The Oakland Raiders fired head coach Dennis Allen by phonecall in the wake of their loss to the Miami Dolphins in London on Sunday.
The 42-year-old leaves Oakland after going 8-28 in his three-plus years at the helm, including an 0-4 to start this season and 10 straight losses dating back to last year.
Allen was reportedly told of the news via a phonecall with general manager Reggie McKenzie.
“It’s a tough deal, especially for him,” tight end David Ausberry told ESPN. “As we all know, this is the NFL and it keeps growing. So we just all got to as a team pull together and keep going forward. That’s all we really can do.”
Allen took over in 2012 and guided a Raiders team that went 8-8 in consecutive seasons to back-to-back 4-12 records as the franchise had the second-worst win percentage in the NFL during his tenure. He was the seventh Oakland coach since 2001, the most for any team in the league during that span.
Before joining the Raiders, Allen was defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos but Oakland’s defence ranked in the bottom five of the league in 2012 and 2013, all-owing at least 27.7 points per game.
The Raiders have failed to be competitive the last three years and much of the decision-making, including the hiring of Allen, fall on general manager Reggie McKenzie.
Offensive line coach Tony Sparano and offensive coordinator Greg Olson are said to be the main options to replace Allen.
Oakland, on a bye this week, have time to implement their new coach before returning to action against the San Diego Chargers at home on October 12.
