Lane Kiffin out, Tom Cable likely in as Raiders coach

It's official: the Raiders have fired Lane Kiffin. He was 5-15 this season and last in Oakland. His replacement has not been announced, but the NFL Network is reporting it will be former UCLA assistant Tom Cable.

Other candidates were thought to be receivers coach James Lofton, defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and running backs coach Tom Rathman. Offensive coordinator Greg Knapp is thought to be heading to Seattle next season to join Jim Mora, who is the Seahawks' likely replacement when Coach Mike Holmgren steps down.

The Raiders have scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. to announce the firing and say where they plan to go from here.

Cable has been the Raiders' offensive line coach. He coached at UCLA in 2004-05 as offensive coordinator and line coach. He was also head coach for the University of Idaho from 2000-03.

In their two-sentence release about the firing, the Raiders said Kiffin was fired "for cause," meaning they will likely try not to pay Kiffin for the remainder of his contract. He signed a two-year deal worth about $4 million with a team option for 2009 when he took over last year.

Meanwhile, back at USC, where Kiffin was co-offensive coordinator before taking the Raiders' job, Trojans Coach Pete Carroll opened his weekly news conference with a tongue in cheek call for "a moment of silence for our comrade."

"All of this happened in way too much of a hurry and it's unfortunate," said in an interview after the news conference. "Lack of communication was probably the cause of it. Kiff's a terrific football coach and I think in time it's going to be clear that's the case.

". . . It's so reminiscent of Mike Shanahan's situation. And Mike went on to be a great coach and I think Kiff is going to do the same thing. It was of great value for Lane to be there and he'll take tremendous growth out of that, but it was such a mess it's just unfortunate for the game, bad for the NFL, bad for the fans, bad for the players and for the families involved."

Times staff writer Gary Klein and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

sam.farmer@latimes.com