Oakland Raiders fire coach Hue Jackson after 8-8 season

Hue Jackson has gone from out of the playoff picture to out of a job in a little more than a week.

The Oakland Raiders fired Jackson on Tuesday, parting ways with him after one 8-8 season.

The move was made by just-hired General Manager Reggie McKenzie, who offered few specifics other than to say it was time to go in another direction. So the franchise is now looking for its seventh coach since 2002.

“I want my guy,” said McKenzie, former director of football operations in Green Bay. “No disrespect to Hue Jackson, but it’s a new era and we want to start anew.”

McKenzie’s top choice for replacing Jackson is widely believed to be Packers assistant Winston Moss, who oversees the inside linebackers and serves as assistant head coach to Mike McCarthy. Moss, 46, is a former NFL linebacker who played for Tampa Bay, the Los Angeles Raiders and Seattle.

“I wouldn’t bet against that,” said John Wooten, executive director of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, who is close to both McKenzie and Moss. The alliance is an advocacy group for the hiring of minority NFL coaches and front-office executives.

“Winston is ready, and that’s who Reggie in my opinion wants,” Wooten said. “Winston is very high on our list. I had a very good conversation with Coach Mike McCarthy a couple weeks ago and he feels the same way. Winston has grown in responsibility every year.”

Jackson, who was angling for more power in the organization, did not return text messages Tuesday but told CSNBayArea.com that he was surprised by the move, and that he doesn’t believe McKenzie is done firing people.

“He’s going to gut the place,” Jackson told the website’s Henry Wofford. McKenzie “wants to bring in his own guys. No job is safe right now.”

McKenzie, 48, who played linebacker for the L.A. Raiders from 1985-88, said the new coach will have the autonomy to hire his own staff of assistant coaches. At a news conference Tuesday, the new GM was flanked by Raiders owner Mark Davis, son of the late Al Davis.

“We just want a winner, a guy that we feel can lead this team into a new era,” McKenzie said.

Under Jackson, the Raiders played their way into the AFC West driver’s seat but lost four of their final five games and finished behind division champion Denver. Had they beaten San Diego in Week 17, the Raiders would have won the division and hosted a playoff game. Instead, they were blown out at home, 38-26. It was the Raiders’ ninth consecutive season without a winning record or playoff berth.

Jackson was sharply critical of his players after that loss and essentially said he needed to take an even bigger role in decision-making to turn around the franchise.

“I’m going take a stronger hand in this whole team, this whole organization,” Jackson said last week. “There ain’t no way that I’m going to feel like I feel today a year from now, I promise you that. There’s no question. Defensively, offensively and special teams. I ain’t feeling like this no more. This is a joke. ... Yeah, I’m going to take a hand in everything that goes on here.”

Jackson’s brief tenure did leave one major imprint. He gave away two high draft picks to pry loose quarterback Carson Palmer from Cincinnati when Oakland’s Jason Campbell suffered a season-ending broken collarbone. The Raiders gave up their first-round pick in April, and a conditional second-rounder in 2013. The Raiders were 4-5 with Palmer as their starter, and the former USC quarterback finished with 13 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

The Raiders committed 163 penalties for 1,358 yards, setting NFL records in both categories, and their defense registered franchise worsts in touchdown passes allowed (31), yards per carry (5.1), yards passing (4,262) and total yards (6,201).

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