Shell Handles the Media Blitz Like an Old Pro

Art Shell, the new coach of the Raiders, was walking off the field after the Raiders had defeated the New York Jets, 14-7, Monday night at Giants Stadium in Shell’s debut.

Shell may weigh too much to be carried off the field, but the Raiders pounded him on the back and patted his head as they congratulated him. A horde of TV cameramen trailed Shell.

Although the world was watching, Shell seemed not to care.

“I learned from John Madden when I was getting ready for Super Bowl XI not to fight the press,” Shell said. “I’m not going to fight anything about being the first black coach unless the question is offensive.

“I don’t want to be looked at as the focal point of this team. I just want to blend into the sidelines. The players are the focus.”

But Shell, the National Football League’s first black coach of the modern era, was the focus Monday night.

Shell thinks that his race should not be an issue.

“I think they should look at me as a football coach and then as a black person,” Shell said. “In my head it’s not an issue. I hope other owners and general managers will take a look and say that blacks can coach.”

Reporters enveloped Shell after the game. The crush was so bad that the Raiders moved Shell’s post-game news conference to a vacant locker room adjacent to the Raider clubhouse.

Shell calmly fielded questions from wave after wave of reporters before his wife, Janice, worked her way through the crush to congratulate him. She was beaming as she planted a kiss on his right cheek.

How did it feel to watch her husband win his first game as coach of the Raiders?

“I was delighted,” Janice Shell said. “It was indescribable how I felt.”

While Janice Shell was excited, Art Shell managed to keep his emotions under a tight rein during and after the game.

It wasn’t surprising that Shell was so cool under fire. During his 15-year career as a player, Shell managed to hide his emotions, and he didn’t change as a coach.

Shell was outwardly calm as he strolled the sidelines. The only time he appeared to get excited was after quarterback Jay Schroeder had the wind knocked out of him when he was sacked in the first half.

After checking on Schroeder’s condition, Shell called a meeting of the offensive line on the sidelines and told them to protect Schroeder. The Raiders didn’t allow a sack for the rest of the game.

Why isn’t he more emotional?

“That’s my personality,” Shell said. “I’m not that way. I can get excited. But I’m not John Madden, and I’m not Tom Flores.”

Shell was one of the calmest people on the Raider sidelines when safety Eddie Anderson returned an interception 87 yards for the game-winning touchdown just 4:55 into the fourth quarter.

What was Shell thinking during Anderson’s return?

“I was saying, ‘Eddie please get into the end zone,’ ” Shell said.

Anderson, close to exhaustion, stumbled into the end zone.

But it was the Raider offense that stumbled at the start, failing to score in the first half. Although the Raiders had played poorly in the first half, Shell was calm when he spoke to the team at halftime.

“I didn’t say anything at halftime,” Shell said. “I thought the defense fought like the devil and the team didn’t play that badly in the first half. We had some dropped passes. I think we were tight. I just told them to go out and relax.”

The Raiders relaxed in the second half, scoring on their first possession in the third quarter as Schroeder teamed with Mervyn Fernandez on a 73-yard touchdown pass play just 1:03 into the second half.

The Raiders thought Shell handled his first game as head coach well.

“For being the first time out, Art did a terrific job,” Schroeder said. “None of the pressure got to him. Art is very cool. He was perfect. He kept everybody going.”

Raider defensive end Howie Long said Shell didn’t make many changes after he succeeded Mike Shanahan last week.

“I didn’t think it was a coaching problem,” Long said. “It was a philosophical problem. Mike Shanahan is a heck of a coach. I just don’t think his philosophy blended in with the Raider way of doing things.”

A lifelong Raider, Shell seemed to blend in perfectly with the Raiders. He made a smooth transition to coaching.

“This has been a bittersweet year for me,” Shell said. “I made the Hall of Fame and my dad died. I’m sure he was smiling up there in heaven tonight.”