On the eve of free agency, the Raiders should be thinking about how to make the necessary fortifications to a talent-starved club that went 4-12 in 2007. They should be devising a strategy to determine how to resuscitate a defense that fell from third in 2006 to 22nd in ’07. They should be scouring the list of available wide receivers to come up with a guy or two who could aid in the maturation of last season’s No. 1 overall draft pick, QB JaMarcus Russell.

But because of the ambiguous job status of head coach Lane Kiffin, the Raiders can’t do this. Their head-coaching conundrum overshadows everything. For those of you who choose to get their daily dose of drama via "Days of Our Lives," here’s a quick refresher on how we got to the current impasse:

1) Kiffin wants to fire defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, not surprisingly after Ryan’s stink-job of a season.

2) Owner Al Davis says no.

3) Kiffin, pissed off that Davis blocks the move, flirts with the University of Michigan and the University of Arkansas about their openings.

4) Davis, pissed off that Kiffin would think about leaving, reportedly asks for a letter of resignation from Kiffin, a rumor that the Raiders vehemently deny.

5) Days later, Kiffin shows up to coach the Senior Bowl, sans Raiders paraphernalia. He was recently seen in Indianapolis for the Combine, again doing his best to showcase as little affiliation with the Raiders as possible.

So here we stand, a day before the annual NFL job fair opens, and the Raiders are in a football purgatory of sorts. Instead of getting ready to hand out fliers enumerating all the benefits of signing up for the Silver and Black to all the window-shopping free agents, they’re instead consumed by the overarching headache of who will be calling plays for them in 2008.

Say what you will about Kiffin’s lousy job on the sideline in 2007, the Raiders’ precarious predicament falls squarely on Davis’ shoulders. Year after year, decision after decision, Davis has proven ill-equipped to handle the demands of leading a modern-day NFL franchise. Within the last year, the blunders have become too big to ignore.

For starters, the appointment of Kiffin was doomed from the start.

Lane Kiffin

But the bigger problem is that Davis fails to recognize what an NFL head coach’s responsibilities entail. A head coach is not merely a man on the sideline wearing a funky headset who decides whether to go for it or punt on 4th-and-2. Head coaches need to be intimately involved with personnel decisions, from players to assistants. That’s not to say that the owner shouldn’t have a say in the decision-making process. They should if that’s what they desire. After all, they’ve earned that right.

But on game day, the owner is the one eating his shrimp cocktail in a luxury box, and the head coach is the one who has to manage the talents and personalities on the sideline to create a cohesive unit. Davis has consistently failed to grasp this point. He wants to play owner, coach and general manager — but picks and chooses his spots.

Alas, there is a remedy to the situation. Davis needs to fire Kiffin, and he needs to do it now. Sure, he’d have to pony up a couple of million in what would amount to a contract buyout, but such a move is the necessary one if the Raiders are to harbor any hopes of trotting out a competitive team next season. The hostility Kiffin harbors toward Davis is enough to doom a team.

Davis would then be able to promote newly installed WR coach James Lofton as head coach, a man who presumably left San Diego for Oakland with this in mind, and therefore a guy who is excited about the prospect of leading a team.

That is, until Lofton realizes what a nightmare working for Davis really is.