The 2014 season was a disappointing one for the Raiders and with a busy offseason ahead their number one priority is finding a new head coach.
Dennis Allen was clearly not the answer going 4-12, 4-12, and 0-4 over his three seasons as the leader of the silver and black. Tony Sparano then took over and went 3-9 as interim head coach, which has earned him an interview as the potential head coach of the future, but the Raiders front office has quite a few candidates to consider.
Aside from Sparano, who will have his interview this week, Mark Davis and Reggie McKenzie have already begun the interview process with a few candidates; Jack Del Rio being one of them.
Del Rio is a local guy from the Bay Area and has personal ties to the Raiders growing up a fan of the silver and black, and his parents are season ticket holders. Del Rio has a record of 68-71 as he seems to be a leading candidate for the job in 2015. The Raiders defense could use a defensive minded coach like Del Rio, especially with young up and comers such as Khalil Mack and Sio Moore. Davis interviewed Del Rio by himself last week.
Another candidate getting a lot of attention is Eric Mangini. The former New York Jets and Cleveland Browns head coach is 33-47 in his career and hasn’t had a lot of success in this league. Mangini was the San Francisco 49ers tight ends coach in 2014.
McKenzie has also reportedly interviewed Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton as well. Hamilton has been with the Colts the past two seasons, and spent three years prior with Stanford where he worked under Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw. Hamilton also has coaching experience with the Niners, Jets, and Chicago Bears. There’s no doubting the success of the Colts offense and Andrew Luck, the Raiders have a young stud in Derek Carr, which will undoubtedly attract offensive minded coaches to Oakland.
It has also come as quite a shock to learn the Raiders interviewed long time NFL head coach Mike Shanahan this week. Mark Davis interviewed Shanahan as the great John Madden sat in during the process. The Raiders and Shanahan have a long history with a bit of bad blood as Al Davis fired Shanahan within less than two years. His stint with the Raiders was his first head coaching job in the league.
The Raiders have also reportedly interviewed Pat Shurmur and Darrell Bevell as well while requesting interviews with other coaches including Scott Linehan. They are also hoping for Todd Bowles.
When looking at the Raiders coaching search there are many questions and concerns. They are interviewing as many coaches as possible in an effort to find the right coach, but some candidates are downright confusing.
Leading candidates would have to be Jack Del Rio, Todd Bowles, and Tony Sparano. While Sparano didn’t have a ton of success after taking over, it has to be taken into consideration the fact that he had to change the mentality of the team in such a short period of time and he was able to get them to compete on the field and show some heart. When they were staring 0-16 in the face, Sparano got the Raiders to rally and finish the year with three pretty impressive wins.
Looking at some of the could-be rookie head coaches, it’s hard to not think of the Raiders lack of success in that department. Since Jon Gruden, who was a rookie head coach that led the Raiders to playoff success, they have gone through several coaches and haven’t been too successful. Aside from Tom Cable and Hue Jackson, who both led the Raiders to 8-8 records as head coach, there hasn’t been a lot of winning for the silver and black. Rookie head coaches are always a toss up, and as a franchise, the Raiders have always been willing to give a young coordinator the chance to be a head coach in this league. While some coordinators turn out to be great head coaches, others falter and are better at focusing on one aspect of the game.
Mark Davis and Reggie McKenzie have a lot to consider this offseason, but finding the new head coach is the most important decision they will make for the future of this franchise.