When Al Davis fired Lane Kiffin as coach of the Raiders three years ago, Davis said Kiffin was a “disgrace to the organization.” Kiffin says the real disgrace is that the organization is led by an owner who demands control but can’t get out of bed in time to get to work.
In an interview with ESPN.com, Kiffin said he doesn’t see how a coach can win in the current climate in Oakland.
“It is almost impossible,” Kiffin said. “I don’t know why I didn’t listen, [because] so many people told me that. That’s why, if you ask [University of Washington coach Steve Sarkisian], he didn’t go. He had a chance to go. You’re just so far behind other clubs. You’re waiting for [Davis] to wake up and come to work at 2 o’clock in the afternoon to make decisions that the rest of the league is making at 6 o’clock in the morning. You’re still running videotapes over to the hotel so he can watch practice at night.”
Kiffin, who’s now the head coach at USC, sounds like he feels more pity than anger toward the 82-year-old Davis.
“It was sad, really, to see somebody who’s accomplished so much in his career and been such a powerful figure in the NFL,” Kiffin said. “To see that was actually pretty sad to watch.”
“Sad to watch” pretty well describes football in Oakland over the last several years.