All head coaches in place, coordinator hirings to pick up

There were eight teams who fired their head coaches at the end of the season. And as of Thursday -- 17 days later - all of those positions have now been filled.

The Raiders fired a few coaches of their own, although for the first time in three years, head coach was not one of them. They let go of offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, offensive line coach Frank Pollack, special teams coordinator Steve Hoffman, and linebackers coach Johnny Holland.

Offensive coordinator is priority number one for the Raiders. Their search has yielded a few names such as Mike Martz, Jaguars QB coach Greg Olson, and Marc Trestman who was just hired as the head coach of the Bears.

But even with the interviews, one of the main holdups in finding their new OC was the head coaching search. As long as there were still head coaching jobs to be had, many potential offensive coordinator candidates were hoping they might land a head job. Trestman was one such candidate. With that no longer a possibility, they must focus on landing the next highest job.

The head coaches who were hired this offseason were Andy Reid (Chiefs), Doug Marrone (Bills), Mike McCoy (Chargers), Mike Chudzinsky (Browns), Marc Trestman (Bears), Chip Kelly (Eagles), Gus Bradley (Jaguars), and the final to drop Bruce Arians (Cardinals).

When former Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt was sure he was not going to be moving on to another head coaching gig, he signed on offensive coordinator for the Chargers under new head coach Mike McCoy. That signing was followed shortly by the Browns hiring former Chargers head coach Norv Turner as their new offensive coordinator.

These jobs are going to really begin filling up fast now so it shouldn't be long before there is some movement from the Raiders to fill their vacant offensive coordinator position as well.

Also see: Still several prospective OC's for Raiders

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