Pro Football : New Coach Will Put Raiders Back to Work

Here’s what those with the closest ties to the Raiders are saying about this week’s coaching change:

--The man in charge, Al Davis, wanted a tough guy this time. He wanted a more disciplined team than the Raiders had with Tom Flores. He wanted a harder working staff of coaches.

--Davis thinks he has the right guy in Mike Shanahan, 35, who was introduced Monday as the club’s eighth head coach in 29 years.

Although Shanahan isn’t a screamer or shouter, he projects forcefulness much as Joe Gibbs does in Washington. On important issues, his friends say, Shanahan is a quietly insistent operator.

The assistant Shanahan insisted on bringing along from Denver is Alex Gibbs, 47, who for the last four years has been the Broncos’ holler guy.

Shanahan will make the rules. Gibbs will enforce them.

Flores, who coached two Super Bowl champions, was one of the league’s brightest coaches. In Denver, an adjective often used to describe Shanahan is cerebral. Shanahan was the assistant head coach of a major college team at age 29.

Still, at Monday’s press conference, Davis significantly listed one personality quality before he mentioned intelligence.

“Work ethic,” Davis said, lingering over the words. “(Shanahan) passes that test.”

The last Raider staff didn’t, in Davis’ opinion. It wasn’t all Flores’ fault, but he was the coach in charge. He has been made to pay for it.

For Shanahan’s own good, he’d better be as tough as he looked on his first day in town.

Shanahan is a member of a profession that is full of highly qualified assistant coaches, several of whom are still with the Raiders--Charlie Sumner, Tom Walsh and Willie Brown, among others.

Sumner, who specializes in defense, is among the National Football League’s finest. Recognizing Walsh’s offensive abilities, Shanahan has already promoted last year’s receiver coach to quarterback coach.

Throughout the league, nonetheless, only a few of the many superb assistant coaches--despite their numerous qualifications--ever make it big as head coaches.

In a 28-team federation, there are possibly no more than 10 great coaches today.

Shanahan’s job credentials are no more and no less impressive than those of, say, Denver Coach Dan Reeves eight years ago.

As for NFL’s other coaching greats, there was nothing in Vince Lombardi’s pre-Green Bay record to suggest that he would become the greatest coach of all time--nor, long ago, was there anything in Miami Coach Don Shula’s record as an assistant to lead anyone to forecast that, eventually, the Dolphins would have to pay him $1 million a year to keep him.

Raider fans have spent much of the winter brooding. Without getting satisfactory answers anywhere, they’ve been asking one another: Will we have to watch another loser next season?

With Shanahan in the equation, there are perhaps at least two reasons for a bit more optimism:

--As a Denver assistant for four years, the new coach has immersed himself in the Raiders’ division. He knows what he has to beat in the AFC West.

--There isn’t all that much to beat these days in this division. Through most of the 1980s, the AFC has been the NFL’s weaker conference. And in any event, no AFC team seems clearly superior to the Raiders. Better, yes, but not much better.

For at least two years, Los Angeles football fans have been aware that the Raiders are a team with serious problems--but they don’t have an AFC Western monopoly on problems. Remember Denver in the second quarter of the Super Bowl? Remember San Diego in the second half of 1987? Remember Kansas City and Seattle?

If Shanahan makes even a few improvements, his club can hold its own with this bunch.

Shanahan comes to the Raiders in what is a transition era to a new quarterback--who won’t be Marc Wilson, and who probably won’t be Rusty Hilger. Repeatedly on Monday, Davis and Shanahan said their goal is a Super Bowl championship, but they can’t get it with those two guys at quarterback, and they know it.

This is a club whose most pressing need is more talent at this position.

Its two other major needs also seem unobtainable in the immediate future. These are a stable offensive line and more speed at cornerback.

Asked Monday to evaluate the strength of his new affiliate, Shanahan said the Raiders have good athletes and good size. He said nothing about speed.

Indeed, the new coach was as informative--and as evasive--as the other leaders of the Raiders, who are not, and never have been, very communicative. He fits right in. But right now, the Raiders can get along without a great communicator.