The Oakland Raiders have fired head coach Lane Kiffin.

The inevitable became reality Tuesday when Lane Kiffin was fired by Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis without pay via the telephone, according to team sources.

Tom Cable, the team’s offensive line coach, was emerging as the leading candidate to replace Kiffin, a source said. Cable was among three coaches interviewed by Davis on Monday night; the others were offensive coordinator Greg Knapp and special consultant Paul Hackett.

Davis is expected to have a press conference later Tuesday to explain his decision to dismiss Kiffin.

Unlike the St. Louis Rams, who fired coach Scott Linehan on Monday, the news was not delivered by Davis in a face-to-face meeting. Kiffin was notified by a team executive Tuesday morning that Davis would call him at 9:15 a.m. PT to relieve the coach of his duties. The call came shortly after that time.

Linehan also was allowed to speak briefly with his players on Monday. Kiffin will not be afforded the same opportunity, a source said.

Wow, don’t piss off Al Davis, I guess. You’d think that Davis would have the common courtesy to fire Kiffin face to face, but obviously things were much worse between the two than anyone could imagine. Amazing how Davis hired this man less than two years ago and now it appears that he can’t stand him.

Update: The Raiders have chosen offensive line coach Tom Cable as their new head coach according to NFL.com.