The Oakland Raiders are much better football players than 99-plus percent of the rest of us.

It's that other fraction of one percent, other than themselves, that plays NFL football that they have trouble with.

They're 1-3, their glory days seem like long ago, and they've - oops, I mean owner Al Davis - fired the head coach. Again.

A Santa Maria Times headline Wednesday read “Raiders' Davis finally sends Kiffin packing.”

I guess “finally,” is, in this instance, a relative term. Lane Kiffin was 5-15 as Raiders coach. The rumors - gee, rumors swirling around Davis and a Raiders head coach, how surprising - about Kiffin's job status had been swirling around for weeks, though.

A common thread among troubled franchises, and your franchise has been troubled for awhile, Al, is that they tend to change field bosses a lot. And the Raiders have changed field bosses a lot since the glory days.

Granted, an Associated Press article said Kiffin's firing had more to do with his criticisms of Davis than with the team's performance on the field. That doesn't change the fundamentals of the Raiders' problem.

Advertisement

Art Shell, one heck of a football player, was widely regarded as one of the finest gentlemen in the league. He tried to make a go of it as Raiders coach and failed. Twice.

Jon Gruden was good, but after a brief successful run with the Raiders he left for Tampa Bay. Bill Callahan was put in charge as coach. Gruden's Buccaneers pounded Callahan's Team That Gruden Built in the Raiders' only Super Bowl appearance in recent memory.

Just win, baby? Now, it's just win once in awhile. Please.

There's another common thread with bad franchises. Riding the coaching merry-go-round usually doesn't work.

Sure, sometimes changing a coach or manager is the answer. Terry Collins, a nice man, was stuck managing a bunch of miserable underachievers known (then) as the Anaheim Angels.

Collins was replaced with Mike Scioscia. You wouldn't think a bunch of professional ballplayers would need a fire lit under them, but apparently the Angels did, and Scioscia was the one to do it. He led them to a World Series victory.

The Angels, though, are the exception, not the rule, when it comes to a big coaching or managerial change working quickly for a floundering franchise. Sure, Scioscia's a good manager, but the Angels have other things going for them. Good chemistry. Sound front office management.

I don't know about the Raiders' chemistry, but the sound front office management sure seems lacking.

During baseball season, the Santa Maria Valley is mostly Dodgers country. During basketball season, it's Lakers country.

The Valley's NFL loyalties seem split, but I know part of Raider Nation lives here. I don't think any members of it are jumping up and down over this latest coaching switch.

I remember the days of Plunkett, Stabler, Shell, Guy, Allen, Biletnikoff (bless that Stick em product), Casper (bless the outlawed “Holy Roller” play), ‘Tooz, Alzado, the late Gene Upshaw, et al.

Yes, the Raiders were considered the outlaws of the league for a time. They were also very, very good once upon a time. When they were at their best the Raiders, as all fine teams do, had anchors everywhere.

Now, they are largely anchorless. And as his franchise limps, Davis sits there in the owner's box with that dark look of his.

During the pre-season of what would have been quarterback JaMarcus Russell's rookie year, a rival scout correctly ripped the Raiders in a Sports Illustrated issue for not getting Russell signed. The Raiders not signing Russell was one problem. There were problems before. There have been problems since.

Offensive line coach Tom Cable inherits this mess as interim head coach. To Cable, and whomever the Raiders' eventual head coach may be, I have two words to say.

Good luck.

October 2, 2008