Defensive Line Coach Leggett Is Latest Raider Assistant to Go

Earl Leggett, defensive line coach for the Raiders for 9 seasons, has resigned, the club said Monday.

Leggett, 56, is the third Raider assistant coach to leave since the team completed a 7-9 season last month. Earlier, Coach Mike Shanahan fired defensive coordinator Charlie Sumner and secondary coach Willie Brown.

Leggett said: “I had an opportunity to stay (with the Raiders), but there are a lot of jobs available out there, and I felt that . . . considering my family and all, this was the proper time for me to leave. I want to coach somewhere, I’m still a coach. . . . I love to coach.”

He said that the decision to resign was his and that he told Al Davis, the Raiders’ managing general partner, of his resignation on Friday.

When asked if he would have remained on the Raiders’ staff if the team had had a better season, he said: “Well, winning takes care of a lot of things, there’s no doubt about that.”

Before coming to the Raiders in 1980 and helping develop such stars as Howie Long and Bill Pickel, Leggett was an assistant coach at San Francisco and Seattle. Before that, he coached for the Southern California Sun of the World Football League.

As a defensive tackle, he played 12 seasons in the National Football League, 9 with the Chicago Bears, 1 with the Rams and 2 with the New Orleans Saints.

In college, he was an All-American defensive tackle at Louisiana State.

Leggett’s youngest son, Brad, 21, is a center for USC’s football team and will be a senior next season.