Raiders Fire 2; Defensive Staff Said to Be Out
Raider heads are rolling. The team has decided to fire defensive coordinator Charlie Sumner and several other defensive assistants, sources said Wednesday.
The first two casualties have already been identified, offensive assistants Tom Walsh and Joe Scannella, who were fired Tuesday without announcement.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Dec. 23, 1988 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Friday December 23, 1988 Home Edition Sports Part 3 Page 8 Column 4 Sports Desk 2 inches; 46 words Type of Material: Correction
A quote that should have been attributed to Joe Collier, former Denver Broncos defensive coordinator, was mistakenly attributed to Raider Coach Mike Shanahan in Thursday’s editions. Discussing the possibility of coming to the Raiders, Collier noted that Shanahan “is a friend of mine so you never know. I wouldn’t rule it out.”
“It seems like the whole defensive staff is gone,” a Raider source said Wednesday. “That’s what the defensive coaches are saying. They’re all saying they’re gone.”
Raider policy has been to refuse comment on fired assistants, and they haven’t acknowledged these.
“I met individually with every member of the coaching staff,” Mike Shanahan said Wednesday. “I told them a final decision on the coaching staff would be made before the new year.
“At the same time, I told them they were free to contact another team in the NFL about a vacancy, if they so desired.”
Speculation about the assistants had focused on Al Davis’ unhappiness, but sources indicated that Shanahan participated in or made these decisions himself as he prepares to assemble his own staff, suggesting that he is solidifying his own position as boss.
Shanahan was handed nearly a full staff when he was hired a year ago and could bring in only two of his own assistants, line coach Alex Gibbs and receiver coach Nick Nicolau, both, as he is, former Bronco coaches.
Most of the Raider holdover coaches, however, were defensive coaches, since many of Tom Flores’ offensive coaches had been fired. Walsh, the quarterback coach, and Scannella, who coached the running backs, had survived, along with Art Shell, the offensive line coach.
Walsh, a Raider assistant for 7 seasons, was a protege of Davis’ teacher, Sid Gillman. Walsh had been marked for advancement by Davis, moving from receiver coach up to quarterback coach a year ago. Walsh even took part in the selection process for the new head coach, flying to Texas at Davis’ request to meet with Joe Bugel, the Redskin assistant who was then a candidate.
However, there were reports that Walsh and Shanahan clashed this season, and Walsh’s departure had been expected.
Sumner, a laconic, likable veteran, respected by his players, was the untitled defensive coordinator in the glory years that ended with the ’84 Super Bowl victory. He left for a 2-year stint in the United States Football League as coach of the Oakland Invaders and returned in 1987, heralded as the man who could put the attack back into the unit.
But the defense slumped, instead. Sumner wasn’t considered when Flores left, although Davis had always hired from inside, and Sumner was the only member of the staff who had any real stature. Defenders said that Sumner was too independent for Davis. Davis felt that Sumner didn’t work hard enough.
Davis made a thinly veiled threat to fire Sumner early this season, in a Sunday night meeting Davis ordered after a 45-21 loss to Cincinnati Oct. 2.
However, Shanahan recommended keeping him and Davis pulled back, for the moment. It now appears that Shanahan just didn’t want his staff rearranged in the middle of a season.
Defensive line coach Earl Leggett is rated as having the best chance of surviving. Leggett worked out and recommended a series of virtual unknowns who were acquired with No. 2 draft picks or lower and became top players--Howie Long, Bill Pickel, Greg Townsend, Sean Jones--and he is close to them. However, there is a question whether Leggett would stay if asked, if the other defensive coaches were fired.
Co-secondary coach Willie Brown, one of the five Raider Hall of Famers, is a longtime Davis favorite, so firing him would be painful, which is not to say it’s impossible. There have been suggestions among Raider insiders, perhaps hopeful, that Brown could become a candidate to succeed his old coach, Eddie Robinson, at his alma mater, Grambling.
Who will replace the defensive coaches if they’re gone?
Raider insiders had been insisting that it wouldn’t be Joe Collier, Denver’s just-fired defensive coordinator. Collier coaches a bend-don’t-break style that is an anathema to Davis, who wants an attacking defense.
However, Collier, 56, Wednesday told a Denver writer that if he once said he could never coach for Davis because of their long rivalry, he might now give it some thought.
Shanahan said of Collier: “(He) is a friend of mine, so you never know. I wouldn’t rule it out.”