It is undeniably difficult for NFL teams to find the right head coach, but certainly not as hard as the Las Vegas Raiders have made it look over the last 20 years. Yes, other franchises have gone through worse cold spells than the Silver and Black recently, but they've still been a beacon of dysfunction.
Klint Kubiak and John Spytek, however, hope to help this once-great organization finally turn the corner. And while their moves this offseason didn't indicate that they're going for it all during the 2026 NFL season, they were aggressive in taking that first big step for a rebuilding team.
After bottoming out last year and finishing with a league-worst 3-14 record, it shouldn't be all that arduous for Las Vegas to improve during this campaign. If Kubiak can accomplish this, though, he would be bucking a nasty Raiders trend that has developed over the last few decades.
Klint Kubiak is set to help Las Vegas Raiders improve win total in Year 1
To understand just how lost the Silver and Black have been in the last 20 years, we compiled a list of how each head coach fared with the Raiders during their first season with the franchise, and how that record compared to their predecessor's in the previous campaign.
The data here is pretty staggering.
Year | Coach | Record | Inherited Record |
|---|---|---|---|
2006 | Art Shell | 2-14 | 4-12 |
2007 | Lane Kiffin | 4-12 | 2-14 |
2009 | Tom Cable | 5-11 | 5-11 (him + Kiffin) |
2011 | Hue Jackson | 8-8 | 8-8 |
2012 | Dennis Allen | 4-12 | 8-8 |
2015 | Jack Del Rio | 7-9 | 3-13 |
2018 | Jon Gruden | 4-12 | 6-10 |
2022 | Josh McDaniels | 6-11 | 10-7 (Wild Card) |
2024 | Antonio Pierce | 4-13 | 8-9 (him + McD) |
2025 | Pete Carroll | 3-14 | 4-13 |
2026 | Klint Kubiak | ? | 3-14 |
For a quick summary: Only twice in the last 20 years has a coach come in and improved the win total during his first season, and it hasn't happened since 2015. Oh, and the other one was all the way back in 2007 when that win total went from two to four. How exciting.
None of the first-year coaches in Oakland or Las Vegas has finished with a record above .500 (You'd have to go back to 2002 when Bill Callahan inherited a playoff team from Jon Gruden 1.0), and only three of them have notched six or more wins in their first go-around.
That is a brutal trend for the Silver and Black, but it also makes for a low bar for Kubiak to clear in 2026. All he has to do is win four games this fall to be one of three coaches to improve the win total, and just six games to be one of four to win six or more.
Yes, the AFC West is still quite difficult, and the Raiders' schedule this year is hellish. But this team is more improved on paper than any the fanbase has seen in recent memory, and the faith in this front office and coaching staff is at an all-time high. Hopefully it's not just fool's gold.
Based on what everyone has said about Kubiak, though, from his current and former players, as well as his staff members, the young leader is built for this. And Las Vegas has done all it can to equip the first-time head coach with all he'll need to make this team better.
Does that mean he'll make the playoffs and be lifting a Lombardi Trophy again next February? No, not necessarily. But it shouldn't be too tough for Kubiak to get this team rowing in the right direction, which is a different way than the Raiders' previous leaders have.
Knowing what we know about how each of those tenures turned out, Kubiak bucking this trend would be promising. Wins and losses aren't all that matter in a rebuild, and Kubiak still needs grace. But the bar has never been lower for him to make a great impression in Las Vegas and beyond.
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