Good Riddance, Clancy Pendergast

By MikeBullock  |   Saturday, February 20, 2010  |  Comments( 10 )

Oakland Raiders
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When the Arizona Cardinals made it to Superbowl XLIII, it was on the strength of a great passing attack highlighting the skills of future Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner and all-pro wide out Larry Fitzgerald. When the Cardinals lost that game to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the blame deservingly fell on defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast, who was soon relieved of his duties. Pendergast wasn’t out of work long, however, as fellow ex-Cardinal coordinator turned Kansas City’s newest Chief Todd Haley hired him to run the Chief’s defense. Fast forward a year and once again Pendergast was relieved of his duties, only to land on the Oakland Raiders as a defensive back’s coach.

While rumors circulate Pendergast was merely hired to fill Raider owner Al Davis in on what he knew about the division rival Chiefs, whatever knowledge Pendergast had to impart to Davis must not have been worth much to land him a job as the DB’s coach. Either way, Pendergast jumped ship to be the defensive coordinator at Cal less than a month after hiring on with the Silver and Black.

If anyone out there in Raider land is feeling slighted by this, don’t.

During his time in Arizona, Pendergast routinely failed to keep a loaded defense focused and game ready for an entire season. His poor game planning led to several routes of the Cardinals and, if not for the pass happy offense, Pendergast’s inability to get the most out of the Cardinals defenders would have certainly prevented the team from making the post season at all, much less the Superbowl. If he can’t do a solid job with players such as Bertram Berry, Karlos Dansby, Adrian Wilson, Clark Haggans, Darnel Dockett and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, what was he going to do with Hiram Eugene, Michael Huff, Mike Mitchell and Stanford Routt?

On the surface this seems like a loss for the Raiders, but in reality it’s a win. Oakland has had more than its share of losing over the last seven seasons and certainly doesn’t need a coach blamed for a Superbowl loss one year and failing to elevate one of the worst defenses in the league the next. Maybe Pendergast will finally achieve the success at Cal that eluded him the last few years in the NFL, but far better to let a college team gamble with him than a Raider organization that is in desperate need of solid leadership, game planning and teaching from their defensive coaches.
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