Remember Rob Ryan? He was that super sized, Kenny-Rogers-looking Raiders defensive coordinator from Norv Turner's first year until that half-Kiffin, half-Cable season of 2008. He was ubiquitous for his "evil Santa" appearance and his non-stop litany of locker room swear word rhetoric.
Ryan spent this season as defensive coordinator in Cleveland, while his more famous and even fatter brother Rex Ryan head coached the New York Jets. But Rob Ryan tells USA Today "Hell yeah" he is interested in being considered as the next Raiders coach.
Rob Ryan is the guy who told a room full of TV cameras that "This is the National f****** Football League!" after last season's 41-14 opening night loss to Denver. He's the guy that Lane Kiffin fired so he could hire his dad, until Al Davis re-hired Ryan five minutes later just to mess with his rookie coach's head. He's the guy who sources said was getting the job when Lane Kiffin was fired, until sources were proven to be baloney.
"Hell, yeah, I'd have interest," Ryan said, when USA Today asked him about the Raiders job. "I haven't talked to Mr. Davis because he has a coach. Let's see what happens."
For Ryan to get the gig, the current coach would have to be fired and the Raiders have to have to show an interest in Ryan. Neither of these things have happened yet.
But Ryan's not talking all that crazy here. The Raiders are the only team that has ever given him a head coaching interview, during the ill-fated 2007 coach search that produced Kiffin. And Ryan was retained under four different Raider coaching tenures, through Norv and Art Shell and Kiffin and Cable. So clearly Davis thinks favorably of the man.
Plus, Ryan has that "Lyle Alzado crazy" look in his eye at all times. That's gotta help in an Oakland Raiders job interview situation.
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Ryan is slobbering for this job so hard that he even forces himself to say nice things about JaMarcus Russell. "The backup QB (Russell) is the one I thought would be a superstar by now,” Ryan told the Oakland Tribune Friday. “That kid can throw it through a storm. I think the young man’s a good kid."
Let's see, he used the expression "Mr. Davis", and he speaks flatteringly of JaMarcus Russell's performance in a Raiders uniform. A man only talks like that in one situation -- when he's trying to become the next head coach of the Oakland Raiders.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who hopes Ryan gets the job and starts throwing punches at offensive coordinators during a live game like his father did.
