Las Vegas Raiders Appoint Klint Kubiak as Head Coach

By Peter Mann

One of the worst kept secrets in football has now been announced; rumours abounded prior to the Super Bowl that the Seattle Seahawks’ Offensive Coordinator, Klint Kubiak, was Vegas-bound and set to become the next Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

His remit at the Allegiant Stadium is perhaps a simple one, especially after years of nothingness in the famed ‘Black Hole,’ and that’s to restore pride and commitment to excellence, get the Raiders back into a winning post-season, and ultimately to win, to ‘Just Win Baby.’

It’s a tough ask, after all the Raiders are now onto their sixth Head Coach appointment in a s many years, Kubiak following on from Pete Carroll, Antonio Pierce, Josh McDaniel, Rich Basccia, and Jon Gruden, with Gruden, and his predecessor, Jack Del Rio, the last two to have any sort of longevity with the Silver & Black.

It’s not just on the field in which Kubiak has been tasked with a rebuild, off-field, and with his backroom staff as well, needs to be filled; with the Raiders having brought in Kubiak, franchise owner Mark Davis, general manager Jon Spytek, as well as Kubiak, need to fill, among other posts, that of offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coach, linebackers coach, special teams coaches, to name few.

A Monumental rebuild lies ahead in Vegas that’s for sure, but Kubiak will be buoyed by the talented roster he inherits, along with having the #1 overall draft pick – the question there is, will Fernando Mendoza, quarterback of the 2025 College Football National Championship winners, Indiana Hoosiers, also be Vegas-bound?

Whoever does arrive in the draft, they will have a talented roster to enjoy, the Raiders boasting the like of running back Ashton Jeanty, wide receiver Tre Tucker, tight ends Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer, defensive end Maxx Crosby, linebacker Tommy Eichenberg, alongside those currently on the ‘impending free agents’ list, running backs Raheem Mostert and Zamir White.

The 2025 regular season may well have been tough on the Raiders, as was 2024, 2023, 2022, in fact this was the worst season in Silver & Black in over a decade, when finishing 3-13, whilst also matching the number of losses, 14, clocked up by the 2007 Raiders (2-14).

Much can be said of the fact that the Raiders were actually the first team to inflict a defeat on the Super Bowl runners-up, New England Patriots, notching a 2-13 success at the Gillette Stadium way back in week one, with much =maligned Raiders quarterback, Geno Smith, posting 24/34, 362yds, 1TD (connected with Tre Tucker), alongside a rushing score from Ashton Jeanty, who ended the game with 38yds, 1TD (rush).

After that however, it was pretty much all downhill, the Raiders losing their next four prior to picking up a win against Tennessee Titans in week six, then losing their next ten, which included horrible, shut-out losses to Kansas City Chiefs (31-0, week seven) and Philadelphia Eagles (31-0, week fifteen).

It was to be the kind of season that, come week eighteen, and the visit of the Chiefs in the return fixture, to close out the regular season, a 14-12 success for the Raiders meant very little, to anybody.

Back to Kubiak however, and his 2025 season was a complete polar opposite of his new employers, as offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, he helped pave the way to glory as they finished the regular season with a 14-3 record and claim the NFC West, then marched through the playoffs all the way to winning Super Bowl LX, with a 29-13 victory over a New England side that, for the first three quarters, offered little, Seattle content in sitting back and kicking field goals.

Turning 39-years-old next week (17 February), Kubiak has a way to go to match the status of his father, Gary Kubiak, a four-times Super Bowl winner, with Denver Broncos/San Francisco 49ers.

Klint Kubiak, from a stalwart, Texan family, didn’t quite follow in his father’s footsteps where College is concerned though, with both himself, and his brother Klay Kubiak, attending Colorado State (Gary attended Texas A&M), whilst their other brother, Klein Kubiak, attended Rice University, in Houston.

All four of the Kubiak’s have had, over the years, a connection with the Raiders’ divisional rivals, Denver Broncos, and west coast rivals, San Francisco 49ers; father Gary, between 1994 and 2016, was involved in either or of the two franchises, helping both to Super Bowl success and was HC of the Broncos when they won Super Bowl 50.

Klint, prior to his arrival in Vegas has been offensive assistant (2016-18) and passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach (2022) with the Broncos, and passing game coordinator with the 49ers (2023); Klay has been with the 49ers franchise since 2021 and at present is their offensive coordinator; and Klein, presently with Dallas Cowboys since 2019, spent the previous five in Denver (2014-19).

All of that will make for a very interesting 2026 season in the Kubiak household as Klint Kubiak will see his, expected, new-look Las Vegas Raiders, take on divisional rivals Denver Broncos, interconference opponents and Super Bowl holders, Seattle Seahawks, and some brotherly love when the Raiders and the Niners clash.

Overall next season, yes we’re talking about that already (especially with the 2026 NFL Draft now pending for 23-25 April, in Pittsburgh), the Raiders will be opposing divisional rivals Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, and Los Angeles Chargers home and away, alongside home clashes against Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, and Tennessee Titans, and road trips to Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, and San Francisco 49ers.

(On a personal level, I’m looking forward to the Raiders matching up with the Bills, Dolphins, and the renewing of the rivalry with the Niners, and that return to the Bay Area).

Back to earlier points though, and Kubiak’s remit of returning the Raiders to greatness, instilling their commitment to excellence, well it’s been somewhat of a long time since the Raider Nation had much to shout about, be it at the Super Bowl, or even the post-season itself.

Only four, past Raiders HCs have taken the Raiders to the World Championship game, and only two of those have won it; John Rauch was the first, losing Super Bowl II against Green Bay Packers, then the iconic John Madden, after four AFC Championship losses, finally lifted the big one in Super Bowl XI against Minnesota Vikings (the Raiders lost the AFC Championship game the following season as well).

Eclipsing Madden was Tom Flores, one of only two individuals to win the Super Bowl as a player, assistant coach, and head coach, and the only one to do so in two different cities, whilst leading the Raiders – Super Bowl XV was done with the Oakland Raiders, and Super Bowl XVIII with the Los Angeles Raiders, over Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins respectively.

The fourth, and last Raiders HC to go all the way to the Super Bowl was Bill Callahan, who led the 2002 Raiders of Rich Gannon, Tim Brown, Jerry Rice, Bill Romanowski, Charles Woodson, Sebastian Janikwoski et al, through the playoffs, and eventually a loss to Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then under the guidance of Callahan’s predecessor, Jon Gruden.

It all shows the weight in which the new man in the Raiders hot-seat, Texan Klint Kubiak, will bear upon his shoulders, as he readies this Las Vegas Raiders, for the future. It’s a big ask, recent history shows that much, and only time will tell what will happen come kick-off at the Allegiant.

PETER MANN

NFL ANALYST

PETER IS A LIFELONG SPORTS FAN, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR BASED IN COUNTY DURHAM. HE HAS FOLLOWED THE NFL AND THE RAIDERS SINCE THE 1980s, AND LOVES BOTH SPORTS AND FAMILY HISTORY. PETER HAS A DEGREE IN SPORT & EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY, AND CAN BE FOUND ON TWITTER @petermannwriter

 
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