Oakland Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie took almost 20 days to find and hire Dennis Allen as the next head coach of the Oakland Raiders. One day later, Dennis Allen has found his offensive coordinator and has already interviewed one candidate for the defensive coordinator position. In addition, he has decided to keep running backs coach Kelly Skipper.
According to Vittorio Tafur, Dennis Allen has hired Gregg Knapp as the Oakland Raiders next offensive coordinator and has interviewed Gred Manusky for the defensive coordinator position. Both are names that Raiders fans should be familiar with.
Gregg Knapp's most recent job was as the quarterbacks coach for the Houston Texans. However, in the 2007 season, Knapp was the had the same job he is about to start. Knapp was the offensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders under head coaches Lane Kiffin and Tom Cable. While the offense was not particularly impressive during his time, it is important to remember that his quarterback was JaMarcus Russell and that Darren McFadden's rookie season in 2008 was plagued by injury and inconsistency. It is also important to remember that Knapp was the offensive coordinator for some pretty good offenses with the San Francisco 49ers and the Atlanta Falcons.
Knapp is not a very exciting hire for Raiders fans. However, he is not a bad hire either. He is big on running the ball which is exactly what the Raiders need to do. In addition, he is praised by most of the quarterbacks he has ever worked with and should be able to get the most out of Carson Palmer.
Greg Manusky is coming off of spending one season as the defensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers, after having spent the prior four years as the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers. Manusky took the fall for the Chargers decline in defense this season. That, however probably should not have fallen entirely on his shoulders. The Chargers used to be stacked with talent on the defensive side of the ball. The squad that Manusky took over did not have nearly the talent that Ron Rivera was working with.
Again, this is not a very exciting name for Raiders fans. Manusky led some impressive defenses in San Francisco, but he also had some impressive players. Chuck Bresnahan did not perform well as the Raiders defensive coordinator. The bigger problem, however, was a lack of talent everywhere but on the defensive line. Most Raiders fans would like to see a defensive who is known for getting players to play outside of themselves.
When Dennis Allen was hired, I decided to withhold judgment on the hiring until I saw what kind of coaching staff he put together. Unfortunately, I am not very impressed with what I have seen so far.