American Football Spectacular: And A Child Shall Lead Them
When Editor Jon sent a message with the scoop that the Raiders had picked up Kiffin to be the new Head Coach for the Silver And Black, we were excited.
Kiffin has shown himself to be one of the most skillful tacticians in the National Football League in his 11 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, helping birth the successful “Tampa 2” zone scheme, and leading his unit to the #1 statistical defensive rank in 2002 and 2005.
He is well respected as a wily innovator and a great defensive mind, so the Raiders… wait, what?!
His son? He’s 31?!
Forget it. Just f---in’ forget it.
You kiddin’ me? This is ridiculous.
The man that Oakland (Al) hired, Lane Kiffin, is Monte Kiffin’s son. Lane was the offensive coordinator at USC. He has never been a Head Coach. He only spent one season in the NFL as a “quality control” coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He’s 31 years young.
This is so stupid. Couldn’t Al at least have tried to get someone more experienced? Why would the NFL’s most notoriously fractious team unite under a young, inexperienced college coach?
Oakland couldn't get USC's Steve Sarkasian to the signing stage after multiple interviews for the job. And the James Lofton interview feels like a mere token move now. But this?
You will not see a more obvious hiring of a pawn whom the management (Al) thinks that they will be able to control. It’s amazing. Other obvious figureheads with no actual power include Early Cuyler for Dan Halen Sheet Rock International, or George W. Bush for the Karl Rove-run White House.
A diplomatic John Madden -- a young coach himself when Al hired him -- summed up the Lane hiring this morning on his podcast as such: “Well, if you’ve got a guy you know can't do it, you're better off going with someone you don't know can't do it.”
That’s what the Raider Nation got. A guy that they don’t know can’t get the job done.
Recently, when things can’t get any worse, the Raiders (Al) have consistently found new ways to make the situation worse.
Lane, we at American Football Spectacular wish you the best of luck in your impossible situation.
Good luck, son.