Top 3 Former Raiders Head Coaches Still Making Headlines
It was announced on Monday that former Oakland Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin will be taking a job as the head coach of Florida Atlantic University (FAU).
Kiffin spent a season and a half with Oakland during an era when the Raiders had a difficult time finding a decent head coach.
The Raiders now have stability with its current head coach, Jack Del Rio, but from 2004-2014, it was hard to predict who the head coach would be in the following season.
It has been 13 years between winning seasons for the Raiders and during that time, the team has shuffled through head coach after head coach.
Almost all of the former head coaches in the last 13 seasons have gone on to have considerable success elsewhere.
Just two have gone on to be a head coach for another NFL team, while some have become accomplished coordinators, assistants and college coaches.
Here's a look at the three former Oakland head coaches who are still making headlines in college or the NFL:
1. Lane Kiffin (2007-08)
FAU will be his first head coaching job since being fired from USC in 2013. He has been a joke in head coaching discussions after leaving a mess in every organization for which he has coached.
Drama has seemingly followed Kiffin everywhere he has been.
The Kiffin Era in Oakland led to one of the most entertaining break ups between an NFL owner and head coach. After leading the team to a 4-12 record in his one full season as the head coach, Al Davis fired Kiffin in the middle of the 2008 season.
Kiffin was hired as the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, but left for USC after just one season. Kiffin never had much success in college until he became the offensive coordinator for Alabama in 2014.
The FAU football team has probably never been talked about by the mainstream sports media before today, but if Kiffin's track record is any indication, there should be quite a bit of drama coming out of the school in the coming years.
Good luck, FAU.
2. Hue Jackson (2011)
Jackson has been in NFL headlines a lot during this current season, but it's for all the wrong reasons. After spending the last four seasons in Cincinnati as one of the best offensive coordinators in football, Jackson is in his first season as the Cleveland Browns' head coach.
His Browns have yet to win a game this season.
He's widely regarded as an offense and quarterback guru, but he still hasn't had the slightest bit of success in Cleveland. If he is fired after one season as the team's head coach, it would be the second time of his career.
The Raiders fired Jackson after just one season as the team's head coach, however, that Oakland team was far better than this year's Browns. In 2011, the Silver and Black finished the season with an 8-8 record.
His firing was a bit premature, but that was a very Oakland Raiders thing to do back then.
3. Norv Turner (2004-05)
Turner has been a well-respected coach in the NFL over the past 40 years, but early in the 2016 season, he resigned from his position as the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings.
He didn't announce his retirement, but never made it clear why he was taking a break from coaching.
The Vikings' offense was struggling with him calling the plays, but most of the success he has had during his career is solely based on his offensive knowledge.
One of the few places Turner didn't have success at was, of course, Oakland. During his time as the Raiders' head coach, the team had a record of 9-23.
That record isn't indicative of his career success. After leaving Oakland, Turner went on to coach the division rival San Diego Chargers and lead them to the playoffs in the three following seasons.
