TL;DR
- Lane Kiffin is rumored for Florida and LSU coaching jobs, but may stay with Ole Miss.
- Al Davis fired Lane Kiffin from The Raiders, calling him a "con man" and "professional liar."
- Kiffin's Raiders tenure ended with a 5-15 record due to poor performance and friction with Davis.
- Davis chose JaMarcus Russell over Kiffin's preferred Calvin Johnson, a decision that proved disastrous.
Lane Kiffin's name is once again in the news, with one of college football's most distinctive figures now at the heart of coaching changes.
The Rebels' head coach, holding a 54-19 record across the past six seasons in Oxford, has been rumored for both the Florida and LSU coaching positions, alongside the possibility of declining those offers to stay with Ole Miss. Kiffin's career has seen a pattern of tumultuous departures, notably his exit from The Oakland Raiders in 2008.
That September, Kiffin was dismissed by Raiders proprietor Al Davis, who conducted a memorable news conference concerning the dismissal. During it, Davis characterized Kiffin as a "con man" and also a professional deceiver.
Let's take a look back at the fallout between Kiffin and Davis.
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Al Davis stated that Lane Kiffin was a "disappointment" and a "loser" after Kiffin was fired by The Raiders.
Following the announcement of Kiffin's dismissal, Davis conducted a news conference where an overhead projector was utilized. This device displayed a correspondence he had sent to Kiffin earlier in the season.
In the press conference, which extended for close to sixty minutes, Davis unleashed a furious attack on Kiffin, even labeling him a "professional liar." Some of the most significant points from the event are as follows, via ESPN:
"I reached a point where I felt that the whole staff were fractionalized, that the best thing to do to get this thing back was to make a change," Davis said during the lengthy news conference. "It hurts because I picked the guy. I picked the wrong guy."
At one point, Davis read a letter that he sent to his former coach that detailed mistakes Kiffin made on and off the field. The owner said he finally fired the coach for cause because he "disgraced" the organization, citing a variety of issues, including conflicts over personnel moves and outright lies to the media, according to Davis.
"I don't think it was any one thing," Davis said. "It was a cumulative thing. I think the pattern just disturbed me."
The full press conference, approximately 45 minutes in length, is available on YouTube and is quite an impressive spectacle:
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Lane Kiffin's move to the NFL was driven by what factors?
In the early 2000s, Kiffin was recognized as one of college football's promising young coaches. He became part of Pete Carroll's team in 2001 and rapidly advanced. Under Carroll's leadership, the Trojans were a dominant force in college football.
In 2002, USC concluded its season with an 11-2 record, securing a victory in the Orange Bowl. This was followed by two consecutive national championships in 2003-2004. Kiffin advanced to passing game coordinator in 2004, mentoring Heisman recipients Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, and was recognized as a prominent offensive strategist in collegiate football.
"In meetings, Lane was kind of the scientific genius, like mastermind behind the scenes, and [Steve Sarkisian] Sark was the CEO and president... Very eloquent speaker," a former USC player told ESPN in 2015. "We would have these offensive plans that we'd install on Tuesday, and Sark's up there presenting it, and he did such a good job. He's such a gifted communicator, and Lane doesn't say a word. But Lane was the one who kind of crafted it all. He's the genius, the offensive genius, and Sark was so gifted at communicating and relating to guys.
Al Davis, owner of the Raiders, originally sought to bring in Steve Sarkisian, Kiffin's colleague at USC, but Sark reportedly declined the offer. Consequently, Davis hired Kiffin. At 31, Kiffin became the youngest head coach appointed by Oakland in the franchise's history.
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Lane Kiffin NFL record
Kiffin's tenure in Oakland concluded with a 5-15 overall record across his 20 games as head coach. Following Kiffin's dismissal in 2008, the Raiders posted a 4-8 record under interim head coach Tom Cable.
Lane Kiffin's dismissal from The Raiders stemmed from a series of issues, including his team's poor performance and a strained relationship with the organization's management.
From the outset of Kiffin's time in Oakland, friction between him and Davis was almost immediate. Before the 2007 NFL Draft, Kiffin reportedly begged Davis to draft wide receiver Calvin Johnson. Davis, however, chose quarterback JaMarcus Russell, and the ex-LSU signal-caller is now considered one of the NFL's most significant disappointments.
Russell ultimately insisted on his initial contract terms, and didn't participate in Oakland's games until December of that year. At the quarterback position, Kiffin opted for Daunte Culpepper and Josh McCown, who together threw 16 interceptions during that campaign. The Raiders secured only four victories that season, concluding with a 4-12 standing, marking the second-lowest performance in the league during that period.
Chris Mortensen of ESPN reported that Davis allegedly requested Kiffin's resignation following his inaugural season with The Raiders in Oakland. Kiffin reportedly declined this request, and the Raiders subsequently refuted claims that they had asked their head coach to step down.
The Raiders' 2008 campaign began even more poorly. Oakland started with a 1-3 record through the initial four weeks, suffering defeats against the Broncos, Bills, and Chargers. By mid-September, reports indicated Davis was dissatisfied with Kiffin and planned to dismiss him soon. On September 30, 2008, Mortensen announced that Davis had terminated Kiffin via telephone.
Davis terminated Kiffin's employment for cause, a decision subsequently affirmed by an NFL arbitrator. Consequently, the team was not obligated to pay him his remaining salary. He had previously entered into a three-year contract valued at $6 million with the team in 2007.