The dismantling of the coaching staff begins
Greg Knapp
By Eric Strauss, S&B Report Staff Columnist
Although it remains to be seen whether interim head coach Tom Cable will be back with the Oakland Raiders next year, and in what capacity, there will definitely be changes in the Lane Kiffin-built coaching staff.
Multiple media reports indicate offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, as had been rumored for some time, will be joining new Seattle Seahawks head coach Jim Mora Jr.
Knapp, at one time a possible head coaching candidate in Oakland, finally was given play-calling abilities after Kiffin’s dismissal a quarter of the way through the season, only to see them taken away by the halfway mark of the year after a string of low-scoring performances.
Meanwhile, defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, one of the longest-tenured members of the coaching staff, is reported to be a target of new Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini, who worked with Ryan in New England. Ryan has been with the Raiders for five years, serving under four different head coaches, and like Knapp was once considered a head coaching possibility.
The San Francisco 49ers’ website says Raiders running backs coach Tom Rathman has agreed to join that Bay Area club, with whom he spent most of his playing career.
And special teams coach Brian Schneider, whose charges had a terrific season in 2008, is reportedly interviewing around the league.
Most sources agree wide receivers coach James Lofton is the only member of the staff, including Cable, with a contract for 2009, and the other assistants’ pacts are up next week. Several reports indicate the team is willing to let assistants get an early start on departures, and with no clear indication of who the head coach will be, it appears many are trying to find stability somewhere other than Oakland.
The exodus began, in fact, before the season even ended, with offensive line assistant James Cregg notoriously drawing Cable’s ire by resigning to join Kiffin’s University of Tennessee staff.
The Raiders have not formally interviewed anyone for the head coaching spot yet (the Rooney rule must be satisfied, among other formalities), although owner Al Davis reportedly has spoken at some length with both Cable and New York Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, a former San Diego Chargers head coach.
If there are mass departures from the staff, even if Cable wins the permanent job as head coach, it could hamper some of the progress made by quarterback JaMarcus Russell and the team as a whole in a pair of season-ending victories.
On the other hand, with the Raiders’ recent struggles, it can be debated whether retaining a coach such as the ultra-popular defensive coordinator Ryan is a key to consistency, or merely a key to the consistent inconsistency of the past six years.
Other assistants who finished the 2008 season on the Silver & Black sidelines include: Quarterbacks coach John DiFilippo (who in a “Six Degrees of Separation” moment is the son of Gene DiFilippo, the Boston College athletic director who just fired head coach Jeff Jagodzinski, whose name was mentioned in at least one rumor reported out of Oakland), tight ends coach Kelly Skipper, defensive line coaches Keith Millard and Don Johnson, linebackers coach Don Martindale (Ryan’s right-hand man, who could be a candidate to replace him, or join him in Cleveland), defensive backs coaches Darren Perry and Randy Hanson, quality control coaches Adam Henry, Sanjay Lal, George Martinez and John Fassel, and strength coach Brad Roll.
One assistant who isn’t likely going anywhere is squad development coach Willie Brown, a Raider lifer who also works with the defensive backs. But the 23-year veteran staffer’s role could change, depending on who comes in as head coach.
