The Oakland Raiders dropped the hammer on head coach Hue Jackson.
ESPN broke the news which was soon confirmed by our partners at Comcast Sports. Comcast SportsNet's Henry Wofford talked with Jackson, who said he is shocked at being fired. Jackson told Wofford he was called into general manager Reggie McKenzie's office and informed his services were no longer needed.
Most Raider insiders had speculated that Jackson would not be fired, so the headline was a surprise not only to Jackson, but to most fans.
The firing news came just hours ahead of a news conference at the Raiders' Alameda facility to announce the team's new GM. That new GM was very light on the details on what cost Jackson his job. He said he came down to the fact that he wanted "my guy."
It was a year ago at this same news conference that Al Davis introduced Jackson as his new coach. Davis had just fired Tom Cable who had produced the same 8-8 season in 2010 that Jackson just completed in 2011.
Fast forward 365 days and here we are again.
The firing is the same, but the person at the helm is much different. The legendary Davis died this past fall. His son Mark Davis took over the team and hired McKenzie from the Green Bay Packers. Mark Davis said he consulted with legendary Raider coach John Madden before making any move.
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After repeated questions from the gathered media, McKenzie only said that there was a need for a change at the top and to start a new.
McKenzie said he had a short list of candidates to replace Jackson adding he wanted, "a winner who can lead the team in this new era." And as he stated many times in the Q&A portion of the news conference it will be "his" guy.
McKenzie talked about his "old school approach" and compared himself to a work ethic similar to iron-workers. He said he goes with his gut a lot and said "everything is based on performance."
