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Raiders Name Turner New Head Coach
Norv Turner has been the Dolphins' offensive coordinator the past two seasons.
Norv Turner hoped he would get a second chance as an NFL head coach. He was thrilled to get it with the players in the silver-and-black uniforms he always wanted to wear.
Turner was hired by the Oakland Raiders on Monday. The former Redskins coach takes over a team that went from the Super Bowl to a 4-12 debacle in one tumultuous year.
After firing Bill Callahan, owner Al Davis went looking for a new coach who shared his belief in the Raiders' mystique -- and someone who could resuscitate Oakland's struggling offense. Davis believes he found his man during a long weekend interview: Turner was raised in nearby Martinez, Calif., as an avid Raiders fan.
"I never played for the Raiders, but about 30 miles over there in Martinez, in the streets, I was Daryle Lamonica many times," Turner said, recalling Oakland's famed quarterback from 1967-74. "When my arm got tired, I was George Blanda. I grew up with the Raiders."
Turner, considered one of football's top offensive tacticians, was the offensive coordinator for two Super Bowl winners in Dallas in the early 1990s. He was the Miami Dolphins' offensive coordinator the last two seasons.
"I belong here," said Turner, whose playing career peaked as a backup quarterback at Oregon. "When I got off the plane the other night, I felt like I was coming home. I feel like I'm home now."
Turner also spent nearly seven seasons with the Redskins, going 49-59-1 with just one playoff berth from 1994-00 before being fired with three games left in his final campaign. He was widely criticized in Washington, but Turner still believed in himself -- and so did his many friends.
"I wanted to see if it was real, because I got a lot of recommendations," Davis said. "I felt if I waited (to hire a coach), I couldn't do any better. ... I just thought it was the right fit. Everything that we need at this particular time, we will rely on Norv to help us with."
Turner, 51, is the 14th head coach in a franchise lineage that includes John Madden, two-time Super Bowl winner Tom Flores and Davis, who coached the team from 1963-65.
But Turner inherits a messy situation in Oakland: The Raiders' defense of their AFC championship was a disaster almost from the first exhibition game, with injuries to more than a dozen key players and a near-mutiny against Callahan after the biggest collapse ever by a team coming off a Super Bowl appearance.
Davis fired Callahan and later criticized the coach's handling of discipline matters. Bruce Allen, the Raiders' top personnel man, also left voluntarily to become Tampa Bay's general manager earlier this month.
The Raiders apparently came close to hiring Dallas assistant Sean Payton last week, but he stayed with the Cowboys. Turner didn't get an interview until talks with Payton ended, and Davis hinted last week he might want to interview New England assistants Romeo Crennel or Charlie Weis.
But Davis had promised Jimmy Johnson -- Turner's former boss in Dallas -- that Turner would get an interview.
"When I sensed there might be a coaching change, I just said to Al, 'Don't forget about Norv Turner, because I think he's the best there is,"' Johnson said in a phone interview. "I just felt like Norv was going to be the perfect fit."
Turner impressed Davis enough last Friday to persuade the 74-year-old owner to depart from his usual preference for hiring first-time head coaches. Of the Raiders' previous eight coaches dating to Madden's first season in 1969, only one - Joe Bugel, who lasted through just one 4-12 season in 1997 -- had previous head coaching experience.
At least Turner has experience working for a hands-on owner: He was fired by Washington's Daniel Snyder with three games left in the 2000 season after the most expensive team in NFL history to date went just 7-6. Turner was praised for his game plans, but criticized for failing to keep his teams properly motivated and focused.
Others who have played for Turner give different accounts of his abilities.
"Jimmy Johnson was a tremendous football coach," former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman said from Dallas. "But I don't doubt for a minute that if Norv had not come in, we wouldn't have won the Super Bowls we did, and I'm not the only one who feels that way."
Turner signed a three-year, $8 million contract with two option years, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Davis, Turner and Mike Lombardi -- expected to replace Bruce Allen as Oakland's de facto general manager -- must make decisions on the futures of several veterans, including cornerback Charles Woodson, quarterback Rich Gannon and receivers Tim Brown and Jerry Rice. The Raiders also have the second pick in the draft.
But Turner expects to win immediately in Oakland -- and Davis expects nothing less.
"I don't think I ever heard the word 'rebuild' used around the Raiders," Turner said. "I don't think that's what we're doing here."
Source: AP
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