Raiders hire Kiffin

Lane Kiffin grew up dreaming of becoming a head coach in the National Football League.

On Monday, the Oakland Raiders fulfilled that dream years before anyone other than Al Davis could have anticipated when they hired USC’s 31-year-old offensive coordinator as the team’s 16th head coach.

“I always thought a lot of things have to go right and work out, but if you continue to work hard and believe in yourself good things can happen,” Kiffin said in a telephone interview.

Kiffin, who will be introduced at a news conference today, has never been a head coach at any level, but he said he was prepared for the opportunity to reverse the Raiders’ fortunes.

The Raiders were 2-14 last season under Art Shell, a far cry from the team’s slogan, “Commitment to Excellence.” But the Raiders made a commitment to Kiffin, awarding him a five-year contract.

Kiffin said he was not concerned about skeptics who will question whether he has the experience to be successful in the NFL.

“They’ll have to wait and see,” he said. “Obviously, I have a lot of confidence in myself, as does Al to make the commitment he’s made. We’re both very excited for the future.”

Kiffin is the son of Monte Kiffin, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defensive coordinator and a longtime mentor of USC Coach Pete Carroll, who hired Lane as the Trojans’ tight ends coach when he succeeded Paul Hackett before the 2001 season.

Kiffin, a quarterback at Fresno State, has coached Trojans receivers since 2002, was made passing game coordinator in 2003 and became recruiting coordinator and offensive coordinator after the 2004 season when Ed Orgeron left to become head coach at Mississippi and Norm Chow left to join the Tennessee Titans.

Carroll said he could not have predicted that Kiffin would ascend to NFL head coach so quickly, but added that Kiffin was ready for the challenge after helping USC re-establish itself as one of college football’s most successful programs in the last five years.

“It’s an awesome opportunity and great timing for him,” Carroll said. “Al Davis knew what he wanted: a young guy that’s a play-caller.... It’s a tremendous opportunity for the Raiders and for Kif and we’re thrilled about it.”

Davis, who was once a young assistant at USC, has a history of hiring young coaches. He tapped John Madden, Mike Shanahan and Jon Gruden when they were in their early to mid-30s and also pursued Steve Sarkisian, USC’s 32-year-old assistant head coach, before turning to Kiffin.

Kiffin initially met with Davis last week, when the Raiders were interviewing Sarkisian, who was the Raiders’ quarterbacks coach in 2004 and was the front-runner for the job. Kiffin interviewed at the time for a possible spot as offensive coordinator for Sarkisian.

When Sarkisian removed his name from consideration on Friday, the Raiders began to woo Kiffin, who met with Davis Sunday and Monday before accepting an offer.

A Raiders source said Davis was enamored with the idea of hiring a coach who was the youngest assistant for the Jacksonville Jaguars when he served as a defensive quality control coach in 2000 and then became the youngest offensive coordinator in the Pacific 10 Conference at USC.

“He just said he was impressed in the interview when I was up with Steve, that he saw something special,” Kiffin said. “As soon as things did not work out with Steve, he sent someone on a plane to talk to me that same day.”

Sarkisian, who will take full control of USC’s offense, said he and Kiffin learned much while working in tandem the last two years.

“I’m really excited for Kif,” Sarkisian said. “It’s an awesome opportunity for him and he’s going to do a great job.”

Former Raiders receiver Tim Brown said Kiffin could be successful in Oakland, which has struggled since advancing to the 2003 Super Bowl.

“Everyone’s afraid of that place like there’s a boogeyman in the closet or something,” Brown said. “If you can get the right system and the right attitude you can get something done.”

Kiffin said he would never forget his six seasons at USC, when the Trojans won two national titles and played in five consecutive Bowl Championship Series games.

“I’d like to thank all the players and staff and most of all the fans at SC,” he said. “It was a great experience and I obviously learned a tremendous amount. I was touched by a lot of people and I’ll always have great memories.

“I’m extremely grateful to Pete for the opportunity he gave me there to enhance my role and gain more leadership. He coached me on a daily basis to prepare for this day to happen.”

Times staff writer Sam Farmer contributed to this report.

gary.klein@latimes.com