Angel
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For Raiders, the buck still stops with Davis
Adam Schein / Special to FOXSports.com
It's official; the Raiders are a joke.
Now this isn't an anti-Art Shell statement. It's an opinion based on the botched process. Al Davis is coaching the Raiders, and he is installing Shell as his puppet.
Warren Sapp told me last year that Davis called the coaches after the season opening loss to the Patriots and told the defensive staff to stop playing the 3-4 defense. Guess what? They shifted to the 4-3.
According to Sapp, it was Davis who benched Kerry Collins, then insisted on getting him back in the line-up.
And as a result, the coaching search was an embarrassment. Nobody wanted this job. The Raiders, loaded with history and tradition, are now viewed as a dead-end team and a dead-end job in the coaching fraternity.
No coaching candidate wants to be told who his defensive coordinator (Assistant Rob Ryan was signed to a 3-year deal before Davis named Shell as the head coach.) and wide receivers coach is. No coaching candidate wants the owner making lineup decisions.
As a result, the Raiders missed out on several top flight assistant coaches who got jobs with other teams. And the Raiders really missed out on Steelers offensive coordinator Kenny Whisenhunt, who was startled by the lack of control he would have if he took the gig.
And you know it is bad when the Louisville coach turns down a 5 year, $18 million dollar deal to coach your team. With all due respect to the very-respected Bobby Petrino, it is not as if he is coaching USC, Texas, Notre Dame, Florida or Florida State.
And you know it is worse when Davis refers to him as Bernard Petrino during a press conference.
Perhaps this is a crazy thought, but maybe it would've been nice if the new coach was in place during senior bowl week? Remember that's where former Raiders coach Jon Gruden fell in love with running back Cadillac Williams last year, and that worked out pretty well.
Oakland is now behind in scouting for the draft. Shouldn't the head coach be familiar with the players he will draft?
Now we have Raiders fans applauding the move, getting back to Raider football.
Please.
That's nonsense.
Shell is going to do whatever Davis wants. And that has to make you scared as a Raider fan. It's not as if his playbook was so outstanding the first time he coached the Raiders. And I know he went 56-41, but how did that end up? And why did he not get another head coaching gig?
You know how many Raiders fans emailed me saying they wanted Art Shell when I wrote an in-season column saying Norv Turner should be fired? You know how many Raiders fans called my radio show wanting Shell?
ZERO!
Don't let the fact that Shell was a great Raiders player fool you. This was an embarrassing search, and Shell was deep down on Davis' list. Perhaps you could sell me on the move, if Davis hired him in early January.
Shell is nothing more than a major fall-back option.
An option somewhere behind both Bernard and Bobby Petrino.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5334594
Adam Schein / Special to FOXSports.com
It's official; the Raiders are a joke.
Now this isn't an anti-Art Shell statement. It's an opinion based on the botched process. Al Davis is coaching the Raiders, and he is installing Shell as his puppet.
Warren Sapp told me last year that Davis called the coaches after the season opening loss to the Patriots and told the defensive staff to stop playing the 3-4 defense. Guess what? They shifted to the 4-3.
According to Sapp, it was Davis who benched Kerry Collins, then insisted on getting him back in the line-up.
And as a result, the coaching search was an embarrassment. Nobody wanted this job. The Raiders, loaded with history and tradition, are now viewed as a dead-end team and a dead-end job in the coaching fraternity.
No coaching candidate wants to be told who his defensive coordinator (Assistant Rob Ryan was signed to a 3-year deal before Davis named Shell as the head coach.) and wide receivers coach is. No coaching candidate wants the owner making lineup decisions.
As a result, the Raiders missed out on several top flight assistant coaches who got jobs with other teams. And the Raiders really missed out on Steelers offensive coordinator Kenny Whisenhunt, who was startled by the lack of control he would have if he took the gig.
And you know it is bad when the Louisville coach turns down a 5 year, $18 million dollar deal to coach your team. With all due respect to the very-respected Bobby Petrino, it is not as if he is coaching USC, Texas, Notre Dame, Florida or Florida State.
And you know it is worse when Davis refers to him as Bernard Petrino during a press conference.
Perhaps this is a crazy thought, but maybe it would've been nice if the new coach was in place during senior bowl week? Remember that's where former Raiders coach Jon Gruden fell in love with running back Cadillac Williams last year, and that worked out pretty well.
Oakland is now behind in scouting for the draft. Shouldn't the head coach be familiar with the players he will draft?
Now we have Raiders fans applauding the move, getting back to Raider football.
Please.
That's nonsense.
Shell is going to do whatever Davis wants. And that has to make you scared as a Raider fan. It's not as if his playbook was so outstanding the first time he coached the Raiders. And I know he went 56-41, but how did that end up? And why did he not get another head coaching gig?
You know how many Raiders fans emailed me saying they wanted Art Shell when I wrote an in-season column saying Norv Turner should be fired? You know how many Raiders fans called my radio show wanting Shell?
ZERO!
Don't let the fact that Shell was a great Raiders player fool you. This was an embarrassing search, and Shell was deep down on Davis' list. Perhaps you could sell me on the move, if Davis hired him in early January.
Shell is nothing more than a major fall-back option.
An option somewhere behind both Bernard and Bobby Petrino.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5334594
