Most of the sports world has been privy to the Raiders hiring of Dennis Allen as their head coach since Tuesday. At the time, it was said to be a handshake agreement between the coach and Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie. The team has now made the hiring official.

It has been a tumultuous last two months for Raiders' starting middle linebacker Rolando McClain. It all started on December 1st of last year when he was arrested on several charges including assault and discharging a firearm in city limits while visiting his hometown of Decatur, Alabama. It hasn't gotten better for him since then.

The Raiders' new head coach may not have any head coaching to look back on. But he is not free of experience and success. He certainly had something that impressed Reggie McKenzie, and it is likely to be the same thing that had him rising in the coaching ranks as quickly as he has.

Two weeks to the day that the Raiders fired former head coach Hue Jackson, the team has a new head coach. He is former Broncos defensive coordinator, Dennis Allen.

An interesting thing happened today. The Raiders, in the midst of a head coaching search, removed the entire coaching staff page from their official team website.

It has now been three weeks since the season ended and two weeks since the news came down that Hue Jackson was fired as the Raiders' head coach. Since then, what started as speculation has turned to interviews and the status of "frontrunner" has reportedly changed hands a few times. Here is the latest.

The Patriots and Ravens played in a hotly contested AFC Championship. The savior at the end of the game was none other than Raiders' former undrafted free agent, Sterling Moore, who batted down a sure Raven touchdown that would have given the Ravens the victory.

"We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

~Aristotle

With the Green Bay Packers' season now over, the Raiders' coaching search will most likely kick into high gear. Raider fans are well accustomed to new coaching searches, having had more of them than any other team in the last 10 years.  This year's search looks to be of a different sort, however.  For the first time in a half century, Al Davis is not running the Oakland Raiders in some capacity.  His son, Mark Davis, has taken over ownership of the team and with his first major decision for the franchise, he has turned the team's success over to former Raider Reggie McKenzie.

As expected, Raiders long snapper Jon Condo has been added to the AFC Pro Bowl roster as a "need" player. He joins his fellow special teamers kicker Sebastian Janikowski and punter Shane Lechler in Hawaii. It will mark the second Pro Bowl appearance for Condo, who was also selected to the AFC squad following the 2009 season.

Currently the Raiders have three players in the 2012 Pro Bowl: defensive tackle Richard Seymour, punter Shane Lechler, and kicker Sebastian Janikowski. But they may not be the final list of Raiders who get a ticket to Hawaii next weekend.