The Raiders are still in the process of hunting for a new head coach, and team owner Mark Davis has told reporters the coach could be in place almost immediately or “three weeks from now.”
The team has conducted interviews with at least seven candidates, with a couple of other names surfacing as possibilities. On Wednesday, the Raiders held a second interview with Tony Sparano, the team’s interim head coach who took over for Dennis Allen after four games of the 2014 season.
One wrinkle in the Raiders’ plans may have to do with the reactions of the more veteran head coaches the team has interviewed. Jason Cole, a longtime NFL reporter for several publications, reported this week that some veteran candidates have expressed concerns about the structure of the Raiders leadership.
“What is scaring off some of those (veteran) head coaches is the structure,” said Cole, who now writes for Bleacher Report. “According to sources I have talked to, the structure of the front office, from how they do college scouting, how they do pro scouting, how they handle all of the day-to-day matters, is of great concern to the head coaching candidates. Somebody’s going to take this job. The Raiders are all about the daring and the desperate. They’ll get somebody who’s desperate enough to take this job, there’s no question.”
But, he said, “The structure of the team may hold up who ultimately takes this job.”
Davis, however, denied that he’d heard any such thing.
“I’ve never heard that,” he told Jerry McDonald of the Bay Area News Group.
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If there are concerns by some of the veteran head coaches – that would mean candidates such as Jack Del Rio, Mike Shanahan and Eric Mangini – it's possible they may be out of the picture. That could point to a younger coordinator getting the job, or Sparano. The fact Sparano got a second interview may be a very good sign for him.
And Sparano already knows the structure of the front office and very much wants to stay.
