The Oakland Raiders have come to a formal agreement with Dennis Allen, the former defensive coordinator with the Denver Broncos, on a four-year head coaching contract. Reggie McKenzie, the new general manager of the Raiders, decided on Jan 24 to hire Allen after interviewing him a couple of times after the regular season ended. Allen will replace Hue Jackson, who was let go by the club after just one season, which saw Oakland finish with an 8-8 record.

Allen becomes the west coast club’s seventh head coach since 2003. The team has missed out on the playoffs for nine straight seasons and has a losing record in each of them. The closes they came was this season when they just missed out on title in the AFC West title on tiebreakers. Allen will be the team’s first new head coach since 1969 when John Madden was hired, who specializes in the defensive side of the game.

Allen had a fine season as defensive coordinator with Denver as he helped the team improve defensively by cutting down on their yards and points allowed per game. They were the worst in the NFL last season with 29.4 points and 390.8 yards against per game. This season they won the AFC West title by cutting those numbers down to 357.8 yards against per game, which was 20^th best in the league and 24.4 points allowed per game, good for 24^th in the league. Denver also saw their total sacks grow to 41 from 23 and tied for sixth-best for blitzes on passing plays.

Before joining the Broncos last year Allen worked with the New Orleans Saints for five years as a defensive assistant and also had a coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons. He was the secondary coach for the Saints from 2008 to 2010 and assistant defensive line coach before that. He was a defensive assistant with the Falcons and operates a 4-3 scheme, which the Raiders also employ. The 39-year-old is now the youngest coach in the NFL. He’ll try to work his defensive magic in Oakland since the Raiders finished the season ranked 29^th in defense.

McKenzie said Allen will be able to hire his own coaching staff before next season gets underway. At the moment, the only assistant who remains with the club from Jackson’s regime is offensive coordinator Al Saunders. It’s unclear if Allen will keep Saunders with the club or not. With McKenzie being on the job for just a month himself and with Jackson being fired and Allen being hired, there have been quite a few changes since Raiders owner Al Davis passed away last October.

Mark Davis, his son is now in charge of the club and looks intent on turning it into a winner. Davis’ son Mark has taken control of the team. Official details of Allen’s four-year contract weren’t released to the media and public.