Raiders: McKenzie in no rush… fans shouldn’t be either
Mike McCoy on Wednesday canceled his meeting with the Oakland Raiders to interview a second time for the Miami Dolphins.
Miami Dolphins interim coach Todd Bowles, Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Dennis Allen and Packers assistants Winston Moss, Dom Capers and Joe Philbin, have all been linked to the job.
Marty Mornhinweg and Mike Tice have been recently been added to Reggie McKenzie’s ever growing “short-list.”
Yet, on twitter and on Raiderfans.net, there’s a sense of desperation with fans regarding the process and the names currently being bantered about.
Why?
McKenzie is not going to make a hasty decision. He fired Hue Jackson to bring in his guy. In his first acquisition as a general manager, McKenzie wants to make sure the right man gets hired.
And with no lucrative names looking for a job, and Oakland not known as an organization to splurge, don’t expect names like Jon Gruden or Bill Cowher to be thrown around.
Not to mention the fact that those guys are at a point in their careers where they would want more personnel input and power over their roster – something that McKenzie has just earned with the Raiders and won’t be surrendered in his first year on the job.
Mornhinweg is not a sexy-pick due to the outcomes in his first coaching at Detroit. Tice had his shortcomings in Minnesota and maybe known as a better coordinator than head guy. Capers, who is widely respected as a mastermind on defense, is also lauded as a coordinator, and considering his age, may not be looked at as a exciting hire.
The rest on the list are coordinators that have no prior experiences and are widely unknowns to the average fan.
This to many just conjures up many of the same old memories of older coaching searches in Oakland.
But with fresh general manager running the club, they should realize that the way this organization will be ran; from the draft all the way down to who makes the final roster in 2012 will be entirely different.
The coach who comes in may not be looked at as a puppet, nor a guy who will just use this landing spot for better things in the future.
And just because we don’t see a Jim Harbaugh out there, that doesn’t mean that the Raiders won’t get a man who can’t take this team further than their 8-8 record of the last two seasons.
When Tom Coughlin landed in New York in 2004, he was known as a rigid, older coach who was out of touch with the new-age players. Now in 2012, he’s on another playoff run after years where he possibly faced his demise, with one Super Bowl title to his name.
John Harbaugh was little known special teams coach/defensive backs coach before leading the Ravens, but has made four playoff appearances in four seasons in Baltimore.
Even when Bill Belichick signed in 2000 with New England, he had endured a resignation in Cleveland in 1996 and was serving as a coordinator in New York right after – with many questions surrounding his abilities to ever be a head-man in this league.
All three of those coaches will be in championship games this weekend.
McKenzie is in no rush…
He shouldn’t be.
There aren’t many openings out there, no team ready to toss money around for the candidates available and very little lucrative names that are willing to take on jobs.
For Oakland it’s about getting the right guy to work with their new decision maker. However long it takes, and whatever names McKenzie adds to the list, rest assured the process will be dissected, examined and analyzed properly by the new man in charge.
Follow @cottovic
