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Shell out as Raiders coach
By Jeremy Kahn
January 4, 2007
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Art Shell, left, and Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis appear during a news conference at the NFL football team's Alameda, Calif., headquarters after Shell was named coach in this Feb. 11, 2006, file photo. Shell's second stint as coach of the Raiders will end after just one season, the franchise's worst in more than four decades, ESPN reported Thursday, Jan. 4, 2007.
(AP Photo/Noah Berger)
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In what was considered a fairy tale, quickly turned into a nightmare for Art Shell when he returned as coach as of the Oakland Raiders.
It was just 11 months ago that Shell, a former head coach of the then Los Angeles Raiders from 1989-1994 came back to the organization that he was an offensive lineman for 1968-1982.
Just four days after the Raiders suffered through their worst season since 1962, Shell is out of a job.
With Shell not returning to the Raiders when the season begins in September, the Raiders will have their seventh head coach since returning to Oakland from Los Angeles in 1995.
Mike White last just two seasons, before he was then replaced by Joe Bugel, who stayed through one tumultuous season that saw the Raiders go 4-12.
After the departure of Bugel, Al Davis brought in a fiery young offensive coordinator from the Philadelphia Eagles named Jon Gruden.
In his four seasons as Raiders head coach, Gruden took the Raiders to the playoffs on two different occasions.
The first trip ended with a loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship at the Coliseum, and the following season, Gruden and the Raiders made it to the divisional round where they lost to the New England Patriots in the infamous “Tuck Game.”
Gruden then left the organization after that season, and went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Gruden was replaced by Bill Callahan.
In his first season on the sidelines, Callahan led the Raiders to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1984; however the Raiders were demolished by the Gruden led Buccaneers 48-21 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.
That would the last appearance in the playoffs, for the Raiders and within 10 months, Callahan would be gone from the organization.
Norv Turner was next on the Davis list, and he lasted only two seasons that saw the Raiders go 9-21 under Turner.
Instead of going with a young assistant, Davis went back to the past and rehired Shell, but that was a nightmare from the beginning.
Shell and Jerry Porter began to feud in training camp, and that feud lasted the entire season.
Not did Shell feud with Porter, but he also feuded with Randy Moss, who the Raiders acquired from the Minnesota Vikings before the 2005 season.
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