Coaching candidates du jour

By Os Davis  |   Monday, January 12, 2009  |  Comments( 16 )

Oakland Raiders
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With essentially three top spots now open in the Oakland Raiders coaching staff – though one will surely go to interim head coach Tom Cable – and the team in a state of serious entropy, speculation is running amok on whom these mystery men might be. And when they might be named. And when they were interviewed. And by whom. And...

You get the idea; to think the rumor mills are just getting oiled up and that we’re looking at maybe four more months of this.

Without further ado, then, a brief look at three recent candidates reportedly fishing around in the vicinity of the Raiders personnel office.

• Firstly, what's up with Kevin Gilbride? The always confusing reportage of Oakland’s behind-the-scenes personnel moves just gets weirder and weirder when it comes to Gilbride. You many recall the New York Giants offensive coordinator as the guy given a 90-minute telephone interview with Al Davis about a week and a half ago; according to his possibly buck-passing agent, said interview was given at Gilbride’s agent’s request.

Oakland Raiders Football Inc. senior executive John Herrera" target="_new">Said Oakland Raiders Football Inc. senior executive John Herrera, a guy who’s certain to see his own media exposure levels spike in the next 12 months or so, “We did not seek permission to interview Kevin Gilbride. The Raiders received a letter from Gilbride’s agent seeking a phone conversation with Mr. Davis.”

And now Gilbride is fatuously declaring that the interview had taken place “ have had as a football team"]because of the success [the Giants] have had as a football team”? Well, yes, that and a veteran telemarketer’s tenacity.

New York City-area newspapers, feeling the oncoming death of print news bearing hard upon them, are taking the undignified way out and capitulating to offering “stories” on blog posts. Want to tee off on Gilbride and be given all the authority of The Star-Ledger or even the New York Times? Feel free; it’s the 21st century!

Actual sports columnists are on the critical side of Gilbride’s final performance with the Giants as well, with at least one going so far as to claim the O-coordinator to have been particularly “outcoached by Andy Reid and his staff.”

In fact, this writer will side with the notion that Gilbride did call a limp game in the NFC divisionals, but who’s perfect? And anyone could just as easily tee off on golden boy Eli Manning for the Giants’ woes on offense Sunday. Perhaps it was just a bad game, perhaps not. Perhaps Gilbride coached the game like a dude halfway out the door and wondering why Davis isn’t calling his cell during the commercial break, perhaps not. Tell you what, though: The Raiders don’t need anyone with the lack of focus that Gilbride showed last weekend.

• Green Bay Packers assistant head coach/linebacker coach Winston Moss reportedly interviewed with the Raiders recently. Moss is something of a hot commodity right now, having received an interview with the St. Louis Rams for that team’s head coaching position earlier in the year and apparently still wanted in his current employ by his current employer.

The Rams, however, are not interested. Declared Moss’ agent, Jack Bechta, "He's either going to be back at Green Bay as the assistant head coach or possibly the defensive coordinator, or possibly be the next head coach of the Oakland Raiders.” Bechta went on to put in the best Raider-related quote of 2009 thus far with, “No one can predict what Al Davis is going to do. He's such a wild card.” (And a sobriquet was born.)

So what does Moss offer Wild Card Davis in his bid for the Raiders’ head coach position or possibly the defensive coordinator role?

Sorry to say that last year’s results weren’t good, for much blame for the Packers’ poor 2008 season can be laid on the team’s defensive side and specifically the front seven. Sure, the offensive line allowed 17 more sacks over the previous season, but the league’s fifth-highest scoring and eighth-most yardage-accumulating ‘O’ at least performed comparably against 2007. (For Favre’s last go-round, the Pack was fourth and second, respectively, in the aforementioned categories.)

Certain aspects of the Green Bay defense, on the other hand, suffered. Moss’ Packers managed just 27 sacks while giving up 2,105 rushing yards; those numbers a year earlier had been 36 and 1,647. Yet the Packer secondary actually improved on the 2007 secondary’s interception total (22 versus 19) with Nick Collins and Charles Woodson each putting in a monster (plus Tramon Williams’ respectable) season statistically.

So what gives? Is Moss a coach of marginal quality or is this merely another case of just a bad season?

As a coach pedigreed in the line, the Raiders could play to a strength. The secondary – particularly if Nnamdi Asomugha gets the franchise player tag – will be able to take care of itself in 2009 while Moss crafts something headed up by potential Pro Bowler Kirk Morrison. This could work. And if Davis wants a wild-card move, he should offer Moss the D-coordinator job. Or an assistant coach job. Or the head coach job...

• Finally, the name of former Raiders offensive coordinator Marc Trestman entered the mix this weekend via the rumor mill and CBS analyst Charley Casserly.

Trestman, eh? It says here that Trestman recently guided the Montreal Alouettes to the Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup in 2007, and he did it by managing an offense playing with a weird-looking ball and with just three downs to get the first.

It also says here that under Trestman’s guidance, the Raiders played in the Super Bowl, Rich Gannon breathed untold life into his career, and the heavy Oakland decline (perhaps not coincidentally) coincided with his departure. And he prefers the West Coast offense. Plus, there’s this excellent story on the man.

I’m sold. Wild Card, sign this man. In any capacity.

And Jim Fassel, too.
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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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