Silver and Black Turns to White : Davis Pulls Trigger, Finally Fires Shell

At 11 a.m. Thursday, Art Shell slipped quietly out of his El Segundo office and drove away, a Raider no longer after 27 years in the organization, more than five as head coach.

At 1 p.m., Mike White, the Raiders’ 10th head coach, walked into the bright glare of a news conference as a professional head coach for the first time after 37 years of coaching, the last five as a Raider assistant.

In announcing the change, owner Al Davis, 65, cited an urgency to return to the Super Bowl after an 11-year absence.

“Maybe it’s because of my age,” he said, “but we want to win the Super Bowl. . . . I felt, if we were going to get there, we had to change the environment. I took into consideration many factors. I offered this job to no one else.

“I’ve known about Mike White for 40 years. . . . I watched him grow. . . . I think he comes extremely qualified. He’s got a vibrant personality. I think he’ll do excellently.”

White, 58, formerly a head coach at California and Illinois, signed a multiyear contract with the Raiders.

Recognized as an offensive specialist, White will be asked to restore cohesion and improve production for a team frustrated by inconsistency and incompatibility.

Ultimately, the Raiders were considered underachievers after failing to make the playoffs despite a roster that some experts said had more talent than any other team in the division, if not the entire AFC.

“Can you imagine a dream for somebody, to have the opportunity to take over a football team that has a history of success, that has tremendous tradition?” White said. “ Raiders and commitment to excellence are words you can’t just put up on a wall. Maybe we have to re-emphasize what those words mean.”

Shell, 47, who replaced Mike Shanahan as Raider coach four games into the 1989 season, turned down a chance to stay in the organization.

“I’m going to look for another job,” Shell said. “I want to stay in coaching. I do want to coach. I’ve said all I have to say. Maybe I’ll sit down and talk about it some day.”

Shell’s somber exit was hardly reminiscent of the scene 5 1/2 years ago when Shell, who had already spent 15 years in a Raider uniform as a Hall of Fame offensive lineman and another 6 1/2 as an assistant coach, was selected by Davis to become the NFL’s first black coach of the modern era. He replaced Shanahan after the Raiders started with a 1-3 record.

Under Shell, the Raiders won seven of their remaining 12 games that season and went 12-4 the next season, advancing to the AFC championship game before losing, 51-3, to the Buffalo Bills.

Still, having come within a game of the Super Bowl in his first full season, Shell was named coach of the year.

But over the following four seasons, the Raiders made the playoffs only twice and won only one of three playoff games.

In training camp before the 1994 season, Shell said the Raiders were the most talented team he had coached. Many media members across the country went even further, predicting a Super Bowl berth for them.

Instead, the Raiders struggled to a 9-7 record. They committed an NFL-record 156 penalties. The defense, though fifth best in the conference, showed an alarming tendency to collapse at crucial points in big games.

And the offense seldom produced as expected, foiled by drive-killing penalties, distracted by feuds and bewildered by obvious discord on the offensive coaching staff.

Shell, it appeared, had lost control. He and Tom Walsh, the offensive coordinator, clashed. Shell and his quarterback, Jeff Hostetler, openly argued on the sidelines in Miami. Top receiver Tim Brown publicly questioned game plans.

The team dissolved into a mass of chaos, confusion and controversy.

Contacted in Hawaii, where he is practicing for Sunday’s Pro Bowl, Hostetler said: “Obviously, something needed to be changed, whether the philosophy or the coach or the players. Whatever it was, I guess it was Al’s way of going in another direction.

“I’ve known Mike for two years. He has a big job, and I’m looking forward to seeing what his plans are.”

Davis has agonized over the fate of his head coach from the moment the regular season ended with a 19-9 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs that eliminated the Raiders from postseason contention.

Davis hired former Arizona Cardinal coach Joe Bugel as an offensive assistant. He tried to hire Dallas Cowboy defensive coordinator Butch Davis to take the same position with the Raiders. Instead, Davis accepted the head coaching job with the University of Miami.

It was then that Al Davis turned to White. He informed White and Shell last Thursday that he was thinking of promoting White. Davis then went to Miami to mull over his final decision at the Super Bowl.

There, he decided to elevate White from offensive line coach, but Davis delayed the move in deference to the Wednesday funeral of former Raider player and broadcaster Bob Chandler.

Wednesday night, Davis called Shell to his office to inform him that his tenure was over.

“We spent some hour, two hours reminiscing,” Davis said, “and also my thanking him for 27 years of excellence. He was one of the greatest contributors that this organization has ever had, and he was instrumental in achieving the greatness of the Raiders, whatever greatness we obtained in the world of sports.”

The naming of White doesn’t end the decision-making process. The depleted staff of assistants--seven having left in the six weeks since the Raiders played their last game--must be rebuilt quickly.

White said Thursday that defensive coordinator John Fox, the only holdover from the defensive staff, will remain at his position. White also wants to retain Walsh, Bugel, who is senior assistant and an offensive line coach; Fred Biletnikoff, receiver coach; Bill Meyers, an offensive line coach, and Jack Riley, running back coach. But White has not named an offensive coordinator, indicating he might change the parameters of the job.

White figures to be more involved with the offense than Shell.

“This has been a tough, emotional few days for us,” White said, “because of the fact that we lose a friend like Art Shell. I thank Art greatly because he brought me here five years ago, and he gave all of himself to that football team. It sort of reminds me that those of us who remain here were part of the fact that maybe we didn’t reach some expectations. . . . Maybe we could have done something individually to reach some of those expectations.

“It’s a crazy business. Maybe I’m a survivor.”