The Oakland Raiders have fired head coach Dennis Allen after the 0-4 start to the new NFL season. The Raiders made the announcement Monday night while the team plans to announce the interim coach today. Offensive line coach Tony Sporano was a possible candidate, but has since been ruled out. Other options include offensive coordinator Greg Olson and offensive assistant Al Saunders.
The failure to put together a competitive team is what sunk Dennis Allen’s ship. During his tenure as the Raiders head coach over the last four years, Allen has an 8-28 record and has lost a NFL high 10 straight games dating back to November 2013. The decision came after a trouncing by the Miami Dolphins this past Sunday in London in which team owner Mark Davis, who took over control of the team when his father Al Davis died four years ago, was upset seeing his team lose in such lopsided fashion.
The Raiders went 8-8 the two seasons prior to Allen accepting the head coaching position. Since then, there have been many front office changes, namely the hiring of GM Reggie McKenzie who has come under a great deal of scrutiny for several bad draft picks and over-priced free-agent signings during his tenure. A few recent free-agent blunders include giving quarterback Matt Flynn $6.5 million guaranteed after he failed to beat Seattle rookie Russell Wilson for the starting position in 2012 and then heaping another $8 million on Matt Schaub who failed to beat Raiders rookie Derek Carr for the starting quarterback position. Many question whether or not McKenzie will last through the remainder of the 2014 season as he has seemingly failed to field a team with any remarkable talent.