Written by Rob Shipe ;^) at Fans In Black
All In
Al made a huge move yesterday...
In my opinion, he just went all in with the future of this organization. He made a huge bet and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Cable needs to win at least 7 games for this to work out. A 6-6 record from here out will look OK, but I don't see a lot of season ticket holders re-upping.
From the beginning, I REALLY liked Kiffin. Not because of his honesty, because I never really thought of him as honest. Not because of his youth or his history or any of the many reasons why so many in the media an in the Nation seemed to love him...
I liked him because he had the biggest set of balls I'd seen outside of the man that hired him. Maybe Bigger. I knew what Kiffin was after and said so several times. He didn't come here to be the next coach of the Raiders. He didn't come here (IMO) to use this as a stepping stone to a bigger better deal elsewhere.
He came here to be the new Al. He came here to run and control the organization. While many of his detractors saw that as a minus because they didn't want him going after the old man, it's not that I want someone to dethrone the King, but I do want who ever it is to have that same spirit.
If Al was right about anything on Kiffin 20 months ago, it was that Kiffin was a HELL of a lot like Al. And that is what I will miss the most. I knew Kiffin wasn't always telling the truth. The dude knows how to lie, not that there's anything wrong with it. How do you know if an NFL coach is lying before the draft?
His lips are moving!
It's a part of the job. Now do I think everything that Kiffin said is a lie and everything Al said is true? Absolutely not. I think the biggest problem in this is simple mis-communication, "he said, she said" type issues where both parties actually believe their own positions.
Did Kiffin go after the Arkansas job? The things I heard from the organization side last year ABSOLUTELY believed that Kiffin went after the job. The things I heard from the USC side ABSOLUTELY believed that Arkansas went after Kiffin and turned it down. I believe that both sides fully believe their own positions.
Did Kiffin want Russell??? All I know is that when I saw Kiffin's eyes after that work out, he said all the coach speak but his eyes were sparkling like a teenager in love.
I guess my point is that watching the PC yesterday, I got a REAL strong impression that the communication between Al and Kiffin wasn't real clear or strong. And that is both their faults. Kiffin kept saying that he wanted to be here, but for some reason he never went into Al's office to work this out. He also never seemed to attempt to defend himself or his actions to anyone but the media and the fans.
Which is why they both liked him so much. He needed to direct that towards the guy who was actually paying his bills.
Al said that he spoke with Kiffin, gave him a letter at that time and had a second one fed ex'd as a follow up. That's why the letter says Hand delivered and Fed ex'd. Al was making his case and stating his issues clearly and concisely.
I don't see that same sort of response in return. Maybe Kiffin sent a return letter of his own and Al conveniently forgot to mention that. We'll probably never know.
I know a bunch of you think everything will be solved through the courts, and if so, you weren't listening very well. Roger Goodell has the final say on this, at least according to Al. There is no way the NFL would allow contracts to be written that would let their business get thrown around the court room.
Expect this to be handled like the New England Video Production case. A quick decision that we will probably never here anyone inside the NFL every mention again after it's announced.
But enough on Kiffin's eulogy, I have a couple more comments on yesterday's events, then it's on to the future.
Knapp will do the play calling from now on. I know what Al said, and maybe Kiffin was a great ventriloquist, but most of the time I've looked at the sidelines since Russell took over last year, Knapp has been the guy at or near the LOS with the cardboard over his mouth while Kiffin has been 10-20 yards down field with his arms at his side.
Now maybe Kiffin was relaying the calls to Knapp and Knapp was simply sending the plays in to Russell, but watching from the sideline, it certainly has LOOKED like Knapp was calling the plays.
Yesterday I wrote that I didn't think Kiffin would be fired and one of the big reasons why was that in the interviews with Cable and Knapp, I didn't see them throwing Kiffin under the bus and I didn't see Al hiring Hackett as HC.
With Tom Cable being announced as "interim" Head Coach he certainly seemed to come down on the side of the Raiders over Kiffin. If there has been one position on offense that has seemed to do well, it's the OL so Cable "earned" this promotion. Was he the best choice over all? That I don't know.
But like I said earlier, Al made an All In bet. All the chips are on the table. In my own personal opinion, I think a big reason why Al wanted to work it out with Kiffin was because season ticket sales would have fallen off sharply had the Raiders terminated Kiffin last year. I think a part of the reason why Kiffin is gone now is because if Al did this at the end of the season, season tickets would be hard to sell next year.
So Al has removed the band aid quickly and exposed the wound. If Cable produces, and goes 7-5 or better on the rest of the season, I think folks will re up, happy just because we didn't have to suffer through another losing season and optimistic on the future with a coach with a winning record.
If he goes 6-6, Al might be able to sell some tickets, but he's gonna have to do something to give some spark.
If Cable goes 5-7 or worse, we have another 10 loss season, regardless of the case, that will be it for many fans. Not that they'll jump ship or teams, but many won't shell out the money for season tickets until they see real change.
Although it sounds as if Al is looking at brining in a real football man next season anyway. He said it's someone local which can mean anywhere in CA, but more likely the bay area. Al said he's talked with him, so it's got to be someone who's not currently working for an NFL team.
I don't follow college ball much, but my hunch would be someone in the athletic department of either one of the local colleges, or possibly the GM of the Saber Cats. I'd look for someone with NFL experience.
My long shot would be Mike Holmgren who's retiring next year from the Seahawks. I'd heard that he's looking to move up, but maybe it wasn't in Seatle? Maybe he still has his home in the bay area and is looking to come home. But like I said, that's a long shot and just total speculation, but THAT is the type of name Al would need to reel in in order to sell season tickets next year if Cable fails.
So that's how I see it Raider Fans. I REALLY liked Kiffin, I hope to Al that he doesn't wind up in the west. I think the kid learned a real lesson here and you can bet your ass that if he ever does make it back into the NFL, his opinion on getting up for certain teams will change 180 degrees.
Written by Rob Shipe ;^) at Fans In Black
http://www.raiderfans.com/article.php?story=20081001120153474