Nancy Gay: Don't read too much Kiffen in Alameda

[SoCalRaider]

We interrupt the USC ballwashing extravaganza for this brief announcement from the Rob - Ryan - For - President Jihad.

---------------------------------------------------------
Another name emerges in search for a coach

From Sporting Green NFL columnist Nancy Gay:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=11&entry_id=12769


At some point, everyone will figure out that expedited coaching hires are not the Raider Way. Once again, this year's head coach search is evolving into a slow, deliberate process.


And it will continue through the weekend. That will give Al Davis a chance to peer from the bushes to see how the New England Patriots fare in the AFC Championship game.


By Monday, Davis will know how quickly he can get Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels on a plane to Oakland.


It's a battle between boy wonder offensive coordinators, apparently.McDaniels, 30, has credibility because coach Bill Belichick entrusts his offense to him. And Raiders defensive coordinator Rob Ryan is very, very fond of McDaniels, which means the two would be a happy tandem coaching the Raiders out of last year's 2-14 hole.


Meanwhile, USC assistant head coach Steve Sarkisian has had a second talk with Davis and on Thursday, Sarkisian's co-offensive coordinator, Lane Kiffin, was in Alameda for a meet-and-greet with Davis.


Don't read too much into that.


The hiring process is still in the early stages - despite James Lofton's proclamation this week that he's the front-runner. Chatting about what a job might pay isn't the same as actually hammering out contract details. Lofton got way ahead of himself.


So don't hand the Raiders head coaching job to anyone just yet.
The team of "Sarkiffin" - that's what USC insiders call Sarkisian and Kiffin - isn't a lock. And Lofton certainly isn't.


McDaniels probably will get an interview with Davis. And he probably should.


Even if the Patriots advance to Super Bowl XLI, the Raiders are expected to seek permission to speak to McDaniels during the so-called "dead" week before everyone heads to Miami.


Posted By: The Sporting Green (Email) | January 18 2007 at 05:22 PM

 

[SoCalRaider]

Here are some excerpts of a long winded article on how the Saints interviewed and ended up offering Payton the job. There's a little blurb on the Raiders (almost identical to what Whisenhunt said) and apparently the NFL has a program that interviews assistants and coordinators... but I was really impressed with how Payton runs his ship and whether he really could have succeeded here...............

---------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nola.com/saints/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-3/1169106845202260.xml&coll=1

[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] Loomis began the most important task of his career basically from scratch. The first thing he did was request a series of videotapes from the league office with pre-taped interviews from dozens of assistant coaches.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] That's where he got his first impression of Payton, who had been asked by the league to make a tape the year after he helped lead the New York Giants to the Super Bowl as an offensive coordinator in the 2000-01 season. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] "It's just a program where a lot of coordinators and assistants are basically interviewed on a camera and someone asks these 28 questions that are the same for everyone," Payton said. "Where are you from? How long have you coached? How do you carry yourself? Just very simple questions that introduce a candidate for a team. It was probably a 45-minute session." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] Loomis, who thinks he watched about 20 or 30 of the tapes, said he liked the way Payton communicated and presented himself. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] Later, Loomis became even more impressed by how detailed and thorough Payton was about every aspect of running his team, from practice schedules, to roster makeup, to the kind of assistant coaches he hoped to hire. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] Most of all, Loomis liked how much Payton preached about discipline, which probably was the Saints' No. 1 area of emphasis when seeking a coach. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] After one year with the Cowboys, Payton interviewed for the Oakland Raiders head coaching job, but late in the process, he pulled his name from consideration.

[/FONT] [FONT=Arial,sans-serif] "I just didn't think the situation was right. I thought it was best to stay in Dallas," said Payton, who got a chance to study under Parcells for two more years and was given an opportunity to call plays for the Cowboys during the 2005 season. [/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] "I'll tell you one thing about him. He looked at you straight in the eye. You could see he had a plan. He was going to get results from his players. And you had the feeling right from the beginning when you were visiting with this guy that they had to be part of the team, or they weren't going to be on the team."[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] When asked for their first impression of Payton, most players gave a similar response. [/FONT]


[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]"A disciplinarian," Bush said. "Serious about what he expected from everyone." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] "No-nonsense," veteran cornerback Fred Thomas said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] "Straightforward," receiver Joe Horn said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] Other players talked about his attention to detail. Linebacker Scott Fujita's first impression of Payton came when they were both with the Cowboys last season. Fujita was traded from Kansas City shortly before the season. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] "I remember in practice he used to always say, 'Repeat it again on the ball, please.' It was a little redundant. I haven't teased him about that yet. I was thinking, 'Who is this guy?' " Fujita said. "But the time I got to know him best was the week we played Kansas City, and all of a sudden he wanted to be my best friend and be all up in the Kansas City playbook. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] "So my first impression was that he was curious. Very studious." [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] Saints quarterback Drew Brees has forged a particularly special relationship with Payton, whose career had been spent coaching quarterbacks and offenses. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
From the moment Brees was signed as a free agent in March, the two have collaborated on installing the Saints' playbook, designing it around Brees' strengths and preferences. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] Brees, who finished runner-up in the league MVP voting, said Payton has been instrumental in taking his career to the next level. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif] "If you walked in the door, you wouldn't know he's a first-year head coach," Brees said before the Saints' season opener in September. "Because he's got it together. He's in control of this deal, and we all obviously respect him. He's gained our respect as we've gone through this because we see that he's earned the spot that he's in right now." [/FONT]