Final Parting With Raiders Hard on Shell : Pro football: Payment dispute, assistants he calls “back-stabbers,” Davis’ behavior made it less-than-a-fond farewell for coach.

For the first time in 27 years, Art Shell is dressed in colors other than silver and black this summer.

It’s funny how red can feel so much cleaner. So much more honest.

While loyally serving Al Davis as a player, assistant coach and, for the last six years, head coach, Shell once viewed the Raider boss as a hero.

Today he quietly paints the picture of Davis as a hypocrite.

Although Shell is thrilled in his new job as offensive line coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, he and others spoke Tuesday about the problems Davis caused him during his final days with the Raiders:

--After firing Shell from his head coaching position in February, Davis initially refused to pay any part of the final year of Shell’s contract, even though Shell was guaranteed about $750,000 for 1995, sources said.

This is the same Davis who consistently boasts that the strength of the organization lies in loyalty to former players and respect for past glories.

Shell and his representatives were forced to negotiate a settlement with Raider lawyer Amy Trask for an amount that sources say was less than the guaranteed sum.

During those negotiations, Shell reportedly went to Chief officials and wondered, “How can I still be loyal to a man who has done this to me?”

Shell would not directly comment on Davis. But when asked about Davis’ mental stability, Shell merely smiled and walked away.

Raider officials said Davis would not be available for comment.

--Shell said his Raider head coaching career, which featured three playoff appearances and a 54-38 record, was waylaid by three fellow coaches, who criticized Shell to the owner.

Even as Davis was publicly offering his support to Shell, he was apparently heeding the advice of the rebel coaches.

“Three back-stabbers,” Shell said. “Three guys who should have just worried about their own positions but instead were thinking about everything else. Three guys who were really disloyal.”

Shell would not identify the coaches, but at the end of his tenure he was not communicating with offensive coordinator Tom Walsh, who has since been fired.

He was also known to have problems with Steve Ortmayer, the special teams coach who was also in charge of football operations. His squad was publicly criticized by Shell at the end of the season.

“I was with Art every minute, and I can tell you that not one coach was disloyal to him,” said Ortmayer, now general manager of the St. Louis Rams.

The other “back-stabber” is believed to still be a part of the Raider staff.

“The coaches who left for other jobs, they were good, solid coaches,” Shell said. “And I tell you what, if something like that ever happens here, I’m running to the head coach and taking the guy out. That sort of disloyalty kills a football team.”

--Davis paraded head-coaching candidates through the team’s El Segundo headquarters after last season while Shell was still working there. Shell saw the candidates and figured Davis was prepared to fire him.

But, lacking a straight answer from the boss, he could only wait.

“There was this procession of people coming through,” Shell said. “But that was Davis’ prerogative. It wasn’t easy. But you live and learn.”

From watching Mike Shanahan’s behavior after he was fired from the Raiders before him--Shanahan kept quiet and eventually became a head coach again this year--Shell said he has learned something else.

“I came into this job with class and, like Mike Shanahan, I’m going to leave with class,” Shell said. “I am not going to say anything bad about Mr. Davis.

“After all, he gave me my chance. Not because of my color, but because he said he thought I could coach. I will always be grateful for that.”

But Shell, the NFL’s first African American head coach, was so happy to leave Los Angeles that he has already purchased a house for his family in Kansas City.

And although he says he loved Raider fans--”They were always good to me, I don’t know what people meant when they said they were thugs”--he will probably never return.

“My wife said the other day that she could live in Kansas City for the rest of our lives,” he said. “I couldn’t have come to a better situation here. It’s all football. They teach it, they work it, they care about it.”

And everybody says he seems so happy about it even though Shell looks out of place wearing red.

“My family told him he looks like a Christmas tree,” said Gunther Cunningham, a fellow Chief assistant. “Standing there all in red, that big smile on his face.”

Shell said after the enduring the zaniness of the Raiders, he is thrilled to be returning to his roots.

“Going back to teaching, to the trenches, to what I love . . . seeing some of these guys respond, I get chills all over my body,” Shell said. “Really, I get chills.”

Some in the Chiefs’ organization wonder what sort of feeling Shell will have Dec. 3 at the Oakland Coliseum when the Chiefs play the Raiders.

They wonder if Davis will approach Shell. They wonder how Shell will respond.

The only thing anybody agrees on is that that scene alone will be worth the price of admission.