The Oakland Raiders have dismissed head coach Jack Del Rio after signing him to a new four-year contract in February.
Del Rio announced the news during his postgame press conference after Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
"Spoke with (owner) Mark Davis after the game and Mark let me know that he's not gonna be bringing me back and so he told me he loved me, appreciated all that I did to kind of get this program going in the right direction. But he felt he needed a change. I told him how much I appreciated the opportunity he gave me and I mean that. Very grateful. My childhood team. But it's a result business, I understand that," Del Rio said, according to Matt Schneidman of the Mercury News.
The Raiders are confident they can lure former coach Jon Gruden out of the ESPN broadcast booth and back to the team, reports Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Gruden previously coached the Raiders from 1998-2001, compiling a 38-26 record in the process. He eventually beat the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII as the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Raiders followed their 2016 return to the playoffs with a disappointing 6-10 season. One major reason for their regression was the struggles of the offense under new coordinator Todd Downing. The team promoted Downing after parting ways with Bill Musgrave following last season.
Oakland scored 26 points per game under Musgrave in 2016, good for sixth in the league, but the offense fell to 19th in the league in 2017, averaging just 19.4 points per contest.
