lane kiffin

Sports Network) - It was Boyz II Men who profoundly said "It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday." Football fans across America - or at least the couple hundred who tuned in to see the 2-8 Oakland Raiders face the 4-6 Kansas City Chiefs - felt the sting of saying so long to the good ol' days on Sunday when Lane Kiffin's club unchained itself from the dungeon that was their division losing streak. It was a losing streak that was at 17 and nearing the three- year mark. The Raiders' 20-17 victory also ended their current six-game losing streak, as well as their nine-game losing streak to the Chiefs. No need to call the cops now - the Raiders are no longer streaking.

"It is all the same," said running back Justin Fargas, who rushed for 139 yards on 22 carries (the first Raider to reach the century mark on the ground against the Chiefs in 29 years, in case you needed another snapped streak).

"It feels good to beat the Chiefs. It feels good to get a divisional win and get things going in the right direction for this team."

Nostalgic football fans may not feel comfortable with the unfamiliar situation of seeing Oakland win like this, but if Kiffin's crew continues to run the ball this well, and win the special teams battles this convincingly, then AFC West victories may no longer come once every 18 games. Accountability and aggressiveness goes a long ways.

"We talked about it (Saturday) night," Kiffin said, "putting it in our players' hands, giving them a chance to win and make sure we weren't going to play conservative. We weren't going to play to lose, we were going to play to win. We did it today."


JAMARCUS RUSSELL WATCH

Funny how the clamor seems to stop after a victory. A week ago, those who were still talking about the Raiders were outwardly pondering what day would mark the NFL debut of top draft pick JaMarcus Russell. But with Daunte Culpepper completing 15-22 passes for 170 yards in a victory over the Chiefs, the commotion over the 6'6", 255-pound rookie hurler is expected to die down for the next few days. The calm won't last - no matter how well the Raiders continue to play. But since it is here, we might as well enjoy the reprieve from speculation.


WHO'S HOT

Defensive end Derrick Burgess has been quiet most of this season. After reaching the quarterback 27 times in his first two years with the Raiders, Burgess entered Sunday's game at Kansas City with just three sacks. However, he upped that number to five after working against a feeble Kansas City outside front line.


WHO'S NOT

Running back Dominic Rhodes was slated behind LaMont Jordan on the depth chart Sunday. Rhodes did not have a carry on offense, though he did return three kicks for a total of 56 yards.


NEXT UP

The Raiders stay home to face the arch-rival Denver Broncos. Mike Shanahan's team comes in with a record of 5-6.

Lane Kiffin
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Lane Kiffin
Date of birth May 9, 1975 (1975-05-09) (age 32)
Place of birth Bloomington, MN
Position(s) Head coach
College Fresno State
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1997-1998

1999-2000

2001

2002-2006

2005-2006

2007 - present Fresno State
(quarterbacks coach)
Colorado State
(offensive line coach)
Southern California
(tight ends coach)
Southern California
(wide receivers coach)
Southern California
(offensive coordinator)
Oakland Raiders
(head coach)
Lane Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is the head coach of the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the offensive coordinator for the University of Southern California Trojans football team.[1] Age 31 at the time of his hiring (32 when he coached his first NFL game), Kiffin became the youngest head coach in National Football League history; he also surpassed the New York Jets' Eric Mangini and the Pittsburgh Steelers' recently-hired Mike Tomlin as the youngest head coach since the AFL-NFL Merger.

Contents
1 Background
2 University of Southern California
3 Oakland Raiders
4 External links
5 References



[edit] Background
He is the son of veteran college and NFL coach Monte Kiffin, who currently serves as defensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Kiffin is a 1994 graduate of Bloomington Jefferson High School in Minnesota and a 1998 graduate of Fresno State University. He played quarterback for the Bulldogs and immediately moved into coaching at Fresno State following graduation. Kiffin also worked for two years as an assistant at Colorado State University.


[edit] University of Southern California
Kiffin joined the USC staff in 2001 as the tight ends coach and became the wide receivers coach in 2002. In 2004, he added the duties of passing game coordinator and was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2005. Kiffin also took the reins as recruiting coordinator that year, after offensive coordinator Norm Chow left USC to do the same job for the NFL's Tennessee Titans. Along with these duties, Kiffin continued as the wide receivers coach.

During Kiffin's tenure with USC, he was instrumental in the development of several wide receivers and tight ends in the program. While he was there, USC produced noted talents such as NFL draftees Mike Williams, Keary Colbert, Kareem Kelly, Alex Holmes and Dominique Byrd. In addition, Steve Smith and Dwayne Jarrett of the 2006 USC Trojans football team were both selected in the second round of the 2007 NFL draft by the New York Giants and the Carolina Panthers, respectively. Patrick Turner, Fred Davis and several other young new recruits such Vidal Hazelton, Travon Patterson and Jamere Holland seem likely to continue the trend of excellence at this position. Notably, Lane Kiffin also helped amass the number-one recruiting class in the nation, the past several years (as evaluated by organizations such as Scout.com and Rivals.com).

In 2005, USC head coach Pete Carroll selected Kiffin to replace Norm Chow as offensive coordinator. Despite being new to the role, Lane Kiffin helped guide USC to a 23-3 win-loss record during his tenure in this capacity (an 88% win percentage). During the previous four years under Norm Chow's play calling, the Trojans achieved 41 wins and 9 losses (82%). Under Kiffin in 2005 the USC offense produced school records in virtually every dimension, averaging 49.1 points and 579 yards per game. USC's potent offense that season became the first in NCAA history to have a 3,000 yard passer (Matt Leinart), two 1,000 yard rushers (Reggie Bush & LenDale White), and a 1,000 yard receiver (Dwayne Jarrett). Steve Smith fell a few yards short of also surpassing 1,000 yards in receiving. With an all new offensive cast at the skill positions and in what was generally viewed as a rebuilding year for USC the offensive totals fell off to 30.5 point, and 391 yards per game, and 11 wins overall. Injuries affected the team all year as three fullbacks went down to major injury by the third game of the year, several freshman running backs rotated as starting tailback, and wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett missed parts of the mid-season due to injury. Despite these losses and key injuries the team produced top 20 statistics in most NCAA offensive categories and concluded with an impressive 32-18 win over what was the consensus #2 ranked team the University of Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

Despite all the teams achievements, Lane Kiffin's work with the USC Trojans over his two-year period as offensive coordinator is sometimes harshly judged for what it did not accomplish � win national championships � as compared to the previous two seasons in 2003 and 2004. Furthermore offensive play-calling responsibilities for USC were shared during this period with QB coach Steve Sarkisian having on-the-field approval for Kiffin's suggestions and head coach Pete Carroll maintaining veto power. Lack of clarity and final say over play calling responsibility has left some controversy over how much decision making power Kiffin wielded versus Sarkisian and Carroll during his two-year tenure as offensive coordinator.

After an upset loss to the UCLA Bruins to close the 2006 season, eliminating USC from the 2006 BCS title game, there were reports in the news media that previous coordinator Norm Chow publicly criticized the young coordinator along with quarterbacks coach Steve Sarkisian. He was interviewed by the Orange County Register.

" I know DeWayne Walker may be better than both of those guys, DeWayne Walker is a heck of a football coach, which is why I wasn't too surprised he did what he did at UCLA.[2] "

Other sources however point out that Chow's comments were taken out of context in this regard and did not reflect his intended meaning. These reports indicate the following conversation ensued over the airwaves.

" Host: Coach, here back in Los Angeles, USC, a couple of your proteges in Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian, taking over as offensive coordinators for the Trojans, they've uh, taken a lot of heat, and Joe mentioned especially after the UCLA game. Any thoughts on those two guys and the job they've done since you left? Norm Chow Reply: Nah, you know I don't get a chance to follow much, you know we're so busy doing what we're doing, um, you know LenDale keeps me informed of all that but I really don't, don't know. You know I know DeWayne Walker maybe better than both of those guys and DeWayne's a heck of a football coach and that's why it wasn't too surprising when DeWayne did what he did with UCLA.[3] "

The contents of the interview are available for download at KLAC 570AM radio's website[4]


[edit] Oakland Raiders
Raiders' owner Al Davis hired Kiffin on January 23, 2007, making him the youngest head coach in Raiders history, and the youngest head coach since the formation of the modern NFL. [2] Davis has been known to select young, up-and-coming coaches in their thirties; those hires who fared well include Tom Flores, John Madden, Mike Shanahan and Jon Gruden. All have won Super Bowls, though Madden and Flores are the only ones to win a championship with the Raiders.

On August 12th, 2007, in his NFL Head Coaching debut, Kiffin and the Raiders won their preseason opener 27-23 over the Arizona Cardinals.

The next day, August 13th, Kiffin was hospitalized with a viral infection, which doctors believe is mononucleosis.

Lane Kiffin, recorded his first win as a NFL Head Coach September 23 2007. The Oakland Raiders defeated the Cleveland Browns 26-24 on a blocked Field Goal by Tommy Kelley (DE/DT).

On November 27th, 2007, Joe Schad reported on ESPN's 1st Take that Kiffin may have interest in the vacated head coaching position at The University of Arkansas. Kiffin's father, Monte, was once a coordinator at Arkansas under Lou Holtz in the 1970's.