Former Raiders coach John Madden spoke on Sirius Radio about the recent circus for the Raiders this week.

“Well, it was one of those things that you could just see coming,” Madden said of the Lane Kiffin firing. “The Raiders weren’t winning and, of course, when that happens that kind of talk of the coach getting fired is always going to be there. I think this thing started over a year ago where Al Davis and Lane Kiffin didn’t get along. You didn’t know exactly when the end was going to come but you were pretty sure it was just right around the corner. I’ve felt that since the end of last season.”

Madden was later asked what he would tell a coach who might be working for Al Davis in the future. ”Just communicate with him,” Madden said. “I think that’s the thing. For some reason barriers have been built between the coaches and Al Davis. It was a totally different story when I was there, Adam. When I was there we just had five or six coaches and Ron Wolf was in the personnel department and Al Davis. So there were really less than ten of us and there were no barriers. I mean, everyone was right there together [and] we kind of did everything so we didn’t have any of these problems.


And then as the game grew and the organization grew and you have more and more people and more and more assistants, I think instead of being closer and being part of each other, it looks to me like they just grew apart. And this is a situation that came to a head and Al Davis had to do something. “People say, ‘Why did he have that press conference and why did he go through everything?’ I think that he just heard so many things that he wanted to just straighten them out. And it was one of things, he was going to be damned if he did and damned if he didn’t.

If he didn’t have a press conference they were going to say, ‘Why didn’t you come out? Why didn’t you talk to the media? Why didn’t you show yourself?’ And then if he does [have a press conference], ‘Why do you have to air all of your laundry in public?’ In that situation there was probably no right way to do it and if you want to criticize him and the Raiders, then either way that he chose he’s going to be criticized anyway.”