Five times Raiders fortunes turned around with change in leadership
It is inauguration day in America. Today, a new president was sworn in and with it comes hope for a brighter future. The country is in the throes of a pandemic that has killed over 400,000 Americans and counting.
While we talk about the hopes for our nation, there are also hopes for the Nation. That is the Raider Nation which is freshly in its offseason when hope springs eternal.
In the spirit of a change in leadership at the top of our nation, here are five times when a change in leadership on the Raider Nation changed their fortunes for the better.
1963: Al Davis and QB Daryle Lamonica
Davis took over as Managing General Partner and Head Coach for the fledgling Raiders in 1963. He acquired Daryl ‘Mad Bomber’ Lamonica that year as well. Thus a team that had just three wins in its first two seasons, leaped to 10-4 in the first season of Davis and Lamonica.
Three years later, Davis handed the reins to John Rauch as head coach while Davis pulled the personnel strings. Two seasons later, the Raiders were in the Super Bowl, beginning a franchise reign in the NFL that led to 16 straight winning seasons which included two Super Bowl wins.
1980: QB Jim Plunkett
After the 1977 season, the Raiders slipped to two seasons at 9-7, missing out on the playoffs. The first was Madden’s final season as head coach, the second was Tom Flores’s first season as head coach.
That first season with Flores as head coach, the Raiders acquired Jim Plunkett from the 49ers, but he didn’t start any games as Ken Stabler was in his final season as the starter. Stabler was then traded to Houston for Dan Pastorini, and he was named the starter to begin the 1980 season.
Five games in, the Raiders were 2-3 and Pastorini was lost to injury, ushering in Plunkett. He went 9-2 to finish the season and led the Raiders to their second Super Bowl. Two seasons later, the Raiders, with Plunkett at QB, would win another Super Bowl.
1990: HC Art Shell
It’s hard to say what the Raiders might have done had Al Davis and Mike Shannahan not had a rift that got Shanahan fired four games into his second season as head coach. But it’s hard to argue the immediate results under Shell. The Raiders were 1-3 when Shanahan was fired, having lost three straight. They went 7-5 the rest of the way that season to finish 8-8, then went to the playoffs two of the next three years.
Shell held the head coach position for five seasons until 1994 and was fired with a 54-38 record. Al Davis would end up hiring him again 12 years later, to disastrous results. A 2-14 season that seemed doomed from the start.
1999: QB Rich Gannon
One could argue Jon Gruden was the difference. But it was the addition of Gannon that allowed Gruden’s offense to soar. Gannon made his first Pro Bowl in his first season with the Raiders. And after one 8-8 season together, the Raiders made the playoffs three straight seasons. The third of those seasons was after Gruden had been traded to the Buccaneers. Gannon put up historic numbers that season, earning the MVP and leading the Raiders to the Super Bowl. The Raiders would lose to Gruden’s Buccaneers because Raiders head coach Bill Callahan was still using Gruden’s playbook.
2015: HC Jack Del Rio
A 2014 season that featured a ten-game losing streak and a 3-13 final record, saw a new head coach for the Raiders. Say what you want about Del Rio, but he was the most accomplished head coach the Raiders had had since Gruden’s first tenure.
Del Rio replaced yet another in a long line of head coaches had the feel of the best of who would take the job. Dennis Allen was a fall guy for a rebuild after the quick firing of Hue Jackson who replaced Tom Cable who replaced the Lane Kiffin debacle. Before that Norv Turner and Bill Callahan got two seasons each.
In his first season as head coach, the Raiders had a four-game improvement to 7-9. The second season they had a five-game improvement to 12-4 and the team’s first playoff berth since their Super Bowl loss in 2002. The Raiders fell to 6-10 the following season — largely due to poor personnel decisions by Del Rio — and he was fired in favor of Gruden’s return to the sideline.
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