Here are a few quotes I found very interesting during Dennis Allen’s introductory press conference in Alameda. Oakland Raiders general manager, Reggie McKenzie and owner Mark Davis were in attendance.

Regarding Carson Palmer:

“Carson Palmer is extremely excited about what we have going here,” Dennis Allen said. “He’s looking forward to the future and he’s excited about the opportunities here.”

“[Carson is] excited, and we’re excited for him,” Reggie McKenzie stated.

ANALYSIS:

One of the more vital early decisions Allen had to make was settling in on his quarterback. Yes, this regime inherited Carson Palmer, but what they have is a passer that will make loads of money and that showed flashes of his Pro-Bowl type past right out of semi-retirement, no training camp and learning his teammates and playbook on the fly. Not to mention that he had no Darren McFadden when he took the snaps.

Palmer will be Oakland’s starting passer. Allen had to empower the quarterback now and let him know that moving forward, he’s the guy looked at to help this team take it to the next level.

Regarding penalties and his approach:

“The only way that you create habits is through consistency, doing the same things over and over and over,” Allen said. “Well, if you’re committing penalties, that becomes a habit. We’ve got to change those habits, all right? We’ve got to develop the proper habits so that we’re not creating those penalties on a daily basis.”

ANALYSIS:

This is all talk until proven otherwise. But you have to like what he’s saying. The last coach made promises of fixing the penalty issue and those attempts failed miserably.

Tallying penalties has become habitual, but so has an inability to stuff the run. Allen has many bad habits that he’ll have to break, but his militant style and disposition should be a welcomed approach. He wants things done right… the first time.

On defensive talent:

“I don’t think radical changes are what need to be made,” Allen said. “Obviously, just with all aspects of the game, you’re always going to try to upgrade your team in whatever way that you can but I do still feel like there’s a talented defense. I feel like we got enough players, both on offense and defense, that we can win a championship with.”

ANALYSIS:

Yes, a lot of that is just said because it sounds good and you want to emphasize your ultimate goal of being the best. A lot of is based on him not wanting to get on the wrong side of players early on, and I’m sure he’ll gain better perspective of the talent on the defense, or lack of thereof, as mini-camps, OTAs and the summer roll around.

There is talent on this unit. And there’s untapped potential too in quite a few young studs. But there’s also no denying that the secondary is in shambles, with or without Tyvon Branch, who is a UFA and the run defense has been one of the worst in the entire NFL since 2003.

On structure:

“This is a team effort,” McKenzie said. “When we go about getting players, work on getting a staff in here, how we’re going to do things on the football side, we’re going to do these things together. It’s not, ‘I got this, you have this.’ We’re not doing it like that. The right hand will know what the left hand is doing. We’re in this thing together.”

ANALYSIS:

The days of one man running the show are over. The G.M will help build the roster in accord with the coach, the coaches will teach and implement game plans, the players will play. There will be no outside interference from powers atop as to who plays, who is on the roster and what should be the plan of approach for the squad on a particular Sunday. In essence, the Raiders will operate like a modern football organization, finally.

On what he heard about Oakland, good or bad:

“At the end of the day, what I was really concerned with was, who are the people that are leading the organization now? The people who are leading the organization now are Mark Davis and Reggie McKenzie, and when I looked across the table at Reggie McKenzie, I knew that was a man that I believed in and that I trusted in,” Allen stated. “That was the only thing that was a concern to me, and that was what really drew me to this job.”

ANALYSIS:

Plain and simple, he wouldn’t be a candidate if Al Davis was around, and he surely wouldn’t gotten or taken the job if the old structure was still in place.

Allen wants to run his defense and call his own shots – that wouldn’t have occurred with Davis alive. Allen has complete autonomy to pick and choose what coaches he wants on or off the staff – another thing he would’ve had to deal with if Davis was alive.

This isn’t an archaic operation anymore. Allen has autonomy and will be left alone to do what he does best – coach.

On his style on defense:

“We’re going to be an aggressive, attacking style of defense,” Allen said.

“We will play with discipline. … We are going to preach fundamentals and discipline and the players are going to fall right in line.”

ANALYSIS:

Ok folks, lets get ready to hear the word ‘discipline’ another few hundred times in the coming months, because Allen made sure to state that he wanted a ‘disciplined’ club many times.

It’s back to basics for the Raiders, especially on defense. He’ll surely want to attack and he has players to make that happen…

But Oakland has to go back to square one with this new coach and prove that they can handle taking on more before he unleashes all he has to offer.

On his coaching style and play calling:

“I don’t believe the head football coach can do an effective job as the head football coach if he’s calling plays, offensively or defensively,” said Allen.

ANALYSIS:

Look, I’m not going to argue with Mike Holmgren’s success as a head coach and play caller. Or a guy like Bill Belichick, Sean Payton or Jon Gruden, who have shown in the past that they can handle it and win being play caller and coach.

But you have to like that Allen will delegate as a rookie and bring in his guys to make sure things get done the right way. Hue Jackson handled the offense and was the head man in his first year – a big mistake for him.

Allen has already impressed me by realizing that you have to have limitations – is not about knowing what you can do, it’s realizing what you can’t or shouldn’t do.

He’ll keep the pulse of the team and learn on the job. He’s a rookie head coach. Allen will go through his growing pains. But at least he won’t have so much of a burden by wanting to do it all.

On guys he can depend on for advice:

“I’ve got great resources that I can count on to give me advice anytime I need it,” Allen said. “I’ve got Sean Payton, who is one of the … really a brilliant, innovative offensive coach but also an outstanding head coach. He understands exactly how to run a program and how to work with players.

“I just spent a year with John Fox, who’s really done a great job throughout his career with Carolina and then in Denver. Dan Reeves brought me into this league and gave me my first opportunity to coach in the NFL. I’ve got some great resources that I can rely on and lean on in times when I hit a situation when I need some help.”

ANALYSIS:

You got to love that. Some great names he’ll lean on…

Allen will do it his way. It won’t be the “Raider way,” or how some people want you to do it. He’ll embrace the Raider past no doubt, but it’s time to take a different plan of action.

Outlook:

“This is a new day for Oakland Raiders football,” Allen said. “We’re going to set our own goals and aspirations.”

ANALYSIS:

No disrespect to what happened in the past… and yes, the Raiders are deep in tradition and great lore. But at times, they hung on to that too much and never let fresh air into the building. With a G.M who has his back and will let him do whatever is needed to get the football team right and proper structure in place, the Raiders have a whole different outlook with this staff.

On his defensive and offensive coordinators:

“We’re exploring all our avenues as far as what we’re going to do there,” Allen said. “We are in the process right now of formulating our whole staff.”

McKenzie said, “there’s a couple of guys he wants to keep. He’s going to see who he can get and who he can’t.”

ANALYSIS:

Al Saunders did not get a bode of confidence. It’s up in the air who will Allen bring in. Saunders was a logical choice to keep continuity and a semblance of order with unit that was solid. Allen did say he wants an offense that can run the ball and attack aggressively. He’ll patter his offense, or desire his offense to look like Sean Payton’s in New Orleans. Allen said he wants an up-tempo, fast and aggressive offense. He wants to run the football ball, and be explosive in passing game. They’ll need to keep Michael Bush to stay atop the league in running the ball and have one of the better running back tandems in the NFL. As for the explosive pass attack, it starts with keeping Palmer and hoping they keep Marcel Reece, develop the young targets and use Kevin Boss more effectively in 2012.

Coaching style:

“We’re going to do a lot of different things on defense,” Allen said. “Again, we’re going to be attacking and aggressive in a bunch of different areas. I don’t really get hung up on the 4-3, 3-4 personnel. We’re going to find out what our players can do the best.”

ANALYSIS:

He wants aggressiveness, but that will only happen until the fundamental are sound and they can do the basics; stop the run, tackle well and stop tallying dumb penalties.

One things for sure, McKenzie won’t pigeon hole himself into making draft picks and the new coach won’t set his defensive schemes in stone.

FINAL OUTLOOK:

I love the hiring and stated before he got hired than Dennis Allen would be my choice. It was the right move not bringing back Hue Jackson and no longer will Raider fans have to hear what I dubbed, “Hue Talk,” a year ago when he was hired. I have the same issues with Allen as I did with Jackson, before people starting waxing poetically about the former offensive coordinator.

I stated last January that Jackson will have growing pains and that it was vastly different being a head guy, rather than a coordinator. I also felt that he benefited from a monster season by McFadden and other surprises, especially the emergence of Jacoby Ford.

Allen does not have a Champ Bailey, a Brian Dawkins or a Von Miller on this defense. And he inherits a team that has been .500 the last two years.

But what he does have now, that his predecessors did not is a front office that is stabile, a quarterback with legitimate ability and full reigns to implement what’s needed to build this team into a winner. Those things along will make him way more successful than Jackson or any other coach that has been on the sidelines with the Silver & Black since Gruden. Book it.

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This week, the Oakland Raiders officially announced the hiring of Dennis Allen to be their next head coach.

Allen, 39, becomes the 18^th 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.

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.”

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.”

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One way you can gauge a hiring early on is how former players and staffers react to the change. With Dennis Allen now as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, just listening to some Denver Broncos and their reactions just demonstrates how much he will be missed.

“It will be another coordinator,” Champ Bailey said at the Pro Bowl . “… I might sound a little selfish. I’m happy for him, don’t get me wrong. At the same time, I’m thinking about our team. That’s another change for us.”

The pick-up for Oakland will set up another year of instability for the rivals. Denver had a remarkable turn around on defense under Allen, but prior to that, they had revolving door of defensive coordinators: Don Martindale (2010), Mike Nolan (2009), Bob Slowik (2008), Jim Bates (2007) and Larry Coyer (2000-2006).

“He knew how to get us ready,” Bailey said. “I give him a lot of credit for the success we had this year.

“(He’s) serious about the business,” Bailey continued. “He’s one of the most intense coaches I’ve had. It was a pleasure working with him. You knew what he was going to bring you every day.”

Bailey now realizes what he may have to deal with versus Oakland twice a year.

“I know what type of team he’s going to have,” Bailey said. “Very intense, hard-nosed, tough. That’s the way he is. That’s what I expect his team to be.”

Von Miller, one of the bright young defenders in the NFL, also glowed when talking about Allen. “First and foremost, they’re getting a guy that’s going to come in right away, and he’s going to get it done,” Miller said. “That’s what he did for us. He came in, he laid out a plan for us, he told us, ‘This is how we’re going to do it, and this will work,’ and that’s what happened. We improved our defense an incredible amount. It was a night and day team from a year before.

“I think he’ll do the same thing with the Oakland Raiders.”

COTTO’S ANALYSIS:

I love the hiring. Allen is energetic, fiery and he wants those same elements incorporated into his defense. I stated earlier in the month, “there is fresh air blowing through Oakland,” and that surely started with hiring Reggie McKenzie and continued with giving Allen the honor to coach the Silver & Black.

This team needed a transplant on defense. It will be a new voice, a new way of doing things on that side of the ball, with a clear direction and a leader that is well defined. No long will we have a veil of secrecy, masquerading who is running the show on defense. Allen once stated about his defense, “We want to be a very fast, violent, aggressive type of defense that plays within the rules. We are going to try and hit you as hard as we can.” All attributes fans would love to attach to the Raiders.

There are many questions; what will happen on offense, specifically under center and who will be his trusted offensive coordinator? Those will be crucial decisions that can ultimate lead to his success. He has to select a coordinator he trust, can work with and continue to develop some of the young talents the Raiders do posses.

Penalties, and how he attacks that major problem will be highlighted. The development of players such as Rolando McClain and the youthful defensive ends will be vital.

His ability to work with McKenzie during draft time and what purges they make to the current roster from the old regime will also be spotlighted.

The fact that they addressed their biggest concern philosophically, and upgraded a major need right off the bat with this coaching hiring – the defense – demonstrates that Oakland wants to head in the right direction.

When Hue Jackson got hired, too many fans noted his success as a one-year coordinator and crowned him a great coach to be without looking at all the circumstances around his one-season turnaround of the Raider offense. They applauded his bully talk – I did not buy it from day one and said winning is all that matters, stating, “First build a consistent winner. You are not going to bully anyone with an 8-8 record. Opponents will fear you when you win, and do it consistently.”

He was a puppet of Davis like others before him, and I made that clear, “Step one – wax poetically about the owner. Step two – state your desire to be with the organization. Step three – make sure you pledge your allegiance to the Silver & Black and that they’ll be a contender, again.  Jackson, like many before him, said similar things and at this point, those words mean nothing until the team jumps over .500, gets to the playoffs and become a consistent winner.”

Jackson failed in his first and only year as a head coach, as I stated in this article:

Raiders: Hue Jackson failed in his rookie season

And back in January 2011, I clearly painted a picture of what could be in store for him:

After years of dreadful campaigns, Cable’s 8-8 effort was not good enough in Al Davis’ eyes. So Jackson better get into the playoffs in 2011 or, he’ll begin to feel the heat from the owner.

The team went undefeated in the AFC West, something that won’t happen again. They got a career year out of Darren McFadden and solid development from their youth.

Jackson should be under the microscope. His play calling was not mesmerizing, nor his playbook amazed anyone. His handling of players, the owner and how he’ll navigate a team not used to winning are all major questions.

He’s not the ‘best’ man for the job, but he was the only man for the job. And like many Davis hires, he’s a first-timer, cheap and won’t demand the reigns of the organization. If he is a success, Davis can then claim he discovered him and that his career started in Silver & Black. A typical Raider hire.

Oh, and if he has to much success, enough to anger the owner, especially if Jackson steps on his toes, he’ll suffer the same fate many have before him.

Allen comes in with similar circumstances; never a coordinator till last year in Denver, but you get a sense that this time around, due to the new-found freshness surrounding the organization, that this will be entirely different.

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Sources close to RaiderFans.net have reported that the Oakland Raiders plan to hire Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Dennis Allen as the next Raiders head coach.

Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie fired Hue Jackson on Jan. 10 with the desire to bring in his own guy and start anew.

Many believed that McKenzie would hire former Raiders linebacker and current Green Bay Packers linebacker and assistant head coach Winston Moss after the two worked with each in Green Bay. Other names linked to the head coaching vacancy included Miami Dolphins interim head coach Todd Bowles, former Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice, Packers assistant coaches Joe Philbin, Tom Clements, among others.

Should Allen be given the job, it will be the first defensive-minded head coach for the Oakland Raiders since Davis hired John Madden as head coach in 1969.

Allen inherited a Broncos defense that was ranked dead last in 2010 and was able to improve it to 20th in yards allowed in 2011 while running a base 4-3 defense, the same base the Raiders ran last season.

39-year-old Allen started his coaching career as a graduate assistant for Texas A&M in 1996 before heading to Tulsa to be their secondary coach. Since 2002, Allen has worked as a defensive assistant for both the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons before becoming the Denver Broncos defensive coordinator last season.

While coaching the Falcons defensive secondary, Allen improved the team from 30th in pass defense to 16th the following year with 24 interceptions, third in the league that season. Allen was also able to improve Atlanta’s defensive line during his tenure with the Falcons, helping Atlanta’s defensive line to lead the NFL in sacks in 2004.

If hired, the Raiders hope that Allen will have similar success in Oakland. The Raiders struggled defensively this year, ranking 27th in the league in both passing yards and rushing yards allowed per game while suffering late-game defensive collapses to Buffalo, Detroit, Denver and San Diego.

McKenzie stated in his introductory press conference that whoever becomes the next head coach of the Raiders will be given the power to hire their own staff.

What I’m going to do is empower the head coach to hire his staff. The best possible staff that he can hire,” said McKenzie. “We’re not going to tie the guy’s hand and tell him ‘he has to hire this guy’ or ‘this guy.’ That wouldn’t be fair to the new head coach.”

When asked before the Bronco’s 2011 season, Allen stated that he desires his defense to be aggressive.

We’re going to be built off speed and athleticism,” Allen told the Broncos website. “We want to be a very fast, violent, aggressive type of defense that plays within the rules. We are going to try and hit you as hard as we can.”

CSN California reporter Paul Gutierrez reports that McKenzie is expected to conduct a second interview with Allen tonight at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.

On Tuesday, the Oakland Raiders introduced Reggie McKenzie as their new general manager:

Raiders: Fresh air blowing through Oakland with McKenzie hiring

Raiders: McKenzie and Davis transcript with analysis

Raiders: McKenzie and Davis transcript with analysis, part 2

That same day, Hue Jackson was released of his services as head coach:

New Raiders GM fires Hue Jackson after 8-8 season

Rich Gannon, on Sirius satellite radio stated about Jackson’s firing, “What a stunner. … I just go back to some of the comments that Hue made at the end of the season. They were damaging remarks about his team, about the players, about the fact that they didn’t put forth their best effort. And some of the decisions that he made essentially as the head coach/general manager in the absence of Al Davis, I mean, the decision to make that trade for Carson Palmer. And my sense is they got together and Reggie wanted to make a change and he’ll bring in someone that he’s more comfortable with. My sense is it is probably somebody on that Green Bay coaching staff. It could be assistant head coach Winston Moss.”

Todd Bowles becomes the first known candidate in the coaching search:

Todd Bowles, the first name that surfaces for Raiders coaching opening

Jackson was contrite about his actions at the end of the campaign, stating, “I wish I could it take it back and say it differently so people could really understand what I was trying to say. I wasn’t trying to say that I wanted to take total control of everything. When you work for the Raiders, you understand that Al Davis is first and foremost – you work for him. So I didn’t get an opportunity to put everybody that I wanted on my staff or run the team to do with football operations the way that I see fit. I took the job and I knew the parameters of the job, and I accepted that. At the end, what was coming out of me was the emotion of a long season, being 8-8, losing to the Chargers with so much riding on the line: the opportunity to win the AFC West, to host a playoff game there at home, the opportunity to have the first nine-win season since 2002. I went and talked to the team, and what I normally do is I go in and take a shower and put on my clothes before I go see the media. I carried some things with me and that’s a lesson learned for me that I don’t think you can go in there [immediately]. You need to settle down first and really think through what you’re saying. But what I said is what I felt. Not that I was trying to say I wanted to run everything; I just wanted to be able to feel like I knew there were some changes that needed to be made and I wanted to be able to make them, and I was trying to voice that. Not take total control or anything like that.”

Jackson on his firing: “I was a little surprised, but I do understand the nature of pro football. Sometimes things that look like they should don’t always end up like they should. So I understand. The Raiders did me a favor by giving me an opportunity, Al Davis did and I thank him for it. What a tremendous organization. My time there was awesome, the people at 1220 [address of Raiders facility] who I worked with, they were tremendous – the staff was tremendous. I understand the nature of this business, but obviously I wish it would have went a different direction than it did.”

On what McKenzie told him:

“Reggie was very forthcoming and just said, ‘I’m going to make a change, I need to bring in my own guy,’ which I understand. I knew that anytime a new GM comes in, they like to line themselves with their head coach, somebody that they want to bring in. At the end of the day, I can’t fault him or anyone within the organization for feeling like they feel. I wish the situation was different but it’s not.”

One of my favorite columnists in the country, Jason Whitlock, had his take:

The real reason Jackson’s gone

Dom Capers a candidate?

Report: Dom Capers another coaching candidate for the Raiders

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Here’s a transcript with analysis of yesterday’s introductory press conference in Alameda featuring Mark Davis and Reggie McKenzie, as the Oakland Raiders introduce a new general manager.

Mark Davis intro:

“I had two immediate goals. One short term, one long term. My short term goal was to make sure the season continued with as little disruption as possible and to achieve our goal of reaching the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl. In that regard, I asked John Madden to join me in a meeting with coach [Hue] Jackson where we discussed the optimum working relationship between the coach and myself. My short-term goal went great for about five days, then Jason Campbell broke his right clavicle in a game. The following week we lost Darren McFadden to a foot injury, which unknowingly at the time, turned out to be a season ending injury. At one point in the season, we were at 7-4.”

“My long-term goal was to research and identify a general manager to lead the Raider organization into the future. I consulted with Ron Wolf to help me identify potential candidates, one of which was Reggie McKenzie.”

ANALYSIS:

Clearly, Mark is not Al, and he will be smart enough to let football personnel handle football decisions. He, along with Madden, came to a conclusion that the organization needs a fresh start and ultimately, McKenzie became that man. The disappointing finished irked him, but was not the ultimate deciding factor on why Hue Jackson was released. But the end of the season and how they missed the playoffs with a short lead of the division going into December was something that was acceptable. Ron Wolf helped Oakland in their search and with no one’s ego being bruised or without a rigid way of doing things, the Raiders began a new era.

“The legacy of the Raiders is steeped in tradition but with all things there comes a time when change is necessary and for the Raiders, that time is now,” said Reggie McKenzie, as he opened his portion of the conference. “The Raiders organization, with respect and deference to all its tradition and history, is about to embark on a new era.”

ANALYSIS:

As I said in this article:

Raiders: Fresh air blowing through Oakland with McKenzie hiring

“Change, a new sense of hope and not being stuck on traditions – embracing the past yes, but getting a sense of forward movement… the Raiders now have that.”

Releasing Hue Jackson of his duties:

McKenzie: “The decision was made before I came in this morning. I followed and I researched coach Jackson and the Raiders this season, this year. So my decision was made prior to this morning.”

“The decision to move forward, and where we going to this new era, it’s going to be a time for change and I felt there was a need for change at the head coaching position from the top.”

“No disrespect to coach Jackson, but it is something I want to do, start anew.”

ANALYSIS:

Al Davis would have done it his way. McKenzie wants to do it his way. It’s perfectly fine that the new general manager wants to bring in ‘his guys’ and not inherit a staff or players that he may not see as part of the future. It makes no sense to force something if ultimately; McKenzie will want to make a change. Cohesion is very important, and with all the power being forked over to McKenzie, who knows what would have happen with Jackson still around. Jackson became the de facto personnel guy after Davis’ death and till his last days in Oakland, he stated he wanted in on many of the key decisions the team would make, including the new general manager.

On his next coach:

“Number one, I want my guy. Everything is based on performance. But I go with my gut a lot, so when it’s time to make the final call, my gut is going to tell me one thing. When I met, interviewed, with Mr. Davis, Mark told me the general manager would have the power to hire and fire the coach. Recently I let him know that I would like to move on from coach Jackson and began my search for a new coach — and he was OK with that.”

ANALYSIS:

His gut, his instincts… McKenzie wants to put a stamp on this organization. He just began the process immediately, which surprised many.

McKenzie on letting Jackson know he was not the coach for this team:

McKenzie: “Informing coach Jackson prior to today was not going to happen ‘cause I had no authority.”

On new coach:

McKenzie: “The search will begin immediately. We will start the interview process. I have my short-list. The criteria, it doesn’t matter, offense or defense coordinator types, really will play no influence. The number one is, can he lead, motivate and move our players and our team to victories.”

ANALYSIS:

Very refreshing to hear that there will be no strict criteria. Which will only open up the job for more diverse candidates and could make the Raider job a more attractive destination than in the past.

Read here:  Raiders: McKenzie’s search for a head coach starts…NOW

On Carson Palmer trade:

McKenzie: “Number one, as a personnel guy, I love my picks [smiling]. But number one, more, I love good players. Bringing in Carson at the time the Raiders brought him in – that was, to me, as a player, that’s a good move. You have to get players to help you win games, Did the position of the situation presented itself favorably for Cincinnati? Absolutely. But you do what you need to do. That’s just the cost of doing business.”

“As far as Carson Palmer is concerned, I think he’s a good quarterback, period.”

ANALYSIS:

I said it many times that Palmer and Jackson were attached at the hip. Now, will Oakland make a move to jettison Palmer? McKenzie was calculated in saying he loves his draft selections and that they’ll be more cherished than what we’ve seen lately with Oakland trading them away. It’s clear he wants to start to build through the draft and get talent through that avenue. But he inherits a passer that renegotiated his deal, which gave him  $2.5 million guaranteed in 2011, $12.5 million with $5 million guaranteed in 2012, $13 million in 2013 and $15 million in 2014. Key draft picks were also given up. He likes Palmer as a signal caller and he did glimpses of his old self this past season. So it’s safe to say he could stick around. Kyle Boller is not an answer, Terrelle Pryor is not ready nor may be in McKenzie’s plans and Jason Campbell is in limbo. Would McKenzie bring in Matt Flynn to compete with Palmer or to prime him for a starting job if the former Bengal fails?

Why Raiders struggled the last decade:

McKenzie: “You saw a lot of change. Consistency played a big part. But Mark Davis has told me that he wants long-term success. And we are going to start it right now. To begin we are going to have to build. That’s where our mind-set is and that’s what it is moving forward.”

ANALYSIS:

Continuity was an issue, along with many of the bad free-agent signings, draft selections and coaching moves that Oakland had during that span. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. He was right. Davis’ death was unfortunate, but now with a different pair of eyes looking at this organization, Oakland can now alter the way they operate and change the fortunes of what seemed to be an archaic operation.

On current team:

McKenzie: “Do we have enough bullets? Absolutely. We got some players in place. Now, do we have enough draft picks? No. We don’t. But we can find players in different ways. We are going to work the college free-agent market, you have to work the waiver wire; you have to work the lower-tier unrestricted free agency. You don’t have to go out there and get top dollar players just to improve your team.”

“Draft picks, they will come. We’ll figure out a way to get around that. As far as the cap, we will manage the cap. If we don’t have room right now, we’ll figure out a way to get some room.”

ANALYSIS:

For McKenzie, draft picks will be valued. There won’t be one stone left untrunred in his quest to build the Raiders into a winner. It’s his first g.m. job, but he has seen first hand with Wolf and the current Packer regime how to build a winner. Not only is he adept at the draft process and acquiring players, but also savvy and in tune with the cap structure and how to work with it.

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MORE QUOTES FROM THE PRESS CONFERENCE AND ANALYSIS COMING IN PART TWO OF THIS PIECE… ONLY ON SBREPORT.NET.

Someone didn’t just open the window and plug in a deodorant. Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis opened the door, brought in a cleaning crew and now there’s sense of fresh air in the organization.

That one-man cleaning crew is Reggie McKenzie, and he was introduced today as general manager of the Silver and Black.

His first order of business was to relieve Hue Jackson of his duties as head coach.

Was it the right move?

If McKenzie wants complete power and control over his roster… if McKenzie wants to put a stamp on this club and bring in a new era of Raider football – yes, it was absolutely the correct move.

“Number. one, I want my guy. Everything is based on performance,” McKenzie said. “But I go with my gut a lot, so when it’s time to make the final call, my gut is going to tell me one thing. When I met, interviewed, with Mr. Davis, Mark told me the general manager would have the power to hire and fire the coach. Recently I let him know that I would like to move on from coach Jackson and began my search for a new coach — and he was OK with that.”

That sign shows the shift of power structure in the organization. No longer will an owner be the end all, be all. There is a general manager now, who has a sense of what modern day football operations looks like and more importantly, will make the decisions based on what the team needs, in cohesion with the coach, who then in turn will be allowed to run whatever is needed to get wins.

It’s not strictly about the vertical game anymore. It’s just not about getting players who run the fastest or look good in pads, or that may have a highly decorated past.

“The legacy of the Raiders is steeped in tradition but with all things there comes a time when change is necessary and for the Raiders, that time is now,” McKenzie said. “The Raiders organization, with respect and deference to all its tradition and history, is about to embark on a new era.”

What fans have wanted for a long time…

Change, a new sense of hope and not being stuck on traditions – embracing the past yes, but getting a sense of forward movement… the Raiders now have that.

Jackson tried to move Oakland forward, but at this point, he’s just collateral damage… a necessary casualty that just shows how much the organization has changed since the passing of Al Davis.

The outgoing coach took over a team that Tom Cable got back to respectability. Jackson could not go any further, and regardless of injuries or what other unfortunate circumstances he had, with McKenzie’s grasp of power came at an unfortunate time for him.

So here we are…

McKenzie has begun search for a new head coach. Mark Davis has released all control of the football side to one man. And just like Al Davis would’ve done, McKenzie will do it his way.

A COMPLETE ANALYSIS OF THE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH QUOTES AND PICTURES FROM ALAMEDA COMING SOON TO SBREPORT.NET!

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Sources close to RaiderFans.net have reported the firing of Raiders head coach Hue Jackson after just one season in which he led the Raiders to an 8-8 season, missing the playoffs by just one game.

On the day in which the Raiders are holding a press conference to announce his hiring, McKenzie decided he needed a head coach that he hired to take the reins of the Raiders for the future.

Jackson was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach after Tom Cable was fired at the beginning of last season, who also went 8-8. Jackson was able to turn around a stagnant Raiders offense in his two years.

The year before Jackson’s arrival, 2009, the Raiders offense scored only 197 yards. The offense then scored 410 and 359 points the previous two seasons under Jackson’s offense.

With Hue Jackson as the head coach of the Raiders this season, the team set the record for the most penalties for the most penalty yards, committing 163 penalties for 1,358 yards. The Raiders also lost four of their last five games en route to missing the playoffs.

The lack of discipline on the team this season along with the loss in the final week against the Chargers when they could have gone to the postseason may have ultimately contributed to McKenzie’s decision.

McKenzie is believed to fill the head coach vacancy with someone he is familiar with. Two popular names on the list are Winston Moss and Darren Perry, who are both from McKenzie’s former team, the Green Bay Packers. Moss is currently the Green Bay Packers linebackers coach and assistant head coach and has interviewed with the Raiders on multiple occasions for the defensive coordinator and head coaching job. Perry is currently the Packers defensive backs coach and was also interviewed for the Raiders defensive coordinator position.

Both Moss and Perry have experience within the Raiders organization. Moss played the linebacker position for the Los Angeles Raiders from 1991-1994 and Perry was the Raiders defensive backs coach from 2007-2008 before going to the Green Bay Packers for the same position.

Whichever direction McKenzie chooses to go, expect him to move quickly and fill his vacancies in order to kick start the rebuilding process of the coaching staff.

The Raiders are set to introduce McKenzie in a press conference scheduled for today (Tuesday) at 2 p.m. pacific time.

Reports are circulating that Oakland Raiders first year head coach Hue Jackson will be relieved of his duties by incoming general manager Reggie McKenzie.

A league source close to ESPN’s Adam Schefter stated that Jackson was fired on Tuesday.

The Silver & Black have scheduled a news conference for 5 p.m. ET.

CSNBayArea.com reported that when question, Jackson said, “(New Raiders general manager McKenzie) is going to gut this place.”

More news as we hear it…

If you are a listener of ESPN radio Hawaii, tune in at 4:15 p.m. ET as I will go on live to talk to host Josh Pacheco about the happenings in Raider land.

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All weekend, fans of the Oakland Raiders have talked about Hue Jackson’s future with the organization and whether or not Reggie McKenzie would release him of his services.

First, it was ESPN and Chris Mortensen stating that the new Oakland general manager may consider a change at the top, which was then emphasized by an Adam Schefter message on twitter.

Then on ESPN.com, AFC west blogger Bill Williamson commented, “I wouldn’t say it’s definite, but it is a situation to watch in the coming days.”

Things then tool another change when another outlet – CSN Bay Area – chimed in with their sources.

In an article written by Henry Wofford, this dime of knowledge was dropped on us:

“According to three sources close to the team, Raiders General Manager Reggie McKenzie will be keeping Hue Jackson as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders in 2012.”

With one of the sources saying, “Reggie McKenzie and Hue Jackson are joined at the hip.  They are proud to be on the same team.  Hue is delighted he can now focus on what he does best, which is coach. Reggie and Hue have the same Sports Agent, Ken McGuire, to think there’s a rift between these guys is simply ridiculous.”

At this point, it is safe to say that Jackson will be kept. Yes, McKenzie bringing in his own guys and starting fresh in Oakland would be an ideal thing, but this team was 7-4 heading into December, decimated by injuries with a loaded roster.

Even McKenzie knows a change at coach now could be detrimental, regardless of whom he may want to bring in. Jackson had a lot on his rookie plate as a coach and what wound up being a short-term gig as a personnel guy.

This time around, he’ll have one job and one job only – to coach the squad.

That ease of burden will either make him or break him in McKenzie’s eyes.

If the Raiders can win the AFC West next season and Jackson takes strides as a head coach, then none of this banter will ever be remembered.

I’m sure McKenzie is very high on Winston Moss, a candidate that was rumored to possibly replace Jackson. He would be an ideal fit, being an ex-Raider, if you want to stick with the tradition theme, and they need a strong presence like him to lead a defensive unit that was torched all year.

But McKenzie in my opinion will give Jackson one more shot at this. One more chance with his team, his hand picked passer and with this group of Raiders that believe in his teachings.

If they fail next year, there’s no doubt that McKenzie will have the power to jettison him and anything attached to Jackson.

McKenzie is inhering a coach, a quarterback that took away a lot of compensation to get, and a team who is stung by missing the playoffs.

In his first year he’ll live with this inheritance, but if things remain the same, he’ll surely begin to show who’s the new boss in town.

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