Belichick with Raiders? What might have been
Q: How does a coaching and GM search work? What goes on in these interviews when hiring a GM or coach? A: One of the things I learned over the course of my career from Al (Davis) and many other executives is that everyone goes about this differently. During my time with Al, Al handled these searches from stem to stern and only involved me in one instance during a coaching search. But he had me in the room when we were interviewing a couple candidates . ... Q: Is this the Jon Gruden hire?
A: He did hire Jon, but I recommended that he hire Bill Belichick. And I never thought he’d make that public, but he would always say to me in private, “Boy, kid, you sure know how to hire a coach.” But he did make that public and share that with the media and I was very touched that he did.
Al, when he was hiring coaches, wanted them to go to the board and it was primarily a football conversation. It was for the most part X’s and O’s. The coaches went to the grease-board and they talked X’s and O’s. I’ve spoken with many owners who focused on organizational structure, organizational behavior. There are some owners who focused on the business of being a head coach. So it really depends on the organization.
Q: What was it about Belichick that sold you?
A: The thing I liked about him was there was no effort on his part to sell himself. There was no salesmanship, as it were. The thing that jumped out at me was how extraordinarily intelligent he is. Off-the-charts smart.
I’ve been around football my whole life and learned the game from so many, mostly Al, and what I know about the game is it’s a game of highspeed, high-power chess. It’s really a chess game played by very fast and very strong men. It requires intelligence. The best coaches evaluate the talent on their roster and put those players in the best positions
where they can succeed. Bill does that, and that came across in the interview.
Q: Do you have any indication of where this Raiders thing will go?
A: The state of Nevada has put up $750 million for a stadium, and that’s not going to happen anywhere in California, nor should it. And that is very, very compelling. The view of Vegas being susceptible to gambling is rather antiquated. Forty or 30 years ago, if you wanted to gamble you made a trip out to Vegas or Atlantic City, but nowadays, anywhere you have cellular or Internet connectivity, you can gamble. And I think the league has come around to that view that the gambling angle is antiquated.
They are focused more on if the market will support the team. As for the Raiders, I think there is a very creative solution that can be had to keeping the Raiders in Oakland. It’s going to need everybody to compromise a bit. But the organization seems to have a goal to leave the area. I think Ronnie (Lott) is sensational, and there is a solution in Oakland if people want to compromise.