As expected, the Oakland Raiders have named Jack Del Rio as their next head coach. Del Rio is reportedly taking a serious look at Marc Trestman - who spent 2001-2003 as Raiders OC - as a candidate for the offensive coordinator job.
The Raiders could do a lot worse - after all, Trestman is the last offensive coordinator to lead them to a winning season. If Oakland does make that move, though, there'll be one Raider legend who isn't too thrilled about it.
“I don’t want to say it was a joke, but I just never saw Trestman as being a head coach,” Tim Brown told the Waddle & Silvy Show in Chicago after the Bears hired Trestman in 2013. “The year he took over as offensive coordinator is also the year my reign with the Raiders ended because he made Jerry [Rice] the No. 1 receiver instead of myself. The year before I made the Pro Bowl and caught [91 passes for 1,165 yards]...and the year afterwards, the year he takes over I think I came like 50 yards from catching 1,000 yards in 10 or 11 straight seasons.
“He’s a really smart guy, knows football like the back of his hand. That’s not the issue,” Brown said. “But there’s a lot more to coaching than just Xs and Os. You have to be able to deal with players and that’s the reason Bill Callahan hasn’t succeeded as a head coach because he’s a smart guy, knows football like the back of his hand, but when it comes to leading men, it’s a totally different intangible you have to have."
With Trestman no longer a head coach, much of Brown's criticism doesn't apply...but it's clear that there's some lingering bitterness here. On the other hand, it now looks like Brown's criticisms of Trestman's leadership was fair - that leadership (or lack thereof) played a major role in Chicago's collapse this year and Trestman's subsequent firing. The 2015 Raiders won't have any Pro Bowl mainstays like Brown or Hall of Famers like Rice to manage...so the fans will be hoping Trestman's weaknesses as a coach won't even be a factor.
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