THE SAGA CONTINUES
Kiffin still coach, getting prepared for Buffalo game
David White, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
(09-15) 20:34 PDT -- Raiders coach Lane Kiffin did what all NFL coaches do the day after Sunday. He broke down game video. He met with the coaching staff. He held a news conference to talk up the next opponent with the media.
The difference is, unlike his 31 peers, Kiffin has absolutely no idea if he'll be allowed back for his next work shift. All he can do is wait and see if Raiders owner Al Davis will fire him after 18 games or let him continue at least through Sunday's game at Buffalo.
"He has a decision to make," Kiffin said Monday at team headquarters in Alameda. "It's not my call. You gotta go somewhere else to find that answer."
Davis isn't sharing his thought process with many inside the organization, much less reporters and the paying public. His silence has everyone - from the front office to the coaching staff and players - wondering if Kiffin will be around when practice resumes Wednesday.
"We've been dealing with that since March," said receiver Ronald Curry, who has had four coaches in seven Oakland seasons. "It's business, and hopefully it doesn't happen. I think Kiffin does a great job, but it's Al's team and I think Kiffin knew that when he got here.
"Everybody knows what's going on."
Kiffin's crime isn't losing, though he is 5-13 since his hire in January 2007. The issue is what Davis considers to be ongoing insubordination in the form of Kiffin's public criticism of all things Davis over the past six months.
Kiffin's open-mouth policy has brought his job status to the point of crisis - on that, most everyone agrees. He has been blunt in his criticism over his limited control over player personnel, his coaching staff and defensive schemes.
The situation came to a head last week, multiple team sources said, when Kiffin distanced himself from a defense that allowed 41 points in the season opener, saying Ryan and Davis run that side of the ball.
By going to the media with his concerns since training camp started, he flew in the face of an owner who wants all team matters handled in-house by coaches who toe the company line and use team buzzwords like Pride and Poise.
"I've been nothing but extremely honest with you guys," Kiffin said. "Maybe that's caused issues at times. There's going to be times ... I got to tell you the way it is, and that's all I did."
Here's the way it is now:
When Kiffin met with reporters at 2 p.m. Monday, he had not spoken to or heard from Davis since Sunday's 23-8 victory in Kansas City. Kiffin had no idea if or when he would have his next conversation with Davis.
Kiffin has kept busy trying to keep his coaching staff together and his players focused on the Bills at hand.
The staff part isn't so easy, not with multiple assistants considered in-house candidates to replace Kiffin. The potentials include defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, wide receivers coach James Lofton, linebackers coach Don Martindale and running backs coach Tom Rathman.
The players' part was easier when the team was in Kansas City and sequestered from the outside world. The players knew nothing about Kiffin's hot seat until after the game.
When they returned to Oakland on Sunday night and turned on the news, that's when Kiffin started getting phone calls at home.
"Obviously, this is something that's been brewing even before I got here," said wide receiver Javon Walker, who signed the Raiders in March. "I'm just rolling with the punches. All I know is we've got to stick together as a team ... win games and hopefully let this override."
All that remains is for Davis to make his decision, and the decision is all his to make. Until then, Kiffin and the rest of the employees will continue doing the limbo toward Sunday, trying to prepare like an ordinary NFL team.
"I want to be here," Kiffin said. "It would be a neat thing to be a part of, if we can do it right, to get a turnaround done around here."
Briefly: Running back Justin Fargas had an MRI exam on a groin injury Monday. The results won't be announced until the team returns to practice Wednesday. ... Kiffin doesn't expect Darren McFadden's turf toe to keep him out Sunday.
Excerpts from Monday's Lane Kiffin news conference C2
EXCERPTS FROM KIFFIN'S NEWS CONFERENCE
Q: Did part of you wake up this morning thinking you were going to be fired?
A: Not necessarily. I'm worried about what I can control. I've said that now for over a year and a half since we've been here. There are certain things I can control; there's certain things I can't.
Q: Is it an issue in the building, among players and assistants?
A: I think you feel it a little bit anytime that there's so much media coverage about something and so many things, and you read something, and "this comes from the building, and this comes from the building," anytime that that happens, I think you have some issues.
Q: You find it hard to work under these circumstances?
A: Well, I don't think it helps. But like I said, I can't do anything about it. ... I guess a bunch of things were on the news last night, so I had players calling me at home last night that were upset, or all the different emotions that they go through. I said stop worrying about it. I can't control it. You certainly can't control it. So let's go back to work tomorrow, and we'll take it one day at a time.
Q: You talked in camp about your "working relationship with Al." Can you describe it now? Did you two not talk on the plane or after the game?
A: No, I haven't. But that's not unusual. Don't make a big deal out of it. That's very normal. We don't sit next to each other on the plane. Al's not around as much as he used to be. He's around the office or he's at practice. He wasn't there all last week so I didn't see him. There's nothing new, that's not a result of anything that happened or any issues with him or I. That's just how the setup is.
Q: Are you getting to the point where you go in his office and want a vote of confidence or a resolution?
A: No, I don't need that. Guys, I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about getting this team to play well and keep them together and not letting those distractions get to them.
Q: How bad to you want to remain Raiders coach?
A: I want to be here. I think we have a real good group of players, and there are so many things going in the right direction with a bunch of young guys. ... I've said it before, I think the neatest thing that can happen is when a place has been down for a while, and has not won many games, and you come in and you win and you're part of that process. ... We have a chance to do that, we have a bunch of new players that have come in, that would have a chance to be part of that story, and it starts with a quarterback being drafted to a franchise that's been down, now to add the running back to it. It would be a neat thing to be a part of, if we can do it right to get a turnaround done here.
Q: Have you talked to defensive coordinator Rob Ryan about your relationship?
A: I talk to Rob 10 times a day. We just got done watching this film together. I don't have any issues with Rob.
Q: So there was no tension last week?
A: The part that I saw of Rob's press conference last week, I didn't take that it was really at me. I took it as Rob had to do what Rob had to do. Rob told me that morning that that was going to happen. He already knew that he had to do that. He told me that morning that that was going to take place so I had no problem with it.
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