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In touch with the Silver & Black
Raiders head coach Art Shell sounds off on a number of topics, including Randy Moss and how the game has changed
By Trent Modglin
May 31, 2006
For those who don’t believe you can ever truly come home again, meet Art Shell. After a stellar playing career that saw him win two Super Bowls and be named to eight Pro Bowls as an offensive tackle for the Raiders, Shell would eventually be named head coach of the franchise in 1989, becoming only the second African American to hold such a title in league history. He compiled a 56-41 overall record and was named Coach of the Year in 1990 after going 12-4 and reaching the AFC title game. But after a 9-7 mark in 1994, owner Al Davis let Shell go, a move he has always regretted.
Shell went on to hold assistant coaching positions with the Chiefs and Falcons before serving as the senior vice president for football operations and development for the NFL. When the Raiders were rebuffed by Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino and Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt for their coaching vacancy, Davis dialed the number of an old friend, who returned to coaching for the first time since 2000.
Shell took time after a recent minicamp to discuss a number of topics with PFW, including his relationship with Davis, reaching out to Randy Moss and how he and the game of football have changed since he last roamed the sideline.
Q: How does it feel to be back in the saddle with the Raiders?
A: It feels great. The main thing, like I told the team, is that it feels great to get back out there and smell the grass again and be out there among the players. There’s nothing like being out there among the players at practice, and I’m looking forward to the games coming up.
Q: Can you describe what your relationship with Al Davis was like in the early 1990s compared to now?
A: We had a good relationship back in the early ’90s. Our relationship was good until the end. We parted and went separate ways, but it was never to the point where I was resentful or upset or pissed off at him, because he made a decision that he thought was best for the organization. I understood that. So I never tried to malign him or anything like that because, look, the guy gave me an opportunity to be a player in this league, gave me the opportunity to be an assistant coach in the league and gave me the opportunity to be a head coach. And it worked out pretty good for me, so I’m just happy to be back with him.
Q: Is there anything that you’ve come to realize that you missed about coaching since getting back in the mix?
A: Again, the No. 1 thing is being with the players. We’ve had two minicamps already, and just being out there is exciting for me. The interaction with the players and making corrections on things that are going wrong and then watching the guys do it correctly. You’ve got a young guy the coaches are trying to teach to do something correctly, and then all of a sudden he does it right, and you get goose bumps, you get chills, because you’re excited about it.
Q: Your offensive coordinator, Tom Walsh, last worked as the mayor of a town in Idaho and ran a bed & breakfast there, and everyone’s obviously interested in how you guys are coming back to coaching after being away all these years. Did you have to prepare him for what the Bay Area press was going to be like, or was he pretty prepared for everything the job entailed?
A: He was ready for it. He and I have been talking for two or three years now about coaching, what’s going on in the world of professional football. We’d discuss things and talk about some of the things that are going on in the game, how it’s changed since we’ve coached in it, like the invention of all these zone blitzes. That’s probably the No. 1 thing that there is (to catch up on). I also said to him, ‘If I get back involved, I’m going to bring you with me.’ He understands the system that I grew up in, and he knows exactly what I want and how to get it done. … It’s good that we have (WR coach and former Raider Hall of Famer) Freddy Biletnikoff with us too because he knows the system well.
Q: Was there any point in the last few years where you were concerned whether you would ever get another chance to get back into coaching?
A: I would say over the last three years, I had basically given up. I have an agent — more of a friend than an agent — named Danny Moore, and every year he’d push me and say, ‘We need to get one of these (jobs).’ And I’d say, ‘Look, OK, if you want to try to get something going, I’ll sit down and talk if they want to talk.’ But I had decided this year, and I was serious about it, that this is the last go-round. I don’t want my name involved in any more jobs or trying to get me in someplace. It’s time for me to move on completely. I was enjoying what I was doing in the league office, I had a good working relationship with the commissioner, and I had something that was fulfilling to me and challenging. I looked at a college gig last year that didn’t work out and just wasn’t right for me at the time. But when this thing came along, hey, this is home, so I’m enjoying every minute of it. But I do understand one thing. We’ve got to win, and these players want to win. There’s some good kids around here who are tired of what’s been going on the last couple of years, and they want to win. I told them that we’re going to give them direction, going to show them the way, and they’ve just got to put forth the effort.
Q: The one constant in Oakland’s struggles in recent memory is the lack of discipline on the field. How do you plan to get that corrected?
A: Well, that’s a big part of the game. In past years, you were able to do different things wrong on the football field and still be talented enough to get away with it. But you can’t do those things anymore because they hurt you too much. So, from day one, that’s some of the things I talked to them about. You can’t be holding, can’t be jumping offsides. There are consequences to be paid for these types of things. It’s engrained in their brain, and we’re going to preach it over and over again because everybody’s going to be held accountable for what they do.
Q: When was the first contact you had with Randy Moss, and how is your connection with him?
A: Well, I had a conversation with him the day I was hired. I put a call into him and told him what was going on, told him I was looking forward to working with him, and he was excited about that because I had talked with Randy in the past. Randy is just like everybody else: He wants to win. When I got the job, I’d say 99 percent of the people that worked with him in Minnesota were positive about him. They said, ‘You’re going to like working with Randy Moss. He’s a great guy, a great guy in the locker room, and he wants to win.’ And in my time around him, it hasn’t been anything but that. I feel very good about him being a leader on this football team.
Q: I talked to scouts who indicated that Robert Gallery struggled at times last year at right tackle. What did you see in him that led you to believe now was the right time to move him to left tackle?
A: I remember when he came out. I thought he was great in college at left tackle. We came here, and when I looked at the offensive line and I conferred with the OL coaches after studying the talent, we felt that we needed to move him to left tackle. And then we took Langston Walker and moved him to right tackle. Walker was a tackle in college who had been playing guard. So what we’re trying to do is get a good fit for each individual to feel comfortable and have an opportunity to excel. … We’re going to put the five best guys out on the football field that give us the best chance to win.
cont'd...
Raiders head coach Art Shell sounds off on a number of topics, including Randy Moss and how the game has changed
By Trent Modglin
May 31, 2006
For those who don’t believe you can ever truly come home again, meet Art Shell. After a stellar playing career that saw him win two Super Bowls and be named to eight Pro Bowls as an offensive tackle for the Raiders, Shell would eventually be named head coach of the franchise in 1989, becoming only the second African American to hold such a title in league history. He compiled a 56-41 overall record and was named Coach of the Year in 1990 after going 12-4 and reaching the AFC title game. But after a 9-7 mark in 1994, owner Al Davis let Shell go, a move he has always regretted.
Shell went on to hold assistant coaching positions with the Chiefs and Falcons before serving as the senior vice president for football operations and development for the NFL. When the Raiders were rebuffed by Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino and Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt for their coaching vacancy, Davis dialed the number of an old friend, who returned to coaching for the first time since 2000.
Shell took time after a recent minicamp to discuss a number of topics with PFW, including his relationship with Davis, reaching out to Randy Moss and how he and the game of football have changed since he last roamed the sideline.
Q: How does it feel to be back in the saddle with the Raiders?
A: It feels great. The main thing, like I told the team, is that it feels great to get back out there and smell the grass again and be out there among the players. There’s nothing like being out there among the players at practice, and I’m looking forward to the games coming up.
Q: Can you describe what your relationship with Al Davis was like in the early 1990s compared to now?
A: We had a good relationship back in the early ’90s. Our relationship was good until the end. We parted and went separate ways, but it was never to the point where I was resentful or upset or pissed off at him, because he made a decision that he thought was best for the organization. I understood that. So I never tried to malign him or anything like that because, look, the guy gave me an opportunity to be a player in this league, gave me the opportunity to be an assistant coach in the league and gave me the opportunity to be a head coach. And it worked out pretty good for me, so I’m just happy to be back with him.
Q: Is there anything that you’ve come to realize that you missed about coaching since getting back in the mix?
A: Again, the No. 1 thing is being with the players. We’ve had two minicamps already, and just being out there is exciting for me. The interaction with the players and making corrections on things that are going wrong and then watching the guys do it correctly. You’ve got a young guy the coaches are trying to teach to do something correctly, and then all of a sudden he does it right, and you get goose bumps, you get chills, because you’re excited about it.
Q: Your offensive coordinator, Tom Walsh, last worked as the mayor of a town in Idaho and ran a bed & breakfast there, and everyone’s obviously interested in how you guys are coming back to coaching after being away all these years. Did you have to prepare him for what the Bay Area press was going to be like, or was he pretty prepared for everything the job entailed?
A: He was ready for it. He and I have been talking for two or three years now about coaching, what’s going on in the world of professional football. We’d discuss things and talk about some of the things that are going on in the game, how it’s changed since we’ve coached in it, like the invention of all these zone blitzes. That’s probably the No. 1 thing that there is (to catch up on). I also said to him, ‘If I get back involved, I’m going to bring you with me.’ He understands the system that I grew up in, and he knows exactly what I want and how to get it done. … It’s good that we have (WR coach and former Raider Hall of Famer) Freddy Biletnikoff with us too because he knows the system well.
Q: Was there any point in the last few years where you were concerned whether you would ever get another chance to get back into coaching?
A: I would say over the last three years, I had basically given up. I have an agent — more of a friend than an agent — named Danny Moore, and every year he’d push me and say, ‘We need to get one of these (jobs).’ And I’d say, ‘Look, OK, if you want to try to get something going, I’ll sit down and talk if they want to talk.’ But I had decided this year, and I was serious about it, that this is the last go-round. I don’t want my name involved in any more jobs or trying to get me in someplace. It’s time for me to move on completely. I was enjoying what I was doing in the league office, I had a good working relationship with the commissioner, and I had something that was fulfilling to me and challenging. I looked at a college gig last year that didn’t work out and just wasn’t right for me at the time. But when this thing came along, hey, this is home, so I’m enjoying every minute of it. But I do understand one thing. We’ve got to win, and these players want to win. There’s some good kids around here who are tired of what’s been going on the last couple of years, and they want to win. I told them that we’re going to give them direction, going to show them the way, and they’ve just got to put forth the effort.
Q: The one constant in Oakland’s struggles in recent memory is the lack of discipline on the field. How do you plan to get that corrected?
A: Well, that’s a big part of the game. In past years, you were able to do different things wrong on the football field and still be talented enough to get away with it. But you can’t do those things anymore because they hurt you too much. So, from day one, that’s some of the things I talked to them about. You can’t be holding, can’t be jumping offsides. There are consequences to be paid for these types of things. It’s engrained in their brain, and we’re going to preach it over and over again because everybody’s going to be held accountable for what they do.
Q: When was the first contact you had with Randy Moss, and how is your connection with him?
A: Well, I had a conversation with him the day I was hired. I put a call into him and told him what was going on, told him I was looking forward to working with him, and he was excited about that because I had talked with Randy in the past. Randy is just like everybody else: He wants to win. When I got the job, I’d say 99 percent of the people that worked with him in Minnesota were positive about him. They said, ‘You’re going to like working with Randy Moss. He’s a great guy, a great guy in the locker room, and he wants to win.’ And in my time around him, it hasn’t been anything but that. I feel very good about him being a leader on this football team.
Q: I talked to scouts who indicated that Robert Gallery struggled at times last year at right tackle. What did you see in him that led you to believe now was the right time to move him to left tackle?
A: I remember when he came out. I thought he was great in college at left tackle. We came here, and when I looked at the offensive line and I conferred with the OL coaches after studying the talent, we felt that we needed to move him to left tackle. And then we took Langston Walker and moved him to right tackle. Walker was a tackle in college who had been playing guard. So what we’re trying to do is get a good fit for each individual to feel comfortable and have an opportunity to excel. … We’re going to put the five best guys out on the football field that give us the best chance to win.
cont'd...