Considering the Fassel era

By Os Davis  |   Monday, November 17, 2008  |  Comments( 33 )

Oakland Raiders
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The source at Oakland Raiders Football Inc. has spoken again, this time informing privileged members of mainstream media of the inside dope that Jim Fassel had appealed to Al Davis, via handwritten letter, for the team's head coaching position in 2009.

Now if it weren’t for the fact that Tom Cable is the default holder of the position, Fassel’s query would be laughable at best, mutinous at worst. Instead, by an eerie sort of logic, attempting to land this job this early would be exactly the proper thing to do, what with the quagmire of 2000s Raiders personnel and coaching staff to clean up and sort out.

So, with but a token reference to Fassel’s excellently done sycophantry in reportedly “expressing his respect and admiration for Davis,” thereby achieving the prose equivalent of kissing the godfather’s hand, a brief look at the Fassel highlight reel. Roll the tape!

A former USC quarterback himself, Fassel’s professional coaching career goes back to 1972, when he scored a job as an assistant coach at Stanford after getting drafted that year by the Chicago Bears but not sticking. So began a career that has continued to the present day, interrupted by only the briefest of stints with the World Football League’s Honolulu Hawaiians in 1974. And his current state of unemployment.

Fassel first became a head coach with the University of Utah, four seasons best described as subpar for an overall record of 25-33. Fassel’s history with the Raiders goes back to 1990: Davis’ team was the first NFL franchise to hire the man, making him offensive coordinator under Art Shell, in ’90 in his first full season as head coach. Truly the last great silver-and-black team until the Jon Gruden era, in 1990, the Raiders finished fourth in passing offense.

Onto the Denver Broncos and Arizona Cardinals went Fassel as O-coordinator, producing nothing special there; Fassel found himself ejected after three seasons right around .500 before the second year of Mike Shanahan’s tenure. His lone campaign with the Cards may best be remembered (or not) as the season Boomer Esiason was the Arizona QB.

Yet despite Fassel’s career of hit-and-miss seasons as an offensive coordinator, someone in New York was inspired enough to hire him as head coach! And Fassel prospered with the Giants!

Well, sort of. In six-plus years as head coach – Fassel was fired during the 2003 season and in fact has twice been canned before season’s end; danger, Raider Nation! Danger! – he compiled a 58-53-1 record, but there is always that one unforgettable year of 2000 based on shutdown defense which culminated in a sneak-in-the-back-door Super Bowl appearance.

Unfortunately, Fassel would be fired midway through 2003 despite a pretty darned decent showing by the team in 2002. Back to the offensive coordinator ranks for Fassel it was, and he landed with the Baltimore Ravens in 2004, which ultimately sounds about as prestigious and fruitful as the Arizona Cardinals post in the 1990s. (Hey, wait a minute...)

Alas, Fassel was dismissed by the Ravens’ Brian Billick six games into a quite offensively impotent Ravens regular season in 2006; his back departing out the Baltimore door is the last we’ve seen of Fassel in the NFL to date.

The report coach? Put Fassel at about average overall, just like his career record. However, the résumé seems to indicate that a team can typically get one or two good years out of Fassel. Looking back, the majority in Fassel’s stream of NFL gigs appear to be jobs for Scotty -- i.e., scotch-tape together this warp drive of an offense and get us ready for the home game against the Klingons.

Fassel has typically achieved more for less and is in the short-term a decent organizer and motivator, all tools of which the 2009 Raiders will sure be in short supply without the proper choice at head coach. Plus, Fassel has a nice few requisite going-down-in-flames firings just perfect for the likes of Uncle Al to repeat, inducing chronic déjà vu among many a Raider backer.

Oddly enough, this bizarre opportunistic maneuver by Fassel may have been a correct career move. Even stranger, this may be a rare (if not golden, at least silver) opportunity in a bleak season on-field: A Fassel hire could see a competent (if not brilliant) hand organize some of the mess on the roster as much as is humanly possible in the short term. As the old and oddly illogical saw goes, this is so crazy it just might work.

The Fassel era in Oakland: Are you ready, Raider Nation?
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
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