Raiders promote Hue Jackson to be head coach

In a completely unsurprising turn of events, Hue Jackson was officially named Raiders head coach Monday night. He will be formally introduced at a news conference today - two weeks after coach Tom Cable was let go.

Jackson, the team's offensive coordinator, was promoted after he helped the team rise from 31st in total offense to 10th in his first year on the job. He took over play-calling duties from Cable and Oakland scored more than twice as many points as it did in 2009 (410 to 197).

"The fire in Hue will set a flame that will burn for a long time in the hearts and minds of the Raider football team and the Raider Nation," owner Al Davis said in a statement.

The Chronicle first reported Jan. 4 that Jackson would be named head coach.

Jackson, 45, has not been a head coach. He interviewed for the Raiders' job last offseason, and one possible reason for the delay in naming Jackson head coach this month was to dispel the notion that Cable was a lame duck in the last year of his contract.

The Raiders finished 8-8 this past season - their best record in eight years - but the two-year, $5 million option on Cable's contract was not picked up. Cable recently filed a grievance against the Raiders to recover $120,000 in fines that Davis withheld from Cable's paychecks.

The players supported Cable and were largely upset with the move, but Jackson is also popular with the players. He made a point to trash-talk defensive players in practice and develop relationships with them in training camp.

Jackson "was with us during the 8-8 season, and that was the best season we've had in the last eight years," cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said Friday. "So he understands the players and knows what it takes to win. So I think bringing Hue along has to be the right choice if you're getting rid of Tom Cable."

Behind the legs of running backs Darren McFadden, Michael Bush and rookie receiver Jacoby Ford, Jackson's offense finished sixth in the league in scoring. The 410 points were the sixth most scored in a season in franchise history.

Jackson wasn't satisfied with the improvement.

"That's why I came to the Raiders was to improve, but we didn't improve fast enough," Jackson said late in the season. "We expect to be challenging for the playoffs, challenging for our division year in and year out and we're not getting that done, so to me, that's a disappointment. There's either first place or there's last place, and there's no in-between."

Jackson also seems to be on the same page with quarterback Jason Campbell after saying it was his decision to bench him in Week 2. Campbell completed 59 percent of his passes on the season with 13 touchdowns, eight interceptions and a passer rating of 84.5.

"Most definitely we got a better feel for each other," Campbell said. "You don't just come in out of the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden light it up. It takes time to get to know each other, to know my strengths and what I can do well and what I need to work on."

Campbell now gets some rare continuity - he had four different offensive coordinators in six years in the NFL with Washington and Oakland. Plus, he gets an added bonus as the Raiders are close to naming Al Saunders as offensive coordinator.

Saunders was with Campbell in Washington as associate head coach in 2006 and 2007, and spent a year with Jackson as an offensive consultant with Baltimore in 2009. Saunders, 63, has interviewed with Davis for the head-coaching job twice over the years.

E-mail Vittorio Tafur at vtafur@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle