Al Davis Uses His One Phone Call To Break Up with Lane Kiffin

Long Live Al Davis and Long Live Raiders Futility

The man who coined the phrase, "Just win, baby!," and made "Commitment to excellence" synonymous with the once proud Oakland Raiders pro-football organization may have finally succeeded in leading his moribund franchise to rock bottom on Tuesday, firing Head Coach Lane Kiffin.

Rumors of Coach K's demise, which have been circulating around the Interweb since the beginning of the season, were finally confirmed today when Raiders' owner, Al Davis, broke up with his youthful, dimple-chinned manager over the phone.

C'mon, Al. I thought older gentlemen such as yourself had more tact than that.

To make matters much worse, Davis exposed himself as the worst kind of owner in professional sports, one who commits slander and attempts to publicly humiliate his former employees, as he did by calling Kiffin a liar and saying that the coach had "disgraced" the team in an embarrassing press conference, in which he erringly cited just cause for firing Kiffin.

Kiffin Should Have Signed A Pre-Nup

Evidence that the honeymoon was over for the 33-year old head coach—the league's youngest—began even before the Raiders suited up for their first game of the season against the Denver Broncos, when rumors of the coach's imminent firing were first reported. I wrote about the topic here.

To his credit, Kiffin handled the media speculation and questions about his stability as the Raiders coach with dignity and aplomb throughout the first quarter of the 2008 NFL season, repeatedly deflecting comments and questions regarding then-uncited criticism from the Raiders' brass and maintaining that his focus was on coaching the Oakland Raiders.

Kiffin continued to show humility and grace in a post-firing interview with ESPN's Trey Wingo, in which he said he felt sadness for Al Davis.

Now Davis doesn't want to pay Kiffin the money owed to him on the remainder of his three-year, $6 million contract.

Raiders On-Field Performance Improved Under Kiffin

When Davis hired Kiffin in 2007, he did so knowing the young coach would inherit a 2-14 Raiders group, and a team that compiled an NFL-worst 15-49 record in the four years (2003-2006) following its most recent Super Bowl appearance, which they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and another former Raiders coach, Jon Gruden, 48-21.

Kiffin only slightly improved Oakland's winning percentage (.250) in his first year with a 4-12 record, but signs of improvement were beginning to show with an impressive 34-20 triumph over their bitter AFC West rival, the Denver Broncos, in Week 13.

The defeat of the Broncos followed a 20-17 victory over the Chiefs at Kansas City in Week 12 and signified back-to-back divisional wins for a Raiders team that had lost its previous 17 matchups against AFC West opponents.

Despite a 1-3 start to the 2008 campaign, Kiffin's Raiders displayed continued signs of progress behind a rejuvenated offensive attack, led by a talented young quarterback in JaMarcus Russell and a potent rushing attack, spearheaded by rookie running back Darren McFadden and his backfield mate, Justin Fargas.

The team's 23-8 victory over Herm Edward's Kansas City Chiefs in Week Two, and fourth-quarter leads over the surprising Buffalo Bills and perennial AFC power San Diego Chargers

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