Coaching Staff Upgraded from Last Year with Tarver Hire

by Marcus Allen Krause on Feb 7, 2012 10:21 AM PST

With the announcement that Jason Tarver is officially our defensive coordinator we now have completed the hiring of the 3 most important positions on the staff. A Jack Nicholson quote sticks in my head for what I think of these hires and it is from the movie Mars Attacks.

"Two out of Three AINT BAD!"

I don't feel like going through the same bad mouthing of Greg Knapp being our offensive coordinator all over again. It is safe to say that his hiring was a bit disliked by Raider Nation. By a bit disliked I of course mean despised with the fire of a thousand suns. I am actually considered a supporter of him because I simply dislike the hire. That is almost as positive as any of us have been about the hire, minus a couple of stragglers that show up here and there that give minute amounts of praise and hope.

As for the other hires though I am excited about them. I have liked the hire of Dennis Allen all along and think he is going to be a great coach for years to come. Time will be the only thing that gives us an answer to his abilities but I am very excited to see what he brings to our team. Its a new age for us and its nice to know that we are going to try and start it out with such a young up and coming coach that could bring the stability sorely missed since the Curse of Gruden began.

With Jason Tarver I think we have one of the future brilliant minds of the NFL. I very much believe Tarver will be a head coach in a few years, although whether that happens will depend on his success with us. If he comes in and turns our defense around and works well with Allen than his stock is going to sky rocket.

I can't speak highly enough of the IQ levels that Tarver has. The man is literally a genius, and I don't just mean football. His extensive education in science is going to open up levels of perception on our defense that few others could open. He believes in simplifying things to their purest form and his greatest asset is his perception abilities. As a scientist he has always been great at taking notice of every little thing and that is one of the things that all great coaches do.

Having a coach this young with this much experience taking over our defensive play calling is a major step up. Mike Nolan is one of the great defensive minds there is, and Mike Singletary was one of the best linebackers to ever play the game. To have worked closely with those gentlemen and get some knowledge from those people should bring a new level of intensity to our defense. He is guy that immediately should receive respect for being a part of such a great defense. The Stanford defense that he was the Co-Coordinator for was not too shabby either.

The coaching staff is looking very good to me, with the only question mark of course being Knapp. I believe this hire of Jason should give fans a little more faith in Allen after his hiring of Knapp had people wondering if he was really going to make the proper decisions for our team. Even though Knapp is a definite downgrade in our minds from Saunders, I think Jason is that much and then some better than his predecessor so I now think our coaching staff is officially better than it was with our coaches last year. I know a lot of people probably wont agree with that and we will see the results on the field but I am very confident with the staff we put together.

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I hope you are right Sir

I Just wonder how our defensive personnel will shape up. I believe seymour and/or kelly will be traded for draft pick(s) I want our defense to get younger footbsall savvy guys on defense who are not neccesarily physical freaks that Al loved(R.I.P).I Believe the offense will take care of itself and both DHB and Moore will take steps forward in unison with palmer.DO NOT TRADE MCFADDEN!

by daboysteve on Feb 7, 2012 11:56 AM PST reply actions

+1 with DMC

lol I am a strong supporter of keep DMC

by RaiderPride20 on Feb 7, 2012 1:12 PM PST up reply actions

Same here brotha, you dont trade one of the best players in the league for pennies on the dollar

"We want to win. The Raider fans deserve it. The Raider players deserve it, even my organization deserves it. You have to win and you have to win with a vision for the Super Bowl. That's our passion here."--Al Davis

"Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is."--Vince Lombardi

by Marcus Allen Krause on Feb 7, 2012 2:24 PM PST up reply actions

EXACTLY

by ryanmoore57 on Feb 7, 2012 3:16 PM PST up reply actions

I hope you are right, but I am doubtful. Show me your reasoning for this claim, and sway me. I need it

I am not sure how any of these hires could be considered an upgrade. Allen and Hue seem to be similar in style. The big difference I see is that Allen has really done nothing to prove himself. Hue at least had successful offenses before trying his hand at HC. Allen has had one year, and it was nothing to brag about with the #20 scoring D in the NFL. Allen may be more of a disciplinarian, and the Raiders need discipline. But most grown men (as these players truly are), do not like to be yelled at. They need proper motivation and teaching.

I totally agree with you about Knapp. so nothing left to be said there.

I also don’t see any proven record of greatness with Tarver. Though it would be hard to be worse than Panda, I don’t see how we can tell. This guy has never called a defense before, and though may be smart, he is undoubtably a gamble. He was a co-DC in Stanford, but again, not the guy calling the shots…

Letting Fassel walk was the worst decision for the team this offseason, as he was IMO the best ST coordinator the Silver and Black have ever had. Jano and Lechler had career years. Ford was a TD scoring stud. The ST won the Cleveland and KC games with the fake FG and the two planned blocked kicks. ST was the strength of the team!

Letting Waufel go was the second worst decision in that he did great with Kelly, and kept Seymour productive enough to be an alt to the pro-bowl. Houston has been solid, though not as great as we would like. Shanny is dominant when healthy. Even the subs were good! I felt like this group was the strength of the D for the past two years. Before him, I did not have that feeling.

Help me to see why so many believe these guys to be better than what they had last year, let alone the right choices for this year. I just don’t see it

by TD Rader on Feb 7, 2012 6:29 PM PST reply actions

TD Rader your a Negative Nelly

………which I am guilty of, especially with my beloved raiders, especially during games like buffalo and detroit, among countless others last season. But seriously to be this negative like two days after the superbowl, a couple of months before the draft, even longer till the beginning of training camp, OTAs, and all that shit, is a bit premature, and that would be the understatement of the century. It’s entirely too early to make a snap judgement about any of this! chill out broter man, just keep thinking New Era, no more Al Davis, an Actual general manager, and a DC minded HC. These things have either never happend before or not in a real long time. The entire operation of teh Raiders organization is about to change. I mean really think about just the fact that there is a GM! That is huge GM doing GM things and HC focusing on HC things, we have the talent already……..wait and see brother it will be good.

by Toolshed1485 on Feb 7, 2012 6:39 PM PST up reply actions

Not being negative... Looking for reasons to be positive, but can't find any

I hear all about the GM… Yea, it is a new thing, but I am not sure this is anything better than what they had. The idea of a GM brought the possibilities of change. Getting second rate coaches is not a change. Letting good coaches go is not a change.

I am looking for this optimism that you have, and everyone else. But I have to tell you there is NOTHING about these hires that makes me think this team is taking steps forward. Sway me. Tell me why I should be happy about a very inexperienced coaching staff, selected by a GM over the years of previous inexperienced coaches selected by Al.

by TD Rader on Feb 7, 2012 6:51 PM PST reply actions

exhale inhale hold exhale

Agreed it’s a huge unknown we have to trust Reggie until so far he said he would hire his coach and Dennis Allen is filling the staff, as I see Reggie is 100% right now. the D hire is gonna be good when you start looking at most of the coaches they are a lot of linebackers and safeties, the defense will be improved or at least they are gonna try like hell.
Mackenzie LB
Allen S
Tarver CB

Al Davis the Greatest Raider of all times... You will live forever in the hearts of true Raider fans...RIP

by samiam2112 on Feb 7, 2012 8:13 PM PST up reply actions

This is an entirely positive time

I just want to comment on some of the negativity about the current situation. There are unknowns but this is a really exciting time to be a Raider fan. I saw Raider games in Frank Youell field and it has been a long time since I thought that there was hope that the Raiders could actually turn the corner and return to what we want them to be.

The main cause for my hope is that things will finally change. I trust Reggie McKenzie to make player evaluations and to work salary cap issues in order to construct a team. Frankly, I believe that there will be some major personnel changes on the field and I trust him to make them. We will not repeat the pattern that we have followed for the past 10 or so past years. In the past, we have hired inexperienced or first-time coaches and they were given no authority. The head coach had no real input into the staff and the players knew the HC had no authority. I believe that has been the cause of the undisciplined play and the endless number of penalties. When we drafted players, there was only one certainty. The Raiders would draft the player with the fastest 40 time even if the guy had never made a play on the field.

Things will be different now. Coach Allen is a first-time HC but he is picking his staff and he will have the backing of Reggie Mckenzie with regard to team discipline. I believe the penalties will drop dramatically because there finally will be real accountability. Players will not be able to simply ignore the HC and know there will be no coast. Also, Reggie will draft differently and we will pick up valuable undrafted players and bargain free agents. When we again get top draft picks he will pick quality players to build the team.

I don’t necessarily think it will be all smooth going. But things are changing and they needed to change to make the Raiders relevant again in the NFL.

by Rdrfan214 on Feb 7, 2012 9:21 PM PST reply actions

Tasty Kool Aid

No sir, I will not sip it yet. Tarver sounds good and I certainly love his enthusiasm, and what he helped contribute to Stanfords D. Honestly, this bit of kool aid I will sip with you. I think he could be pretty special indeed. After that though, these hires have all been……….eh. Bunch of no names really. This isn’t a bad thing, fresh change and such, but still wildly underwhelming. However, no one really knows what is going to happen. Will he be Gruden or will he be Kiffen? Allen could be worse than that, he could just be……………….mediocre!!!! Your enthusiasm though is something to strive for. Call me negative nelly or pessimistic joe, or rotund rambo, but either way I remain skeptical. As any Raider fan, I hope for the best. I’m not going to bad mouth him unless he’s absolutely terrible, this I promise. If Allen is great, I’ll gladly sing his praises. Until game one though, I will waiver in no direction. All that I trust is that Reggie is choosing a team that he trusts with his job. So from that perspective, I suspect he’s picking the best choices he can. In that, I shall trust.

by lakers007raiders on Feb 7, 2012 10:18 PM PST reply actions

Here we go again

Step in line, give your ticket to the man, step aboard the roller coaster ride. Up with positive and down with negitive.
This is going to be one hell of a ride. Honestly, all we can do now is get behind our new GM and the coaches and pray they do the right thing.

by P rick ny on Feb 9, 2012 6:09 AM PST reply actions