We’re heading west for the next position in the spotlight city, Oakland, California. We decided to split San Francisco and Oakland up because of the cross town rivalries that exist in more than 1 sport, and the fact San Francisco’s pick is obvious (we even mentioned it in the preview). Oakland actually has more pro sports teams than San Francisco, 3-2. They have the A’s, the Raiders, and the Golden State Warriors, who play in the Oakland Coliseum parking lot. These teams, especially the A’s and Raiders, have enjoyed a lot of success, with the 3 teams combining to win 7 championships (1 of the Raiders Super Bowls was in Los Angeles) since moving to town in various years of the 60s, but I noticed that it was hard to find a certain position that really stood out throughout a team’s history. The A’s have always had success with extremely well balanced teams, combining great pitching, hitting, and speed, and the Raiders have had a lot of success at running back, linebacker, defensive back, and wide reciever. There is one position though that was in the spotlight for one reason 30 years ago, and a totally different reason today, and that is my pick: Oakland Raiders Head Coach.
After a few rough years in the early days of the AFL, the Raiders hired a former USC offensive ends coach to try to turn the team around. His name? Al Davis. Yes, that Al Davis. Davis immediately turned the team around, won coach of the year in 1963, and the Raiders legend was born. After Davis left the Raiders coaching job to become part owner of the team and AFL commissioner in 1966, he was replaced by his assistant, John Rauch. Rauch brought the Raiders to a level that they hadn’t been before, leading the Raiders to the 1967 AFL Championship and a trip to Super Bowl II, which they lost. Rauch led the Raiders back to the 1968 AFL Championship game but ended up quitting as head coach because of frequent interference from Davis….
Around this time, the Raiders were quickly becoming known as pro football’s “bad boys,” with a lot of players with colorful personalities. Davis gladly brought in all of the “problem” players of the NFL and turned them into winners. He needed a coach with a personality as big as his renegade players, and he found it in 32 year-old linebackers coach John Madden. Madden reigned in his talent and led the Raiders to the playoffs all but 2 years coaching the team from 1969-1978, winning Super Bowl XI in 1976 and leading the team to several AFC Championship games. Madden has the highest winning percentage of any modern day coach at .763 (2nd all-time to someone that only coached for 6 years in the 20’s). Madden eventually left the team due to his fear of flying but left an extremely talented team behind and some huge shoes to fill.
Davis replaced Madden with his old quarterback from the 60’s, Tom Flores, which made Flores the first latino head coach in NFL history. With a new quarterback in Jim Plunkett and a lot of the same talent from the 70’s, Flores brought Oakland it’s 2nd Super Bowl in 1980, and he made Dick Vermeil cry (ok, that’s not too hard). This was all occuring while Davis was trying to move his team to Los Angeles, and he succeeded before the 1982 season…
The Raiders didn’t lose many fans in Oakland after their move. They would never convert over to the hated Niners and many traveled to LA for the games (they were already used to traveling to San Diego once a year), so I’ll touch on it briefly here. Flores won the Raiders another Super Bowl in 1983 and moved to the front office in 1988, replaced by Mike Shanahan. Shanahan was fired half way through 1989 (and according the ESPN still owns an Al Davis dart board 20 years later…damn, that’s one bitter man), and was replaced by the NFL’s first African-American head coach, hall of fame offensive lineman Art Shell. Shell led the Raiders to the playoffs 3 times before being fired after the 1994 season, coincidentally the same year the Raiders moved back to Oakland.
Things began to change for the Raiders head coaching position when they moved back to Oakland in 1995. Davis was increasingly interferring with his coaches and was growing more impatient with his hires. Mike White coached the team for only 2 years before being fired on Christmas Eve in 1996. He was replaced by Joe Bugel, who led the Raiders to their worst season since 1962 in 1997, and was abruptly fired. Davis then turned back to the strategy he used with John Madden back in the 60’s, and hired the rising young coaching star, Jon Gruden. Gruden was a winner, turning the Raiders back around to a dominant force in the AFC, until he was “traded” to the Buccaneers after the 2001 season for draft picks after a controversial playoff loss to the Patriots.
Gruden was replaced by his offensive coordinator and former head coach of my rival high school, Bill Callahan. Gruden’s success helped the Raiders attract a lot of talented players as free agents, and Callahan took his ready made championship-caliber team all the way to the Super Bowl in 2002, staying the course with Gruden’s system and playbook in tact. Irony works in funny ways though, and the Raiders wound up running head first into Gruden and the Bucs in the Super Bowl. Tampa’s defense played like they memorized the playbooks (they probably did, since they were Gruden’s) and Rich Gannon threw 5 interceptions on their way to losing badly. Callahan was fired after going 4-12 the next season.
Davis’s reputation as a boss was really starting to deteriotate at this point, and he was having a hard time finding a good head coach for his team. He turned to former Redskins head coach Norv Turner, who had already proved by this point in his career that he is a great offensive coordinator and a lousy head coach. After 2 seasons, Turner was fired. After a long search in 2006, the Raiders turned back to Art Shell, who hadn’t been a head coach since being fired in 1994. After 2-14 season (the 2nd worst in team history) Shell was fired. Gruden went back to the fountain of youth for the 3rd time and hired Lane Kiffin, who even kind of looked like John Gruden if you squint a little, visor and all. Things got ugly quickly, with Davis trying to force Kiffin to quit so he wouldn’t have to pay out his contract. It eventually led to Kiffin being fired early in the 2008 season and being replaced by Tom Cable, who was again nowhere near any other team’s head coaching radars. The Raiders showed some life under Cable last year, and only time will tell how he fares as head coach. But either way, the Raiders head coac
hing job is in the spotlight both for the legends of the past, and the controversy of the present.
Honorable Mention:
Oakland A’s 1-2 starters: The A’s have had their share of (steroid-enhanced) sluggers over the years, but they have had their most success when having a great 1-2 punch at the top of the pitching rotation. From Catfish Hunter and Vida Blue in the 70s, to Dave Stewart and Bob Welch in the 80s and early 90s, to Tim Hudson and Barry Zito in the early 00’s, the A’s always seem to find themselves good pitching.
Oakland Raiders Wide Reciever: Al Davis loves speed, and he loves great wide receivers. The Raiders have had some good ones over the years, from hall of famer Fred Biletnikoff in the late 60s and early 70s, to Cliff Branch in late 70s/early 80s, to future hall of famer Tim Brown in the 90s, and even future hall of famer Jerry Rice in the early 00’s. They even had Randy Moss for a few years. Will controversial 1st round pick Darrius Heyward-Bey be the next great one?
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