Sources: USC O-coordinator Kiffin to be Raiders coach

[Walter Cronkite]

After failing to land Southern California assistant head coach Steve Sarkisian, the Oakland Raiders and Lane Kiffin have completed the deal to hire the USC offensive coordinator as Oakland's head coach, sources have told ESPN.com.

Kiffin signed the five-year deal to be Art Shell's replacement on Monday night, and a press conference to announce the signing is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Oakland (4 p.m. ET) on Tuesday.

Late last week, Kiffin was offered the offensive coordinator job under Sarkisian. But Sarkisian turned down Oakland's offer, and the Raiders were left scrambling.

On Sunday, Raiders owner Al Davis reached out again to Kiffin, son of Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin. Kiffin flew to Oakland Sunday night and spent all day Monday talking to Davis. As the evening approached, negotiations for a contract started and concluded quickly.

The 31-year-old Kiffin has been a six-year member of Pete Carroll's staff. Carroll hired him to coach tight ends in 2001. Kiffin switched to coaching wide receivers in 2002. In 2004, Kiffin took over passing game coordinator duties. Kiffin was then promoted to offensive coordinator in 2005. He also had recruiting coordinator responsibilities.

Davis has a long history of hiring young, offensive-minded head coaches and he particularly likes offensive play-callers. Kiffin has done that at the highest level of college football for the past few years. He's worked with top NFL draft prospects such as wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett and former Lions first-round pick Mike Williams, another wideout.

Kiffin spent the 2000 season in Jacksonville as a defensive quality control coach working with defensive backs.

As a player, Kiffin was a quarterback for Fresno State from 1994 to 1996. He was a three-sport high school star in Bloomington, Minn. He started his coaching career after college working as a grad assistant at Fresno State.

Kiffin is expected to keep Rob Ryan as his defensive coordinator.

Source: ESPN.com

[Dead AIM]

The Raiders have to take a chance on a unknown because all the coaches with any kind of experience wouldn't touch the Raiders job with a 10 foot pool. I was expecting them to start soliciting applications via Monster.com or having booths at job fairs at this point.

I don't think this will end well but I think any coach given the players they have to deal with would struggle. No QB, WR who doesn't want to play, an offensive line that struggles, a running game that has shown no consistancy. The defense is ok but even that has holes which are not really discussed since the offensive players are so inept. Kiffen will at least get to take a shot and fill in a box on the resume as an NFL head coach. He will probably get fired next year after the Raiders go 1-15. He is still wise for taking this job as it will help him down the line with a real shot with a major college program or another NFL team as an coordinator or position coach.

[AndySMC]

The defense was ranked third, better than any of the teams that played in the conference championship games. Just imagine if the offense wasn't so inept. The Raiders defense CONSTANTLY came on the field in a horrible starting position, basically already backed up onto their half of the field. They were also ranked fifth in time on the field (all the other teams ranked so high had horrible defenses). Imagine if that offense didn't keep them out there for so long?