Oakland Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie said he was going to find ‘his guy’ to become the new head coach. Two weeks after the search began, it’s looks like he found him.
According to multiple league sources the Oakland Raiders are set to announce the hiring of Dennis Allen as their new head coach.
Allen, a relative unknown to many fans, was the defensive Coordinator of the Broncos for one year and was previously an assistant in New Orleans for five seasons.
The new coach will take over a team that went 8-8 but had perpetual issues on the defensive side of the football.. In 2011 the Raiders allowed a franchise worst in touchdown passes (31), yards per carry (5.1), yards passing (4,262) and total yards (6,201). They also gave up 431 points, third most in Raiders’ history.
Meanwhile Allen comes off a season in which improved a Denver defense previously ranked dead last allowing 29.4 points per game to allowing 24.4 during 2011. The Broncos also increased their sack total from 23 to 41, and according to STATS, inc. they attempted the sixth most blitzes in the league. Expect Allen to bring that aggressive defensive play calling with him to Oakland.
Allen represents the seventh coach the Raiders have hired since 2003 and the first coach with a defensive background to lead the Raiders since John Madden in 1969. During the Al Davis tenure, head coaches had come with exclusively offensive pedigrees: Tom Flores, Mike Shanahan, Art Shell, Mike White, Joe Bugel, Jon Gruden, Bill Callahan, Norv Turner, Shell again, Lane Kiffin, Tom Cable and Hue Jackson.
Dennis Allen is now next in that line.
One Comment on "Raiders Hire Dennis Allen as New Head Coach"
The Raiders better win the AFC west this coming season or this will be as bad as drafting JaMarcus Russell