There are only 32 of them.
That would be head coaching jobs in the NFL. For the thousands of people who get into football coaching, standing on the sidelines of an NFL team -- headphones in place, play card in hand and red challenge flag at the ready -- is the pinnacle.
Maybe that's why someone would take the job coaching the Oakland Raiders despite what common sense would dictate. The lure of simply running an NFL team must be that overwhelmingly seductive that someone would voluntarily sign up for a tour-of-duty working for Al Davis.
Lane Kiffin's time in purgatory ended today with the Raiders. He was 1-3 this season and 5-15 overall. If Kiffin thought hanging on would force Davis to honor his contract, well, the young coach is finding out that nothing is quite that easy with Al. News reports indicate that Kiffin was fired, by phone and according to a terse team statement "with cause." It would appear that Davis doesn't intend to pay him.
The next guy who will stand on Davis' sideline reportedly will be Tom Cable, the offensive line coach. And reportedly, Davis interviewed three people, Cable, offensive coordinator Greg Knapp and team consultant Paul Hackett. Cable was the, ahem, winner.
Cable was a head coach in college at the University of Idaho, his alma mater. He was 11-35 there. Curiously, as a player at Idaho, he was on the same team as Scott Linehan, who was also just fired as the head coach of the St. Louis Rams. But at least Linehan was fired face-to-face and he may actually be paid for the rest of his contract.
Cable will be lucky to get such treatment when his time comes.
