Raiders coach refuses to heed owner's call to resign
By Chris Mortensen
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Updated: January 25, 2008, 4:28 PM ET
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Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis has been pushing for Lane Kiffin to resign as his head coach and is considering Dennis Green as a potential replacement, sources close to Kiffin and the team told ESPN's Chris Mortensen.
Davis has gone so far to draft a letter of resignation for Kiffin to sign, a source said. Kiffin has refused to do so but has dared Davis to fire him instead.
Kiffin, who was 4-12 in his first season as coach, has two years remaining on his contract at an estimated $2 million per year.
In the letter sent to Kiffin's legal representatives, sources said Davis stated that only he would have control over his staff and full personnel decisions. According to a source close to Kiffin, Davis had promised Kiffin when he hired him that he would have more control over staff and personnel matters than recent Raiders coaches. Kiffin was allowed fire offensive assistants and to name his own staff when he took the job after the 2006 season.
"I'm not going to comment on anything that has transpired in the past three weeks," Kiffin said from Mobile, Ala., where he and the Raiders staff are coaching the North team in the Under Armour Senior Bowl college all-star game.
The Raiders had no immediate comment.
Kiffn and Davis clashed near the conclusion of their postseason evaluation meetings when Kiffin expressed his desire to fire defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, a source said. Ryan himself wanted out to join the New York Jets in a similar capacity, but the Raiders released a statement asking for speculation to cease about the defensive coordinator's future.
Just this week at the Senior Bowl, Kiffin and Ryan both said their relationship was fine and expected to be coaching the team in 2008. However, Davis has not rescinded his request for Kiffin to step down, a source said.
As for Green's candidacy, while team sources said Davis has reached out to the veteran coach, Green said Friday, "I haven't really talked to Al about any coaching job but, really, how many times has my name been mentioned every time something goes on with the Raiders?"
Chris Mortensen covers the NFL for ESPN.
