McDaniels, the Sixth Raiders’ in-season coach, was fired
In the extensive history of the Las Vegas Raiders, Josh McDaniels is only the sixth head coach to be dismissed during the season.
Josh McDaniels became the sixth head coach in the 64-year history of the Las Vegas, Oakland, and Los Angeles Raiders to be fired on Tuesday night during the regular season.
After nearly a year and a half as the Raiders’ coach, McDaniels was fired along with general manager Dave Ziegler. This season, the team was 3-5 following back-to-back defeats on the road to the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears.
Despite having a 22-31 record and a 3-2 record in his second season as coach of the Silver and Black, Jon Gruden officially resigned in 2021 rather than being fired due to a string of inflammatory emails he wrote. At the time, there were rumors that owner Mark Davis was about to dismiss him.
Following a 52-38 record during his first coaching tenure with the Raiders from 1998 to 2002, Gruden announced his resignation as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. “I don’t want to be a distraction because I adore the Raiders.” We are grateful to all of the Raider Nation players, coaches, employees, and supporters. I apologize; I didn’t want to cause harm to anyone.
Wayne Valley, the team’s owner at the time, sacked the Raiders’ first two head coaches following their establishment in Oakland in 1960.
The Raiders’ initial coach in 1960 was Eddie Erdelatz, a great coach at Navy. The team finished 6-8 that season under Erdelatz’s leadership, but after losing their opening two games, Feldman was dismissed in 1961 and Marty Feldman took over as head coach.
Feldman’s season didn’t go any better; the Raiders ended 2-12 that season, and when the Silver and Black lost their opening five games in 1963, he was fired with a 2-15 record. After being hired, Bill Conkright lost 1-8 the remainder of the season until winning the last game to finish 1-13.
When Valley brought in Al Davis as general manager and coach in 1963, the Raiders began to turn things around.
“I knew that control of the Raiders would ultimately come down to Davis and me,” Valley said. “He aspires to own something.” Davis was highly aware about his appearance. Being an owner seemed like a step up to him. But since I’ve been in business for a while and he coaches football, I think I have the upper hand.
Valley was mistaken, and Davis went on to own the Raiders.
Before firing Mike Shanahan in 1989 after a 1-3 start, Davis had never fired a head coach. Shanahan had guided the Raiders to a disastrous 7-9 season the previous year, losing four of the final five games. Art Shell, a Hall of Fame tackle, took his position and finished the game 7–5.
On September 30, 2008, after the Raiders had lost three of their first four games for a 1-3 start and had a 5-15 record overall under Coach Lane Kiffin, Davis dismissed Kiffin over the phone. After taking over as head coach, Tom Cable led the Silver and Black to a 17-27 record for the remainder of the season, going 4-8 overall.
