Final Raider Shakeup: Sumner, Brown

This is a shakeup, Raider-style. . . .

Two more assistants were dumped Wednesday, when Mike Shanahan announced the final firings--defensive coordinator Charlie Sumner and secondary coach Willie Brown.

Brown, a Hall of Famer, was a long-time favorite of Managing General Partner Al Davis, who, it is assumed, would never have been the one to let him go. Thus it becomes apparent that it is the young first-year coach, not his ever-demanding boss, who’s calling the play.

The firings, along with previously reported terminations of quarterback coach Tom Walsh and running back coach Joe Scanella--both Davis retainees from Tom Flores’ staff--would make it four down.

Or is it just two?

There was confusion Wednesday night over just whether Walsh and Scanella were, indeed, fired, or whether they’re still working. It was known that both had been told they were gone, and Walsh had cleaned out his desk. However, there were subsequent reports that Davis was unhappy about the moves, calling Scanella “family.” So Davis may have reeled both of them back in.

Shanahan couldn’t be reached Wednesday night.

Shanahan had said earlier that he foresees making no other moves, which means the remaining assistants--offensive line co-coaches Art Shell and Alex Gibbs; receivers coach Nick Nicolau; special teams coach Pete Rodriguez; defensive line coach Earl Leggett; linebacker coach Sam Gruneisen; coaches’ assistant Terry Robiskie; secondary coach Jimmy Warren and strength coach John Dunn--will remain.

The firings represent less of a purge than had been expected. Speculation had been that everyone would go, except Gibbs and Nicolau, who came with Shanahan from Denver, and Shell, another Davis favorite.

This would have meant an entirely new defensive staff and a season of re-orientation, while the new coaches and the old players got to know each other. That was basically what happened on the Raider offense last season.