Lane Duck Kiffin

by Tim Kawakami

Straight out of today’s paper (I think–I haven’t double-checked so maybe I was whacked out of there, too; I know it wasn’t on the website that I could see)… Plus one quick add-on:

Hey, Lane Kiffin wants to remain the Raiders coach. He says. Well, those are the words he says. Terrific!

Things have been said, columns have been written, the Raiders have erupted and we all know what the end result will be: Kiffin will cease to be the Raiders coach at some point in the next few weeks or months.

I mean, even Al Davis can’t keep a coach out of spite, can he?

I’ll go over these quick three things, which I’m doing I must admit because I’ve typed often for a long time now:

* Kiffin went 4-12. No Raider coach under Davis has ever been retained after winning fewer than 5 games. There’s a reason for this–any coach who can’t win games is letting the Big Man Down.

* At least one of our Bay Area franchises has switched coaches every year since the end of the 2001 season, and Kiffin would make it six straight years. (And three-for-the-last-three for AD.)

End of 2001: Jon Gruden traded by Raiders.
End of 2002: Steve Mariucci fired by 49ers.
End of 2003: Bill Callahan fired by Raiders.
End of 2004: Dennis Erickson fired by 49ers.
End of 2005: Norv Turner fired by Raiders.
End of 2006: Art Shell fired by Raiders.
End of 2007: Kiffin?

* Other than understanding that Kiffin did a decent job in 2007, I do have one thing to ask him, rhetorically:

-Lane, what did you expect? The only reason you got the Raiders job is because nobody else any good wanted it… So why were you going to be any different?

Chaos got Kiffin this job. Chaos will drive him out.

Now he’s a Lane Duck for the remainder of his Raiders career, whether its two days, two weeks or…