, you could not ignore them. But you can now. In fact, what strikes me about the Raiders is that we don't pay attention to them until or unless another head coach is canned or Javon Walker is found unconscious in the streets of Las Vegas.
In short, they're irrelevant.
You don't care about the Raiders because the Raiders don't care about themselves. If they did they wouldn't spend gazillions on Walker and DeAngelo Hall and Tommy Kelly, and they wouldn't march their head coaches in front of firing lines every two years. They overvalue players and undervalue coaches, and, I'm sorry, that's no way to run a pro football business.
