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Whisenhunt has Oakland job waiting after Super Bowl
By Stefani Rebekah Black January 28, 2006 |
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The Oakland Raiders have made no secret that they are impressed with the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt. Whisenhunt, whose previous experience included coaching special teams for the Cleveland Browns in 1999 and was a tight ends coach with the New York Jets in 2000. Owner Al Davis is most impressed with the job Whisenhunt did with the Steelers and that as head coach he can do the same. Problem is the Raiders still have the same roster and Davis has put the kibosh on any head coach who got creative or used their imagination they did not last long as Davis had them removed. The Raiders even let go of former head coach Jon Gruden who took Oakland to the Super Bowl and later left for Tampa Bay. The problem the Raiders still have is that they not made any roster moves and have a bad reputation in micro managing coaches who can’t call their own games. Whisenhunt may not be attracted to the Raiders for those reasons. Whisenhunt is in his second year with the Steelers who was promoted in the 2004 season. Under Whisenhunt the Steelers excelled under his offensive talents in coaching. The Steelers were 22nd in the NFL in offense but improved to 16th after Whisenhunt stepped in. Whisenhunt even improved the Steelers rushing game in 2004 taking the team from 31st in rushing to second in the NFL. What Davis likes about Whisenhunt is his experience and what he's done with Pittsburgh this season. When in New York with the Jets when Whisenhunt learned the skills of an offensive tight ends coach before that Whisenhunt was special teams coach for the Cleveland Browns and Whisenhunt first coaching job was with the Baltimore Ravens as a tight ends coach in 97. While this might read like a resume, welcoming Whisenhunt to Oakland Davis has made clear that he would like to take his time in deciding who will get the job as Head Coach. So far, Davis has interviewed Al Saunders who later took a job in Washington as offensive coordinator, James Lofton who is the only minority to be interviewed is coaching in San Diego, and Rod Marginally signed for four years with the Detroit Lions. Whienhunt has been mentioned as the top candidate for the job even though he hasn't interviewed with Davis yet. Whisenhunt will not comment on the Raiders until the end of the Super Bowl. Even then, there is no guarantee that Whisenhunt will take the job because of the Raiders reputation of micro managing the Head Coaches. Whisenhunt might draw up his own "no jumping in the frying pan zone" in his Steelers office. Why leave a good thing? Stefani Rebekah Black co-hosts raiderfanradio.com and co-hosts Sportstalk on 1430 KVVN San Jose and 1110 KLIB Sacramento. |
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