USC O-coordinator Kiffin to be named Raiders coach

PY · 01-23-2007, 06:49 AM

USC O-coordinatRaiders or Kiffin to be named coach

Quote:

After failing to land Southern California assistant head coach Steve Sarkisian, the Oakland Raiders and Lane Kiffin have completed the deal to hire the USC offensive coordinator as Oakland's head coach.

Kiffin signed the five-year deal to be Art Shell's replacement on Monday night, and a press conference to announce the signing is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday in Oakland.

Elias Says
Mike Tomlin, 34, became the youngest head coach in the NFL when the Steelers announced his hiring on Monday; in fact, he became the youngest NFL head-coaching hire since the Raiders named Jon Gruden as their head coach at age 34 in 1998. Tomlin, in turn, is about two months younger than Eric Mangini was when he was named the Jets' head coach last January.
But Tomlin's status as the league's youngest head coach will apparently not last long; the Raiders are going to name 31-year-old Lane Kiffin as their head coach on Tuesday.

Ã‚â€¢ Read more Elias Says.

Late last week, Kiffin was offered the offensive coordinator job under Sarkisian. But Sarkisian turned down Oakland's offer, and the Raiders were left scrambling.

On Sunday, Raiders owner Al Davis reached out again to Kiffin, son of Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin. Kiffin flew to Oakland Sunday night and spent all day Monday talking to Davis. As the evening approached, negotiations for a contract started and concluded quickly.

The 31-year-old Kiffin has been a six-year member of Pete Carroll's staff. Carroll hired him to coach tight ends in 2001 after Kiffin spent the 2000 season in Jacksonville as a defensive quality control coach working with defensive backs. Kiffin switched to coaching USC wide receivers in 2002. In 2004, Kiffin took over passing game coordinator duties. Kiffin was then promoted to offensive coordinator in 2005. He also had recruiting coordinator responsibilities.

Davis has a long history of hiring young, offensive-minded head coaches and he particularly likes offensive play-callers. Kiffin has done that at the highest level of college football for the past few years. He's worked with top NFL draft prospects such as wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett and former Lions first-round pick Mike Williams, another wideout.

Kiffen will become the youngest NFL head coach in the modern era. Jon Gruden, Mike Shanahan and John Madden all succeeded as Raiders head coaches in their 30s, however, as did Davis.

Kiffin is 14 months younger than Madden was when the Hall of Fame coach took over the Raiders in 1969. Davis was 33 years, 6 months when he took charge of the Raiders in 1963.

Kiffin, a former Fresno State quarterback, is younger than at least nine players who finished the season with Oakland during its NFL-worst 2-14 campaign, including defensive tackle Warren Sapp, fullback Zack Crockett and receiver Alvis Whitted.

As a player, Kiffin was a quarterback for Fresno State from 1994 to 1996. He was a three-sport high school star in Bloomington, Minn. He started his coaching career after college working as a grad assistant at Fresno State.

Kiffin is expected to keep Rob Ryan, who also interviewed for the job, as his defensive coordinator. Former Giants coach Jim Fassel and Chargers receivers coach James Lofton were also interviewed for the head job.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Killswitch · 01-23-2007, 06:55 AM

Well, given the Raiders reputation, it's a surprisingly good hire.

Granted, Kiffin isn't a big name guy. He's a young guy but a talented coach. Still, how much control will he have over things?

StylesÃ‚â„¢ · 01-23-2007, 05:07 PM

Nice to see them go after an offense minded coach, their defense isn't terrible, but their offense is, and if I believe correctly only scored like 13 ppg, thats not good at all, hopefully Kiffen can take over and at least make them contenders...

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USC O-coordinator Kiffin to be named Raiders coach

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