Shanahan New Coach of Raiders : Al Davis Will End the Intrigue With an Announcement Today

Amid intrigue worthy of a John le Carre spy novel, Al Davis got his man.

He is Mike Shanahan, the 35-year-old offensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos who will be introduced today as the eighth head coach of the Raiders.

He will replace Tom Flores, who retired Jan. 20 after the club’s worst season (5-10) in 25 years.

A press conference is scheduled for noon today at a hotel near LAX, scene of a series of cloak-and-dagger arrivals and departures over the past two weeks.

Shanahan, Washington Redskins assistants Dan Henning, Joe Bugel and Jerry Rhome (now with the San Diego Chargers), and San Francisco 49ers’ assistant Dennis Green all passed through at some time or another until Davis decided sometime late Saturday night that youth would best serve the Raiders once again.

Shanahan, who will turn 36 on Aug. 24, will become the youngest head coach in the National Football League, beating Al Saunders of the San Diego Chargers by 5 1/2 years.

He is the youngest coach hired in the NFL since the Broncos hired his former boss, Dan Reeves, at 37 in 1981.

But he won’t be the youngest head coach the Raiders ever hired. There were John Madden, 33, in ‘69--and Al Davis, 33, in ’63.

Shanahan has received much of the credit for redesigning the Bronco offense in ’84 to fit the talents of John Elway, who struggled as a rookie in ’83.

There was no official announcement, but Reeves indicated to Denver reporters it was done.

“They’re having a press conference tomorrow,” Reeves said. “It would surprise me very much if they didn’t name my coach. I talked to him this morning and he’s going out there tomorrow. That would make sense.

“I hate to lose him, but I’m happy for him. It’s not easy, but that’s life. You always know when you hire good people there will be an opportunity for them to move on. We’ll just go on from here.”

Reeves’ immediate problem is to replace not only Shanahan but possibly offensive line coach Alex Gibbs, whom Shanahan has indicated he would like to bring with him to the Raiders. Reeves also indicated Shanahan has not asked permission to talk to any other Bronco assistants.

Asked if Gibbs would go, Reeves said, “I have no idea.”

Neither Shanahan nor Gibbs made themselves available to comment.

After five dismissals the week before the Super Bowl, the Raiders need to replace the position coaches for the offensive line, quarterbacks, tight ends and special teams.

It’s uncertain whether a replacement will be sought for conditioning coach Jim Bush, and the defensive side of the staff remains intact--possibly an issue that made the search for a coach more difficult than usual.

The plot thickened last week when Bugel withdrew from consideration because “I wanted to control the destiny part.”

Earlier, when Henning dropped out, it was reported that Davis refused to grant the next coach full authority to run his own offense, hire his own staff and select his own personnel.

Henning and Davis denied that, but Bugel seemed to support it.

Rhome said Davis phoned him Sunday morning to tell him he had made another choice--that, after Rhome had 20 straight hours of talks with Davis in Los Angeles last Thursday, a day after Shanahan’s fourth and final meeting with the owner.

The Chargers hired Rhome as their offensive coordinator after the Super Bowl, but he hasn’t reported for work yet.

Rhome said: “(Davis) had spent 2 1/2 weeks with one guy--Joe Bugel--and that didn’t work out. And all of a sudden it was three days with me. He just felt pressured, and I could understand that.

“I think what happened with Al was the time factor became a problem. He wanted more time to research things.

“I think if this had been three weeks ago, and I had had time to maybe bring (offensive line coach Jerry) Wampfler with me, I think I would have had a lot better chance.”

The Chargers hired Wampfler from the Green Bay Packers, but too late, Rhome felt, for him to offer Davis a package--which might not have made any difference.

“I’m not gonna say that would have happened because that’s awfully presumptuous on my part,” Rhome said. “But I think it would have helped to have had another week and also the power to get the whole package together.”

Rhome said Davis’ conditions would have been acceptable to him.

“I had no problem with him whatsoever,” he said. “We thought alike. The philosophy was the same. I could have worked with him, without any problem.

“He just felt it was too rushed. With time running out, he decided to go another way. He never offered me the job.”

While Saunders must be relieved at the way things turned out, some other NFL coaches will be keeping close watches over their assistants today.

This is the last day that one NFL club may ask permission of another to talk to assistant coaches about switching teams. Few head coaches could refuse, although it could force them to go outside the league for replacements.

“I had promised Al Saunders I wouldn’t leave him hanging,” Rhome said.

He didn’t, and neither did Davis.

Shanahan was with the Broncos for four years after four years at the University of Florida, where he was the Gators’ offensive coordinator when they set an National Collegiate Athletic Assn. record of 4,540 total yards in ’83.

He never played professionally but was a quarterback at Eastern Illinois, where he earned a master’s degree in ’75 before coaching under Barry Switzer at the University of Oklahoma in ‘75-’76.

Then he coached at three different schools in three years--Northern Arizona, Eastern Illinois and the University of Minnesota.

He has never been a head coach--but, then, neither had Madden or Davis.

Times staff writers Mark Heisler and Brian Hewitt also contributed to this story.