Jan 5th 2009 4:30PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Raiders, NFL CoachingA couple of weeks ago, reports surfaced that Raiders owner Al Davis might be interested in Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride to take over the team’s head coaching duties. It had to be shockingly bad news for Raiders fans, seeing as how Gilbride’s only head coaching experience was a 6-16 run with the San Diego Chargers during the 1997 and 1998 seasons.

Of course, it was just a report of a name that interest the Raiders. Well, on Saturday, Davis and Gilbride apparently had a 90-minute phone conversation, which has to have fans in Oakland throwing papers in the air and screaming for the return of John Madden. So, does this lengthy phone conversation mean the Raiders are interested in Gilbride’s sevices? If you ask John Herrera, the answer is no, no it does not.”Mr. Davis has known Kevin for a long time and was more than willing to oblige and have that conversation,” Herrera said. “They had an interesting hour-and-a-half conversation Saturday at Gilbride’s request. End of story.”I realize Gilbride, like any current assistant, is probably looking for an opportunity to become a head coach — it’s more glamorous than being a coordinator, obviously, and it’s certainly better for your bank account — but is it really a wise career choice for him? Is it better to be the offensive coordinator for a consistent playoff contender, or attempt to take over what has to be considered the worst coaching job in the NFL right now? Frankly, if I were Gilbride I’d stick to the former, at least until Davis hands the keys to the Raiders over to somebody else.