Commitment to White Has Run Its Course

Mike White became the fifth NFL coach to lose his job in five days Tuesday when he failed to satisfy the “Just win, baby” bottom line of Oakland Raider owner Al Davis.

White was 15-17 overall and the team didn’t make the playoffs in his two seasons. The Raiders started 1-4 this season and did not get above .500, finishing 7-9. Last year, Oakland started 8-2 but lost its final six games.

“I think the entire season’s frustrations, and the devastation we feel at the results, was part of it,” Raider senior assistant Bruce Allen said. “Clearly, we want to recapture the essence of the Raiders. We want to go forward and recapture the attacking nature of the Oakland Raiders.”

Allen was given the unenviable task of telling White on Christmas Eve that his two-year contract would not be renewed. Davis did not meet or speak with White, though Allen said the two might meet later this week.

White, who will turn 61 next week, spent five seasons as an assistant coach before replacing Art Shell in 1995. He was the Raiders’ 10th head coach, fourth in the last decade.

White was not available for comment Tuesday. The day before, he lobbied for his job during a meeting with reporters but said he understood why his hold on the coaching position was precarious.

“I know what the Raiders stand for. I am very disappointed we have not accomplished what we want--putting the Raiders back in the playoffs and in Super Bowl contention,” he said. “I know that’s what is expected.”

White joined Dan Reeves of the New York Giants, June Jones of Atlanta, Rich Brooks of St. Louis and Rich Kotite of the New York Jets as NFL coaches now out of work. During the season, Dave Shula was fired by Cincinnati and Jim Mora resigned in New Orleans.

Detroit’s Wayne Fontes is expected to be released after eight years with the Lions, meaning more than one-quarter of NFL teams will have changed coaches since the start of this season.

The Raiders said White’s assistant coaches will meet with management in the next week to discuss their future. One of those assistants, Joe Bugel, is considered a candidate for some of the current NFL coaching openings, including the one in Oakland.

Another possibility for the Raiders is Minnesota’s Dennis Green, who has expressed an interest in the job should he leave the Vikings.

The Raiders, who proclaim themselves “The Team of the Decades,” are 62-50 in the 1990s and have made the playoffs only once in the past five years.

The last two games this season probably sealed White’s fate. Needing to win both for a chance at the playoffs, the Raiders committed 20 penalties while losing at Denver and then had seven turnovers in a loss to Seattle.

“The last two games probably are a microcosm of the last couple of years. We just didn’t get it done,” Allen said.

White tried to modify the offense and reduce the team’s traditional reliance on long passes. He also tried to eliminate the Raiders’ propensity for penalties, but with little success--the team tied its own NFL record with 156 penalties this year.

“We tried to do just about everything different over these last two years. Al was willing to walk away and let the coaches run the program, but it didn’t work,” Allen said.

The Raiders sold out only three games this season after the Oakland Coliseum was expanded to 62,500 seats, part of the $200-million deal offered to the Raiders when they returned to Oakland after 13 years in Los Angeles.

Sunday’s attendance of 33,455 for the season finale against Seattle was the smallest for a Raider home game since 1967, excluding one game during the 1987 strike while the team was in Los Angeles.

The Raiders were an undisciplined, inconsistent team that couldn’t win without regular quarterback Jeff Hostetler during White’s tenure.

All but one of the Raiders’ losses this season was by a touchdown or less, and two came in overtime. Missed field goals, turnovers and penalties contributed to those losses.

Though the firing was not unexpected, the timing of it immediately drew scorn on local radio talk shows. The Raiders said it was done Tuesday to give White and the team adequate time to examine other options.