The Daydream Team: A possible coaching staff for the 2009 Raiders

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, January 20, 2009  |  Comments( 24 )

Oakland Raiders
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Is it the economy or what? You’d think that a franchise with a burgeoning culture of losing (OK, decade of losing) and a well-publicized overbearing owner would be seeing a paucity of candidates for the head coaching job – remember the Detroit Lions’ hunt of a few years back that landed them Rod Marinelli?

But noooooooooooo! Judging from the news reports and that ubiquitous “source” which has Chris Mortensen’s cell phone on the speed dial in addition to a really empty schedule, Oakland Raiders Football Inc. has held a half-dozen positive and fruitful interviews with candidates while basically turning suitors away since well before the final gun to the 2008 NFL season.

The latest subject of rumor is, of course, Don Martindale, the team’s current linebackers coach. After ostensibly getting a five-hour (!) interview with some Raider bigwigs, Martindale was so impressive that The Source reported the coach to suddenly be in contention for Oakland’s top spot.

Predictably, team senior executive John Herrera heartily denied any such nonsense with an emphatic “Once again ESPN has chosen to air something that has no basis in fact.” C’mon, John, *no* basis in fact? There was obviously an interview with Martindale in the midst of this personnel shuffle; the guy’s been with the team for five years, which would imply that he’s cozied up to Al Davis on some meaningful level; and Martindale clearly wowed somebody – that wacky “source,” at very least – during the fictional interview.

While it’s totally plausible that the meeting between Davis and Martindale in actuality “had nothing to do with [Martindale] becoming a head coach,” surely by sheer dint of default, Martindale’s gotta be considered, right? And so it goes, as Vonnegut’s lament went.

No matter what the short list in Davis’ desk drawer actually looks like, the names trotted out and bandied about are compelling indeed. Check out this possible staff for the 2009 Raiders. In the world of ESPN.com, it could happen, but it won’t. Call it the Daydream Team.

Head coach: Jim Fassel. Nope, not getting off this horse ‘til it’s over, Raider Nation. Mr. Davis’ borderline-sick infatuation with inexperienced and youthful head coaches is well-known, but for every John Harbaugh who achieves crazy success early, there is a Marinelli. And, yes, Mike Tomlin coached his Pittsburgh Steelers into the Super Bowl before the age of 40, but he’s coming from the very pillar of NFL coaching stability and was given a sweet team built by Bill Cowher. As for 46-year-old opposing Super Bowl coach Ken Whisenhunt, also from the Steeler organization, at least he had a few years as an O-coordinator under his belt and a professional playing career of seven years before ascending to the Arizona Cardinals’ top spot.

The record on Fassel, again, in brief: offensive coordinator with the Raiders in the early 1990s; a decent 58-53-1 career record as the New York Giants' head coach, but with one NFC title; and his son John has been promoted to special teams coach. A no-brainer, really.

Defensive coordinator: Don Martindale. Some good old-fashioned promotion through the ranks might be nice, and Davis and Martindale must have been talking about *something* during their mysterious meet.

During his tenure as line coach, the Raider defense has often been fearsome, the 'D' has never been the problem since 2004 excepting the occasional DeAngelo Hall-level head case, and Kirk Morrison looks steadier every Sunday. All in all, Martindale has done well enough and probably due promotion. Better do it now before the Cleveland Browns or Tennessee Volunteers come calling, eh?

Just one question. This guy has been toiling away in Raider Land for going on five years; how has he maintained this level of anonymity?

Offensive coordinator: Marc Trestman. Because departing Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride most likely irked all the wrong people in Oakland with his efforts in lobbying for the job with Davis and in the media, you've gotta be liking an opportunity to re-obtain Trestman.

Coming straight off a CFL Grey Cup victory with the Montreal Alouettes, would Trestman consider the Oakland O-coordinator job (gasp) a demotion? Optimistically speaking, Trestman could be available and, like Fassel, has a sweet Raider pedigree, finding success with the silver and black in the days of a quarterback named Rich Gannon.

Just imagine Darren McFadden and Zach Miller with seven or eight receptions per game each in a West Coast offense...

Offensive line coach: Tom Cable. Sorry, Mr. Cable. Sure, sure, you filled the interim head coach position adequately enough, didn’t say anything stupid before ESPN cameras, kept the big chair warm, etc., but something about you just screams “interim,” doesn’t it? Seriously, the offense was whatever the opposite of a scoring machine is for, what, 75 percent of the Cable Era?

Meanwhile, the line itself has been improving somewhat over the past few years under Cable; the Raiders are currently faced with having to improve the front five through the draft and subsequently implementing two or three rookies. Ultimately, wouldn’t Cable be nearly the perfect guy for that job? Thus, re-sign him for a year and throw him a huge pay hike.

Quarterbacks coach: Rich Gannon. I know, I know. I’m a genius. This possibility raises only two questions, in fact. Firstly, how nice would Gannon tutoring JaMarcus Russell along with Trestman be? Second, would Gannon actually rather become an all-time great mentor or stay a beyond-mediocre “game analyst” for CBS Sports? Don’t answer that last one.

Maybe they could just get him to come to training camp...
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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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