Cabel replaces Kiffin as Raiders coach

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis fired second-year Coach Lane Kiffin Tuesday and named offensive line coach Tom Cable the interim head coach.

Davis fired Kiffin without pay via telephone and explained the issues he had with his former coach in a Tuesday news conference.

"I called Lane and told him that he no longer is the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, and I was dismissing him with cause, Davis said. "I just couldn't go on much longer with what I would call the propaganda and lying that had been going on for weeks, months, a year."

Davis referred to televised reports in recent weeks that there had been no communication between himself and Kiffin "except before the Denver game."

"Totally untrue. We talked several times," Davis said.

Davis said Kiffin's firing was not performance-based, because he knew he had hired an inexperienced coach in Kiffin. "It's not a personality conflict. It's flat-out lying and bringing disgrace to the organization," Davis continued."

Consecutive losses to the Buffalo Bills and San Diego Chargers dropped the Raiders to 1-3.

Cable, 43, is the fifth coach in the past six seasons for Oakland. Cable joined the Raiders as offensive line coach prior to the 2007 season after a one-year stint in the same position for the Atlanta Falcons.