|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
The Raiders officially marked the end of the Bill Callahan era Wednesday, announcing the coach's departure in a five-paragraph news release.
So, who's next for the Raiders? After Jon Gruden left for Tampa Bay in February
2002, the team took three weeks to settle on Callahan, then the offensive coordinator.
It probably will be a shorter wait this time, with a greater mix of candidates
vying for the job.
So far, media reports have most often mentioned former Minnesota Vikings coach Dennis Green, former University of Washington coach Rick Neuheisel, Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Maurice Carthon and New England Patriots coordinators Charlie Weis (offensive) and Romeo Crennel (defensive). Former New York Giants coach Jim Fassel -- who also has been connected to the openings in Arizona, Atlanta and Buffalo -- is another possibility.
Calls to Raiders senior assistant Bruce Allen were not returned Wednesday. A
source close to Neuheisel said the former Huskies coach would be interested
in talking to the team.
Whoever gets the job will take over a fractured team. Even as the Raiders came
apart on the field by way of a series of miscues and devastating injuries, serious
problems developed between Callahan and some of his star players. Two of them
-- cornerback Charles Woodson and wide receiver Tim Brown -- publicly called
for Callahan's ouster Sunday after the team's season-ending loss in San Diego.
"He brought it on himself, that's all," Woodson said in an e-mail
to the Associated Press on Wednesday after Callahan's dismissal was announced.
Callahan did not respond to a message left on his cell phone.
To many former Raiders, the apparently irreparable breaches between coach and
team were a shocking departure from the environment they remember.
"I'm from the old school, and everything was kept in-house," said
former quarterback Jim Plunkett, who led the Raiders to victory in Super Bowl
XV and and Super Bowl XVIII. "Now, players abuse coaches and coaches fight
back. It gets to be a very personal thing. Times have changed, and not for the
better, I don't think."
Plunkett, 56, said he did not have a problem with Callahan -- "I like Bill"
-- but added that the need for change became obvious as losses piled up and
the coach's relationship with his team soured.
"As the season progressed and things got worse and all the infighting became
outfighting, a coach starts to lose control," Plunkett said. "When
that happens, it's very hard to get the players' respect back. That seemed to
be the case with Coach Callahan."
George Atkinson, a defensive back with the Raiders in 1968-77 and now an analyst
on the team's radio broadcasts, said Brown's public criticism of the coach was
telling.
"Just how deep became evident when you heard Tim Brown," said Atkinson,
56. "He's a true Raider who's been through the good, the bad and the ugly.
So he's not just a player; he's an ambassador, and when he says something, you'd
better listen because it's strictly in the best interest of the team."
Much has been made of the fact that when Woodson publicly criticized Callahan,
nobody in upper management came to the coach's defense. Plunkett acknowledged
that economics play a role in who stays and who goes, saying, "It's easier
to get fired as the head coach than it is as a player. That's just what goes
on today."
Mark van Eeghen, a punishing running back for the Raiders in 1974-81, has watched
the team's fall from afar. In a phone conversation from his Cranston, R.I.,
home, van Eeghen said it is hard to relate to players' concerns today.
"We played 20 years ago, and none of us were tested by the lure of $4.3
million for two years," said van Eeghen, 51, whose largest one-year salary
was $185,000. "I'm not going to sit here in judgment of anybody who may
have been affected by the money. Who am I to say that?"
In the news release Wednesday, the Raiders called last season's trip to the
Super Bowl Callahan's "shining hour" with the team. Of course, the
Raiders lost 48-21 to Tampa Bay, a defeat that in many ways reverberated throughout
their collapse to 4-12 this season.
"That staggered me," van Eeghen said of the Super Bowl defeat. "I
was so puzzled by that. The Raiders just didn't show up.
"And then to have it fall off the face of the earth like it did this year
-- you can say injuries, you can say whatever you want -- but something happened,
and I hope it doesn't happen again."
Back To Index Page