Home on the Road

Now that the USC coaching situation is settled, Jeff Fisher’s true feelings about being mentioned as a candidate can be revealed.

“Any college athlete that goes into the coaching profession, I think it would be a dream of his to go back to his alma mater and have the opportunity to coach,” Fisher said. “But like most things in life, timing is everything.”

And for the time being, the former Taft High and Trojan standout is plenty busy with another job.

As coach of the Tennessee Oilers, Fisher is one of a growing number of coaches--in all sports--who must deal with having their teams uprooted and moved to another city. The Oilers left Houston in a cloud of controversy last summer and moved into training headquarters in downtown Nashville.

But with their new stadium still under construction, they played this season and will play next year at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, three hours southwest in Memphis. That makes every game an away game.

“We travel every week, go through the same security checkpoint, get on the same airplane,” Fisher said. “That’s tough.”

The Oilers aren’t alone in relocating. The Ram and Ravens are relative newcomers to their hometowns and, in hockey, the Carolina Hurricanes recently left Hartford. In Minnesota, the Twins’ baseball team has all but packed its bags. Besides, movable franchises aren’t anything new to the world of sports (see Dodgers).

For his part, Fisher doesn’t have time to ponder the effects of capitalism on fan loyalty. He’s got to worry about Sunday afternoons. And those can be pretty rough when you’re playing to an average home crowd of 23,000 in a city that knows you’ll be moving along in 1999.

“You can’t blame them,” Fisher said of the Memphis fans. “It’s a tough situation.”

Still, he yearns to hear the roar of the crowd, to look up and see more faces than empty seats.

“Where are the four or five toughest places to play in the NFL?” he asked. “Denver, Kansas City, San Francisco, Pittsburgh. Why? Because those places are sold out and loud. Home-field advantage really stands out.”

In 1998, the third-year coach will concentrate on instilling his team with a sense of stability.

Sure, the Oilers will remain lodgers in Memphis, but they won’t have the uncertainty that dogged them during their final season in Houston.

And with Eddie George, Steve McNair and an aggressive defense, things are looking up.

“Look, we’ve got a young football team that will play as physical as anyone else,” Fisher said. “Our players have been through an awful lot. What’s important now is winning.”