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By Anthony Carroll on January 11, 2007 05:08 AM
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On Monday, Steve Sarkisian left the Oakland Raiders ' Alameda headquarters with a smile on his face.
It was either that, or the USC assistant was too stunned to change his expression after six blinding hours in front of owner Al Davis.
Shortly after the interview, Sarkisian offered a sneak-peak into the typical Al Davis-interview process.
"You cover issues from A to Z about what you think a coach in the National Football League needs to know," he explained. "You present a unique plan on how to get a proud and prestigious organization back on top."
The description was short, non-revealing and appropriate.
In other words, it was boring.
Leave it to the animated Jon Gruden to fill in the letters between 'A' and 'Z'.
Gruden, who led Oakland to a 40-28 record from 1998-2001, was the last -- and perhaps only -- head coach to candidly offer a play-by-play rundown of an Al Davis cross-examination. The current Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach sat down with the 77-year-old owner four times from 1996 to 1997 -- twice before then-head coach Joe Bugel was hired and twice after he was fired.
"That interview with Al...You sit up there, and he'd say 'draw an under,'" Gruden described, recounting the several questions Davis fired at him. "So I'd draw an under defense."
"'Draw an offense,'" Gruden recalled Davis ordering him shortly after.
The 43-year-old, as directed, grabbed his writing utensil and drew the legendary owner an offense.
"How would you attack that?" Davis then asked. Gruden, caught a bit off-guard, asked back, "Well, where's the safety support? What's the coverage?"
Davis' immediate response: "[Four-letter word] that! How would you attack that?"
Gruden likely asked no more questions throughout the interview.
By that time, the soon-to-be head coach was aware that Davis was like none other; the chain affixed to his eyewear is used to physically threaten up-and-coming prospects undergoing the interview process. The jumpsuit? That just looks cool.
Gruden then continued on.
"This is all in a bang-bang fashion. It's not like you're just having a drink here and you're talking about nothing but bye-week schedules, you're talking about an under-defense for Christ's sake."
Davis likes talking about it all.
Steve Sarkisian would know; he was in the owner's office for one-fourth of his entire day on Monday answering question after question.
Before Gruden was hired in '98, he recalled two specific out-of-the-ordinary questions asked by Davis:
"'Who's the best three-technique in the NFC East?'"
And, "'Let's say both backs flow strong, quarterback comes out naked. How would you coach that defensive end?'"
You can't prepare for this stuff.
"You're sweating. You're excited," Gruden recalled of the experience. "And most of the pitches he throws you -- the questions early -- you're dinging 'em. Everybody's hitting those."
Eventually Davis' will work you up to a full count, though.
And then leave the mound.
"No one ever said, 'Hey, you got the job,'" Gruden remembered. "I don't think he still ever told me I got the job. I don't think anybody did."
"It's one of those deals. It was a strange thing, a very strange thing."
Anthony Carroll can be contacted at [email protected]
Permalink | Comments (0) | RSS | [+] More Raiders News
On Monday, Steve Sarkisian left the Oakland Raiders ' Alameda headquarters with a smile on his face.
It was either that, or the USC assistant was too stunned to change his expression after six blinding hours in front of owner Al Davis.
Shortly after the interview, Sarkisian offered a sneak-peak into the typical Al Davis-interview process.
"You cover issues from A to Z about what you think a coach in the National Football League needs to know," he explained. "You present a unique plan on how to get a proud and prestigious organization back on top."
The description was short, non-revealing and appropriate.
In other words, it was boring.
Leave it to the animated Jon Gruden to fill in the letters between 'A' and 'Z'.
Gruden, who led Oakland to a 40-28 record from 1998-2001, was the last -- and perhaps only -- head coach to candidly offer a play-by-play rundown of an Al Davis cross-examination. The current Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach sat down with the 77-year-old owner four times from 1996 to 1997 -- twice before then-head coach Joe Bugel was hired and twice after he was fired.
"That interview with Al...You sit up there, and he'd say 'draw an under,'" Gruden described, recounting the several questions Davis fired at him. "So I'd draw an under defense."
"'Draw an offense,'" Gruden recalled Davis ordering him shortly after.
The 43-year-old, as directed, grabbed his writing utensil and drew the legendary owner an offense.
"How would you attack that?" Davis then asked. Gruden, caught a bit off-guard, asked back, "Well, where's the safety support? What's the coverage?"
Davis' immediate response: "[Four-letter word] that! How would you attack that?"
Gruden likely asked no more questions throughout the interview.
By that time, the soon-to-be head coach was aware that Davis was like none other; the chain affixed to his eyewear is used to physically threaten up-and-coming prospects undergoing the interview process. The jumpsuit? That just looks cool.
Gruden then continued on.
"This is all in a bang-bang fashion. It's not like you're just having a drink here and you're talking about nothing but bye-week schedules, you're talking about an under-defense for Christ's sake."
Davis likes talking about it all.
Steve Sarkisian would know; he was in the owner's office for one-fourth of his entire day on Monday answering question after question.
Before Gruden was hired in '98, he recalled two specific out-of-the-ordinary questions asked by Davis:
"'Who's the best three-technique in the NFC East?'"
And, "'Let's say both backs flow strong, quarterback comes out naked. How would you coach that defensive end?'"
You can't prepare for this stuff.
"You're sweating. You're excited," Gruden recalled of the experience. "And most of the pitches he throws you -- the questions early -- you're dinging 'em. Everybody's hitting those."
Eventually Davis' will work you up to a full count, though.
And then leave the mound.
"No one ever said, 'Hey, you got the job,'" Gruden remembered. "I don't think he still ever told me I got the job. I don't think anybody did."
"It's one of those deals. It was a strange thing, a very strange thing."
Anthony Carroll can be contacted at [email protected]
