Raiders poll: Jim Harbaugh or Dabo Swinney?

With the Las Vegas Raiders less than a month away from perhaps looking for a new replacement for Jon Gruden, who resigned in October, two of the names that have popped up are college coaching titans.

There has been speculation that the Raiders could pursue either Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh or Clemson coach Dabo Swinney.

While there has been written speculation connecting Harbaugh — who will coach his alma mater in the college playoffs — to the Silver and Black, fans have been buzzing about Swinney since he attended the Raiders’ home loss to the Washington Football Team on Dec. 5 at Allegiant Stadium. Swinney, who has some former players on the Raiders, was in town for an awards dinner.

I get the connections to both coaches. Raiders’ owner Mark Davis may swing for the fences to ease the emotional pain of losing Gruden. The Raiders have had a close relationship with Swinney in recent years and general manager Mike Mayock (who is not a sure thing to return in 2022) is good friends with him.

Harbaugh was the Raiders’ quarterback coach in 2002-03. He was close to the late Al Davis and he and Mark Davis are friendly. There were rumors several years ago that Davis would pursue Harbaugh before he went to Michigan.

If the Raiders were to go after one of these coaches (and getting either wouldn’t be easy nor cheap), who would you prefer, Harbaugh or Swinney? I’d go with Harbaugh, partly because he was a head coach with the San Francisco 49ers for four seasons. Swinney has never worked in the NFL.

But this is about you. What’s your choice?