By Paul Wexler
RaiderBeat.com Staff Writer
The stench rose high over Tennessee on Monday, as Lane Kiffin stopped fighting with the other coaches in the Southeastern Conference long enough to take a couple of thinly veiled shots at his old boss.
Kiffin consented to a phone interview with Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group and took advantage of the Tom Cable situation to try to clear his own name.
“I thought I had a very good relationship with Tom Cable,” Kiffin told Inman. “I think he is a great coach. It’s unbelievable the way he teaches offensive line. We use a lot of his technique stuff and drill here, and it’s helped us improve the running game here. He is a great technician as an offensive line coach.”
What Kiffin failed to mention is that the reason they use Cable’s techniques is because he lured away James Cregg, the Raiders offensive line coach last season under coach Cable, with only two weeks left in the season. Kiffin knew what he was doing, knew it was ethically wrong, and did it anyway.
“I think that’s the wrong way to handle things,” coach Cable said the day after he was informed by Cregg that he was leaving. “I think that anybody in their right mind would understand the college rules. They’re in a dead period starting next weekend. So, James’ services are really only needed for the next five days, at which time we’ll be done in a couple weeks. In terms of that, if James wanted to take a position, he should have at that time.”
Cable wasn’t pleased with Kiffin or Cregg. The loyalty that the Raiders always have prided themselves on had been tossed aside. Cable explained it to the media thusly.
“Well, it would be the same thing if you were the editor at your paper and you taught me everything I know and then I said, ‘You know what, I’m out of here.’ That’s exactly how you would feel. I’m pissed. That’s the best way to put it. Quite frankly, that’s the only way I can put it.”
Now Kiffin is praising the coach, suggesting that he has not had enough time to install what he wants to install.
“I would think he definitely should have another season after this, at least,” Kiffin said.
Kiffin is cold and calculating with every move he makes. He clearly has an agenda: he wants to make Davis look bad, he wants to distance himself from the JaMarcus Russell pick.
By suddenly coming out in favor of coach Cable, claiming what an amazing talent he is, Kiffin is laying complete blame for the Raiders failures squarely on the shoulders of Mr. Davis.
Reading between the lines, Kiffin is telling you, Hey, Cable is a great coach and he could not win there, either. See, it wasn’t my fault.
Last December, Cable agreed that Kiffin’s poaching of Cregg was just another way of throwing Davis the middle finger one more time.
“You know, maybe it is,” Cable said. “For me, I got a lot of respect for him — had a lot of respect for him — and then to do this is ridiculous. It’s wrong. Wrong in this business, wrong in the business of coaching.”
Mr. Davis called Kiffin a liar the day he fired him. It doesn’t look like much has changed in the 13-plus months since that day, when Cable replaced Kiffin.
Kiffin also told Inman of Cable, “I thought he was a first-class coach and a great person.”
That is a far cry from what Kiffin was saying after he was fired, when, according to a league source, “Kiffin was trashing Cable to almost anyone that would listen.”
Now, sensing an opportunity to come off as a sympathetic figure, Kiffin is using Cable the way he uses people on a daily basis: to paint himself in a more favorable light.
Sorry, Lance, it doesn’t take an overhead projector to see what was really going on here. Even a South Carolina gas station attendant could figure out this one.
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EXCELLENT ending to the article. Loved every word of it, Wex. Keep it up! RAIDER NATION!
Seems to me kiffin is doing well right now. raiders are not. I still don’t know if cable is the right man for the job. Trust me I want him to be, but as long as he keeps doing it al’s way (keeping JR in the game)I don’t think he will make it. I think JR is the bullet in the gun for Coach Cable. Sorry Cable but if you stick with JR, then you deserve what comes your way.It’s not all that bad you can alway’s go back to Idaho, and be a colledge coach again. good luck.
I said from day 1,Coach Cable was not a Xs and Os type coach.Nor is he a personell guy.He can’t even see that he needs “veteran” recievers in the game.Agreat O line coach he is.However it seems as though he is scared to do things his way like Kiffin did.If Cable continues to listen to every word out of Al his head coaching days are through.Why some coaches stand by the one player that seems to get them fired is beyond me.I can tell you one thing I am so tired of watching the team I love self destruct themselvs.I keep praying that Jon Gruden is going to walk through the front door and save our franchise once again,not only him but also Bruce Allen.Come on Al do the right thing.
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WOW WEX i had alot of respect for you and raiderbeat until this stupidity. SERIOUSLY? KIFFIN WASNT A BAD COACH. actually hes the best weve had in recent years.. things that kiffin wanted to install. here they are and tell me if you disagree..
BRING IN MONTE KIFFIN WITH HIS SCHEMES.
NOT PICK JRUSS.
GO AFTER A BETTER QB.
FIRE ROB “i cant coach” RYAN.
NOW tell me .. is that really bad?? hell we had a better Offense when he was here. and all of you davis lovers are bashing kiffin because he told everybody the truth. HE KNEW HE WAS GNNA GET FIRED. so y wouldnt he try to get a job in TEN.??? he stood up to davis and got fired. but atleast he stood up to the old geezer. and if you REAL RAIDER FANS REMEMBER .. WE WERE IN MOSTLY EVERY GAME LAST YEAR TIL OUR D FUCKD IT UP… the real problem here is davis and his outrageous acts and you ppl eat it up. and wex i really hope you read this and give me some honest answers to why u dont like him… thanks you.
cali, im with ya. i was a kiffin supporter, i liked that he tried that personable route the first year and saw it didnt work so he came back the second year and asshole (grudenish). i didnt like that he was fired or even worse the way davis did it. BUT NONE OF THAT OR THIS MATTERS. im sick of this never ending opportunity for JAMARCUS LEAF stifling our backups and our season. END IT NOW.
Lord Al made a HUGE error in hiring Kid Kiffin. He is a temerarious twit.
Cable sucks too. I mean, he had a losing record at F N IDAHO.
The ONLY Coaches who will work for Crazy Al are kids and losers.
As for The Raiders attacking ESPN, grow up. Do you expect us to believe that ESPN cares about you incompetent fools? Yeah, I guess a complicated conspiracy was established amongst OTL and the women Cable has hit so as to bring down the Raiders. Right.
Bring them down - where? They are THE biggest joke in professional sports.
I guarantee this week that JaBust wont make any mistakes, come Sunday, he wont underthrow no one, overthrow no one, he will be perfect, no INTs and fumbles, no screaming at his coach, no 3 and outs, who wants to bet some money……lol
I like when someone says Cable isnt the right guy for the job … Theres along list of guys that arent the right guy for the job for the past 6 yrs … Its not the coach its the owner and we all know that … I believe in Cable i just wish he could do his job and not have the owner do his job…
“he lured away James Cregg, the Raiders offensive line coach last season under coach Cable, with only two weeks left in the season. Kiffin knew what he was doing, knew it was ethically wrong, and did it anyway”
I think Kiffin did Cregg a favor by pulling him away from the Raiders “organization”
“The loyalty that the Raiders always have prided themselves on had been tossed aside”
How about showing the fans some loyalty? Remember us? Plan on moving again any time soon?
“Kiffin is cold and calculating with every move he makes. He clearly has an agenda: he wants to make Davis look bad, he wants to distance himself from the JaMarcus Russell pick”
Davis doesn’t need Kiffins help to look bad, Davis looks bad all by himself. Who wouldn’t want to distance themselves from the Russell pick, oh yeah, Al Davis.
If we wouldve hired Monte Kiffin as a D-Coord. That wouldve ment no more Man-to-Man.. in other words, Asomugha would be playing off his Receivers(D.Hall style) and getting burn at times. Or we wouldve just not resigned Asomugha (since we wouldve gotten rid of the Man to man and gotten after a cover 2 or tampa 2 CB)
Come-on now ernie72 do you really think Jagrimace won’t fumble at least one donut or chicken leg? I’m sure there will be lots of both so there is a pretty good chance that he’ll fumble something, whether it be food a football or his words there is always something fumbling with him.
“Kiffin consented to a phone interview with Cam Inman of the Bay Area News Group and took advantage of the Tom Cable situation to try to clear his own name.”
So how did Kiffon “slither in” when he consented to an interview. I’m sure Cam Inman asked questions to which Kiffin gave his response. Isn’t that how it works WEXEL?
HiMyNaMeIsCaLi….Im with you on the Raiders were much better off with kiffin than without him. Not that Im a big Kiffin fan by any means but at least he understands how to build a modern day football team with schemes that will work in todays game and if you ask how I know just look at the list of things HiMyNaMeIsCaLi listed on his post. Any coach with just a little bit of competence would be better than that old fool Al Davis making all the decisions for this team. Yea kiffin might have took advantage of this situation to show the old fool up but he had it coming for being so ignorant and high and mighty. I would say Al Davis is the biggest joke in professional sports…and no im not a lousy Raider fan for not supporting this mindless decision making of Davis. Why would any real Raider fan support the garbage that has been on the field for the last 7 years when it has been totally uncalled for. Pathetic long shot draft picks,rediculous free agent signing, bad trades, picking “yes men” coaches,outdated defensive schemes, trying to win “Als way” and not just trying to win….list can go on and on and on and on like the energizer bunny.
Anyone who doesn’t fall in line with the old man is okay with me. We could use a coach with some back bone, someone who’s willing to do what he believes and not follow grandpa off the cliff to keep cashing his check.
Lets see your 2-6 and have been outscored by 123 points. The owner is a controling old woman that has taken a once proud franchise into the shitter. Your head coach broke another coaches jaw and might be a wife beater. Starting QB is the size of a guard and you’ve traded away your 1st round pick in 2011 to a team with a history of raping you….
yeah, blame the University of Tennessee coach. You guys won’t be good till Al is in a box.
Tom Cable a great O-Line coach? Please. He was a pathetic excuse for an O-Line coach, too,just as he is for a head coach. His O-Line was always the most penalized line in the league. Obviously, you can’t be considered even a decent coach if your unit lacks the basic fundamental knowledge to prevent committing penalties. Tom Cable has gotten along far too long in this league pulling the wool over people’s eyes. Open them up and realize the guy lacks respect from his players causing his words to go in one ear and out the other. They fail to show up and perform for him come game day on a consistent basis. That, is the ultimate sign of disrespect. Show him the door and the Raiders will improve from that moment forward.
Spwn474-I’m with you about Cable.if he was able to coach the team the way he wanted to,I think he would be more than capable as a head coach.Also I don’t his play calling is as bad as some think.I do admit it has been a bit predictable at times.However I can’t think of any games where play calling cost us the game.It comes down to execution.The fact is the players mainly Russell arn’t making the plays!When the season ends with 3 or 4 wins Cable will be Al’s scape goat.A new puppet will be hired and the cycle will start all over again.If Al loves the Raiders as much as he says he does,he will do the right thing and pass the torch!GO RAIDERS!!!!!!!
insanity20mike, How’d that Monty Kiffin defense work when the Raiders were last in a Super Bowl? Pretty darn good, huh?
Spwn474&rosetownraider, What was Cable’s excuse when he was head coach of Idaho and had a .279 winning percntage over the course of four years, eventually being fired from his own alma mater? None! Zip! Nada! Zero! In other words, he has no frikkin excuse. Plain and simple, the guy’s a horrible head coach. He stinks. The sooner he’s gone the better off the Raiders will be.
I love the Kiffin hating. He was a way better coach than Cable. Just another way for the brainless to make themselves feel just for outing the guy. Also, I don’t appreciate the cheap shot at us South Carolinians. 843 all day!!!
In my opinion Kiffin is right,it is Al’s fault,he’s the owner who medals in every aspect of this football team.That makes it completely his fault.
Excuse me Mr. Wexler, that stench you are smelling isn’t coming from Tennessee, it is coming from the front office of the Raiders.
“Kiffin knew what he was doing, knew it was ethically wrong, and did it anyway.”
Davis made a mistake hiring the kid. He had no intention of staying. He used the job as a springboard to a high-paying College Gig.
He knew what he was getting into and yet he was searching around for a College Gig while he was under contract. He is an A-hole who can not be trusted to keep his word but that is the sort of “success story” America loves.
Look, NOBODY alive wants Lord Al to retire more than do I but it IS his team and he can run it the way he desires.
Kiffin is an arrogant kid who was a F N college assistant and he thinks he can tell Lord Al what to do?
GIVE ME A BREAK.
Lord Al gave the little shit a chance. NOBODY would know who the hell he is IF Lord Al had not hired the mumbling prick.
Who needs Kid Kiffin? The little creep will drive Tennessee mad.
FUCK ALL WHO PRETEND THIS TEAM HAS “ANYTHING” THAT WOULD BE DESERVING OF MY TIME….FUCK AL DAVIS AND HIS FUCKED UP MANAGEMENT TEAM….HEY….”EVERYONE” KNOWS WHAT IS GOING ON HERE…….THE FUCKED UP OWNERSHIP HAS HIS FANS ALL DRINKING THE COOL AID…..MORE LINE SHIT AID…….I WILL BE BACK WHEN A NEW OWNER AND MANAGEMENT TEAM RUNS MY TEAM….I FEEL SORRY FOR THE PLAYERS…..SNAKES….VIPERS…….NO MORE MONEY FROM ME……AND MAX….GET THE FUCK OVER YOURSELF…..THIS IS FULL OF COOL AID…….YOU NEED TREATMENT DUDE……IM OUT!
Who the hell is Max?…
Kiffin is a fucking backstabber, granted he did stand up to Davis and of course Davis gave him the AXE.At any event, Cable will be on his way out by the end of this year and Davis in his stubborn ways will hire another no name coach who would take the job no matter what,and another year of bad drafting and ineptitude.
I seen and talked to James Cregg back in April, He had on his Raider shirts still,I had on Raider gear as well,he said he didn’t know there was Raider fans this far away…All he wanted to talk about was Lane…Said he wanted Garcia,and Raiders wouldn’t make a real pitch for him,then that Lane is gone,they sign Garcia…I told him that he would never beat Russell out..
Guess I was right on that one…He really didn’t seem like an NFL assistant coach,.At Tennessee,I think he is the Tackle/tight end coach there,.Still wearing his Raider gear,seemed like a real ass to me though.
Cregg is a grown man and capable of making decisions on his own. If anything he left because he didn’t want to be dictated how to hold his feeling about his over-tampering boss. I’m sure he left because he wanted to run his own line and have his own stamp put on the team. Stop trying to make Kiffin a villain all the time.
Guys, I live in Tennessee and travel to watch the closest Raider game that I can every year (except this year). I was disheartened when Kiffin got fired and still am. His coaching talents are shining through at a program where he has been given control. He plays Florida close @ the swamp when they were ranked #1 and if it hadn’t been for bad line blocking on 2 FG attempts would have beaten Bama @ Bama when they were ranked #1. Not to mention that they beat a good S. Carolina team very impressively.I do believe that Kiffin is a better college coach than he would have been a pro coach, but that is the quandry. We will never know because he was not given control. I thought Cable was a sensible hire. He was as good as any other lackey that was mentioned. i just know that I am tired of getting my hopes up every year and seeing the same crap on the field. This is the first time in 8 years that I have not traveled to watch a Raider game. Jamarcus is possibly the worst excuse for a QB that I have seen in a while (at least since Leaf or Harrington), but it looks like we are stuck with him for a while. I was hoping that we would have drafted Calvin johnson that year. We could have signed a pedestian vet @ QB and been farther along than we are now. I will continue to root for the Raiders every week and will probably get pi$$ed every week, but I am not a band wagon fan. I am not a coach or anything, so I can’t tell you what all they need to do to fix the mess. I do think a competent GM that had control over personel and an established coach would be a step in the right direction, but I just don’t see it happening anytime soon.
fuck james cregg…evidentlly he did our o line no good anyways. that has been one of the major problems the last 8 years so i miss him as much as rob ryan.
weird article…really just distracting from the ridiculous entity that is the raiders..when we were losing games with kiffin before he got fired they were tight games that we lost at the end while we were supposed to be “learning how to win”…the games were at least watchable…thisshit now where we get mopfucked by 40 points every week and have 39 3 and outs is an absolute embarassment and i think the raiders will be the first team in sports to have a home game where not one single raider fans shows up
Hey Pizza man,the thing is when it comes to us saying Cable is or isn’t a good coach it’s just speculation. We only know what kind of coach Al Davis is. Everyone knows the coaches on the Raiders are coaches in title only. We all know who’s calling the shots. It dosen’t matter if it’s Cable or Kiffen or Shell,Callahan or Bugle. It’s the same crap over and over and over!! I don’t follow college ball so I don’t know about what happend at Idaho. A .279 winning percentage dosen’t look to good though! Thanks for putting in your two cents. I always value the opinion of fellow Raider fans! That’s what these sites are all about,sharing our thoughts with one another.Well things can only go up from here right?GO RAIDERS!!!!!!
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Kiffen is a brat, but Al is a controlling bully. It was a lose/lose situation. Now Al is still a bully, and Cable is a yes man, but the results are the same. The common ground is Al. Nothing new here. The Raiders will not be competitive until some one other than Davis is at the controls. This is the sad truth, and everyone knows it. You don’t throw away a season so certain players get a chance to learn. You play the pros, and let the upstarts learn in practice. You play to win the game! Even Davis knew this once upon a time. It’s way past time to take the keys away from grandpa, but no one wants to be written out of the will. Here’s to your health Al! (sarcasm)
I think you got this one all wrong Wex, Kiffen was never the problem in Oakland as Al Davis has proven with every move he’s made since Kiffen was fired. I think if Kiffen had been given reigns to run the team properly and without Davis involvement, we wouldn’t have the worst qb in the league right now and probably winning alot more games because of it. The last time I checked Tenn. was playing pretty good ball in the toughest conference in college ball and probably could whip Cable’s team with ease. Believe me Kiffen didn’t have to twist Creggs arm to leave Oakland. I’m tired of people trying to put the blame for our lack of talent off on someone other than the players and coaches currently involved. If anything Kiffen should be angry with the Raiders for not letting him turn this team around which was exactly what he was trying to do.
Okay team! This is what MUST be done! Gather up J.RusseL & T.Cable and TAKE THEM OUT!!!!
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