You're right. Just heard it from the horses mouth on Around the league Live, McKenzie wanted his own guy.

Winston Moss is the leading candidate(former raider and current GB LB coach).

:/

As someone mentioned in this thread. Hue wanted too much power, I can see why he was let go now.

THIS is the franchise we are stealing all the coaches from?? Aye yai yai....

The thought of having Pete Carmichael as our HC makes me optimistic.

For sure although I'm still hoping for someone defensive oriented.

I could have gone either way with Hugh. I really liked is passion and the respect he had for Al Davis and the Raiders organization but some of his coaching decisions (specifically the not going for the 2 point conversion and his explanation) were really inexcusable even for a rookie head coach. If it were my choice I probably would have given him another year because of all the adversity the Raiders had this year and the fact that he did some good things as well.

I don't have too much confidence in this Reggie Mckenzie guy as the GM. He just didn't appear all that intelligent to me from the press conferences. Hopefully I am wrong though and things work out. No matter what though, this organization will never be or feel the same without Al. You can certainly criticize some of his decision making the last 8-9 years but he was the Raiders.

I wasn't blown away by his introduction speech either. He seems odd, idk. Hope I'm wrong too!

Got this kinda vibe too from the initial press conference, but he's highly regarded by pretty much everyone in the nfl. It's hard to deny the success the packers have had, and he had a pretty big part in that over the last few years. In a cautiously optimistic wait and see mode.

What we do with head coach and quaterback (if anything, I'm sure carson's gonna stay but we've still got pryor, and campbell is more than serviceable if resigned...also hearing some matt flynn rumours) is going to be very telling for where we're going.

Looks like Dennis Allen will be our next HC. I like it & it looks like they will keep Saunders & probably hire Todd Bowles as the DC. ZOMMMG!

Are you just basing this on the fact that Allen is the only one to get a second interview so far?

no i saw the espn ticker saying dennis allen meeting 3rd time with raiders to discuss a deal.

He sure doesn't.

I'm withthis. We need defense.

You're right, he does have a great resume.

I'm not a fan of the bend but don't break defense. With our speed, I'd prefer something aggressive.

Confirmed.

Jay Glazer
@JayGlazer

The Oakland Raiders have agreed to hire Dennis Allen as their new head coach. He has already informed the broncos

yep. At least he has a defensive background.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/74...-broncos-coach

Excited about the hire. Champ Bailey had nothing but amazing things to say about him. Let's see what happens!

great source, and no, I'm not being sarcastic.

there's something about this guy that makes me feel like good things are going to happen. i saw his press conference and he feels like the right guy.

yep. had a great feeling initially for some reason just because he's young and hungry but still been mentored by a lot of great coaches. didnt see the pc live but loved every word of the transcript.

more optimistic than usual this off season. getting the vibe we might take a run at someone in fa too, given we have no draft picks and a decent amount of cap room. i think mckenzie also mentioned some of our contracts being 'way out of wack', which i whole heartidly agree with. so cutting some dead weight or atleast some contract restructures could also be on the horizon.

I watched the PC live yesterday. I thought he came across very well. He stressed discipline and seemed tough and smart. He also clearly implied that they would be looking to add pieces on the defensive side via FA. Of course, it's just a PC and talk means nothing so I'm taking it with a grain of salt.

Reading today that it looks like Al Saunders is out and Greg Knapp is back in for OC. Do not like this move at all. Saunders did a great job for the most part and maintaining some offensive continuity would have been huge. Sigh.

Greg Knapp is going to be our OC?! Lolllllll!!!! WTF man?!

yea not sure wtf went into that. our offense was looking pretty damn good under saunders and we definitely dont seem to have the wco personnel.

to be fair to knapp tho, he was restricted by the whole jamarcus and kiffin circus his first go around here. im not sure any coach could have succeeded under those conditions.

Yeah I'm not saying Knapp is horrible or anything but I just don't see the point of firing a guy who built a top ranked offense. Not that Knapp can't with all the talent we have on that side of the ball, but Saunders at least offers some continuity to these guys when everything is being overhauled.

I guess you're right SOJ, still a weird ****ing hire. It's even stranger if you watched the PC & when he was asked what type of offense he would love to have he answered with "something like the saints". Then he goes and hires G. Knapp? He most know something we don't... sigh.

It was refreshing to hear Bill Pollian(former GM of the Colts(recent) & Bills(early 90s)) talk about how great Al Davis(instead of the usual bashing) was on NFL radio today. He also chimed in on the current Raiders situation(McKenzie/Allen), and he's right that until they stop leading the NFL in penalties, they'll likely never reach their glory days again. He also went on about owner/GM/coach relationships, and it all made sense, because as we all know Al liked to have his hands in everything. He believes we're on our way with McKenzie/Allen, as long as Mark Davis & others (clueless executives) stay away from the decision making process.