No one is saying Lane Kiffin might be the second coming of Jon Gruden in Oakland, but those who have watched how the two operate can't help making early comparisons. Kiffin, at 31, is the youngest head coach in the NFL. Gruden was too, at age 34 when he was hired by the Raiders in 1998. What jumps out about both men, who had never been pro head coaches before, is their work ethic. Source: Jim Jenkins, The Sacramento Bee
Wow, for a second I thought this was supposed to be in the Smut forum, when I saw the title... :twisted:
Unlike a lot of 49er fans, I hope the Raiders do well (it's about the Bay, baby), and I would like to see this Kiffin kid succeed. Unfortunately for him, he is coming into a significantly worse team than Gruden, he has less NFL experience, and Crazy Al seems to be getting less and less patient the older that he gets. I think it would be in the Raiders best interest if Al gave up not ownership, but control of the team, hired a young GM with a little more patience and understanding of how to build a football team in the modern era, and let him do his thing with minimal interference (which would of course never happen, but nonetheless).