Raiders Need Commitment to Someone

If the Raiders are going to fire Art Shell, I wish they would hurry up and do it.

Letting the coach twist in the wind this way is bad business for everybody. Shell has to lie low. Possible successor Mike White has to watch what he says. NFL snoops have to keep bugging Raider sources daily. And the players don’t know for whom they are playing.

Let’s end this.

Football season is over. Speculation is rampant. Al Davis reportedly drew a bead on another Davis, first name Butch, who was an assistant with the Dallas Cowboys until the University of Miami hired him. Now the Raider rumor du jour has Shell’s job going to White, who has been coaching Shell’s offensive line.

Experience is irrelevant, since neither White nor Butch Davis has ever run an NFL team--nor, for that matter, did Mike Shanahan or Shell, the Raiders’ previous two choices.

Shell is one of those coaches like Rich Kotite whose record is better than his results. He was an improvement on Shanahan, who couldn’t get the Raiders to respond to him. But more recent Shell teams have underachieved badly, not unlike Kotite’s former Philadelphia Eagles.

It’s probably time for a change.

I don’t know for a fact that Davis is leaning toward White more than he is toward Joe Bugel, who does have NFL head-coaching experience. Bugel was brought in recently for what appears to be a job to be named later.

White, 58, is good with offenses, which is where the Raiders need so much help. His college teams at Cal and Illinois really moved the ball. He was offensive coordinator at Stanford and right-hand man to Bill Walsh with the 49ers. Maybe White can wake up the silver and black.

Watching the Super Bowl champions play Sunday, I was struck with their astounding superiority to the Raiders on offense. And I don’t mean talent. I mean imagination.

I can’t help but wonder what Shanahan might have done here with Jeff Hostetler, Tim Brown, Rocket Ismail, Alexander Wright and Harvey Williams, given the chance.

Raider players, though, thought Shanahan was a lightweight. They laughed behind his back at what they called “high school stuff,” like his orders that they not sit on their helmets.

Now, a few years later, Shanahan is one of the most sought-after men in the profession, and has just been named the Denver Broncos’ new coach.

Shell’s offense last season bordered on pitiful. It was one-dimensional and often disorganized. Hostetler and Brown demonstrably objected to play calls. They also hogged the football and shut out players like Ismail, who must wonder why the Raiders bothered bringing him down from Canada.

Any time Vince Evans took over for Hostetler at quarterback, first thing he did was look for Ismail or Wright. Hostetler totally ignored Wright and James Jett and had little use for his tight end, which traditionally has been a great Raider weapon.

The future of this team at quarterback is certainly not Evans, but it might not be Hostetler, either. I sense no real relationship between Hostetler and Shell aside from lip-service. And their spoken respect for one another’s skills is not translating into points.

A coaching change might be the only way of keeping Hostetler happy--and baby, they had better keep Hostetler happy.

I’m not sure he likes it here. And should Hostetler be thinking about leaving, a year from now or whenever, the Raiders will be back at Square 1 at his position. Billy Joe Hobert is not prepared to run this team. And there are no free agents or college quarterbacks qualified, either.

Under Shell, players have complimented his motivational methods and ability to communicate. Williams was here six weeks and said Raiders would fight to the death for Shell. Unfortunately, fighting and drawing penalties were the Raiders’ strongest suits. Shell’s teams were self-destructive and used the clock haphazardly.

I can understand why Davis would be reluctant to strip the epaulets from a Raider Hall of Famer in good standing. But that is the trouble with “staying in the family.” You hurt the ones you love.

Being fired is an occupational hazard. Shell is a pro and understands the risks inherent in his chosen profession.

Maybe, given one more chance, he can make this football team as strong as it is supposed to be. I’m sorry. I don’t think so.

* HE WON’T BACK DOWN: Amid signs of his ouster, Raider Coach Art Shell refuses to concede. C6