The Raiders and their coaching history
(Image rights belong to Raiders.com)
This week, the Oakland Raiders officially announced the hiring of Dennis Allen to be their next head coach.
Allen, 39, becomes the 18th coach in the organizations history, its tenth headman since thy returned to Oakland in 1995 and their seventh over the last ten seasons.
In their release, the team stated:
The Oakland Raiders will introduce Head Coach Dennis Allen on Monday, January 30, 2012 at noon.
As first reported by Kate Longworth of CSN Bay Area, terms of the deal are for four years.
Oakland, under Al Davis, operated differently than what we’ve seen early on with Reggie McKenzie, as the likes of Norv Turner, Art Shell, Tom Cable and Hue Jackson were generally given two or three-year deals when given the head coaching job.
No coach has been as successful in Oakland as Jon Gruden, who compiled a 40-28 record from 1998-2001 but left for Tampa Bay for four draft picks (first- and second-round choices in 2002, a first-round selection in ’03 and a second-rounder in ’04), along with $8 million paid over three years.
Lane Kiffin compiled a 5-15 regular season record.
Bill Callahan (2002-2003) was fired one year after taking the Raiders to Super Bowl XXXVII. In his second season, the team turned on him in the midst of its 4-12 season, and Davis felt Callahan had lost control of the players.
Here’s a list of Raider coaches in their history and their records:
- Eddie Erdelatz (1960-1961) 6-10 in the regular season
- Marty Feldman (1961-1962) 2-15 in the regular season
- Red Conkright (1962) 1-8 in the regular season
- Al Davis (1963-1965) 23-16-3 in the regular season
- John Rauch (1966-1968) 33-8-1 in the regular season (2-2 in the playoffs)
- John Madden (1969-1978) 103-32-7 in the regular season (9-7 in the playoffs)
- Tom Flores (1979-1987) 83-53 in the regular season (8-3 in the playoffs)
- Mike Shanahan (1988-1989) 8-12 in the regular season
- Art Shell (1989-1994) 54-38 in the regular season (2-3 in the playoffs)
- Mike White (1995-1996) 15-17 in the regular season
- Joe Bugel (1997) 4-12 in the regular season
- Jon Gruden (1998-2001) 38-26 in the regular season (2-2 in the playoffs)
- Bill Callahan (2002-2003) 15-17 in the regular season (2-1 in the payoffs)
- Norv Turner (2004-2005) 9-23 in the regular season
- Art Shell (2006) 2-14 in the regular season
- Lane Kiffin (2007-2008) 5-15 in the regular season
- Tom Cable (2008-2010) 17-27 in the regular season
- Hue Jackson (2011) 8-8 in the regular season
In January of 2010, SBReport published:
The Oakland Raiders: A carousel of coaches
That capsule highlighted the constant change with the Silver & Black and the circumstances around those hirings/firings, along with speculation regarding the likes of Sean Payton and Steve Sarkisian.
While in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl, Shane Lechler talked about his new coach, who he has known since 1994. “He’s a pay-attention-to detail guy,” Lechler told CSNCalifornia.com. “I’m not saying we haven’t had that here before, but D.A.’s going to take it to another level.”
It’s not the first time that the all-world punter has been boisterous about head coaching happenings in Oakland. In January of 2011, he had this to say about Al Davis decision to let Cable walk: “I just looked at my wife. I can go through another head coach. It’s not fun.”
He continued, “I think this is going to be a huge set back for us, to tell you the truth. Tom was good and how he handled the whole dealing with Al [Davis] and all that situation. He was one of the better coaches I’ve had that can handle that part of it and not let part of it bother the football team. And that’s what I enjoyed about him.”
“Yes I do respect him,” said Lechler then of Jackson taking over. “Whether he can call plays and pull off the whole head coaching deal and deal with Al Davis on the side, I don’t know, that’s a lot on somebody’s plate.”
Tom Cable in one of his final contests with the Silver & Black on Nov. 28, 2010.
With the hiring, Allen also marks the first defensive-minded head coach since the late Davis hired Madden to replace Rauch in 1969.
Since, Flores and every other coach until Jackson had offensive pedigrees and a background as either a play caller or an offensive line staffer.
In a video on CSNBayarea.com, the new Raider coach stated, “I think they are an outstanding organization and it will be an honor to be able to work for them.”
