Kiffin, who has served as an assistant coach under Pete Carroll at USC for six years, was offered the job by Raiders owner Al Davis after originally interviewing last week for the position of offensive coordinator when Steve Sarkisian was close to being named the head coach. Sarkisian, a close friend of Kiffin's and his fellow co-offensive coordinator on the USC staff, eventually turned down the opportunity (he was never officially offered the job) and shortly after that the Raiders turned their attention to Kiffin.
Lane, 31, had interviewed for his first head coaching position earlier this month at the University of Minnesota, a job that ultimately went to Tim Brewster. Kiffin had grown up in Minnesota and went to high school there while his father, longtime NFL coach Monte, coached with the Vikings. Monte Kiffin is also one of the closest coaching confidants of Pete Carroll.
Kiffin was a quarterback at Fresno State before spending one year as a quality control assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Once Carroll was hired at USC, he brought in Lane to coach the tight ends. He was quickly moved to coaching the wide receivers in addition to taking an active role in leading national recruiting efforts. When Norm Chow and Ed Orgeron left the Trojan staff following the 2004 season, Kiffin was named to his current position of co-offensive coordinator and director of recruiting.