Husker Homer
New member
I woud argue that he "THNKS" he's smart, and can't adjust schemes or relate to players. He has a terrible pattern, and I would like to free the student-athletes playing for Nebraska from him and his ego.
NY Times
Woodson also said Callahan failed to listen to his veterans. Even some Raiders on offense, where Callahan had made his mark as Gruden's offensive coordinator for four seasons, questioned Callahan's interpersonal skills. As the losses mounted, Callahan let loose with barbs the players believed should have stayed in house. In a players-only meeting midway through the season, they tore into Callahan. One of his strengths as a teacher became clouded by his failure to stand in lockstep with his players, Raiders guard Corey Hulsey said.
''The biggest problem was when Callahan would go public with things and not deal with the team,'' Hulsey said Thursday Hulsey added: ''You're considered a man at 18. You've got guys 39, 40 and 41 years old that took offense to what he said. I never had any quarrels with him, but that was the biggest thing: he didn't treat the guys like men.''
Rejecting a New Playbook
As early as the preseason, some players rejected parts of the new playbook even while they studied it.
Then the games began for real. Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon yelled at Callahan and his offensive coordinator, Marc Trestman, during the Raiders' 31-10 loss in Denver in Week 3. An offense that had ranked first in 2002 looked predictable in 2003, prompting Callahan to tell reporters after the defeat: ''I think teams have caught up to us. I would freely admit that.'' One Raiders defensive player, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Callahan tried to junk too much of an offense that the team had used, with success, for years, and that the loss to Gruden in the Super Bowl was the catalyst.
''The whole offense was changed, and that made Rich uncomfortable,'' the player said of Callahan's retooling. ''We were coming out just throwing the ball, not running the ball, even on third-and-inches. I got the sense that he was saying, 'Look, I'm running my stuff and nobody else's stuff.' ''I think he could have changed a couple of plays at a time, which would have kept Rich in a groove. That's why a lot of people were jumping offside. They were used to something else.''
Still, the atmosphere of losing did not stop the players from bonding, even in volatile times.
As the rift grew among Callahan and the players, Shaw, who won a Super Bowl with the New England Patriots in the 2001 season, became a locker-room arbitrator of sorts. ''I would be the last guy to walk into the defensive-backs meeting,'' Shaw said, ''and all of the players would stand up and say, 'All rise, Judge Terrance Shaw presiding.' ''I then said somebody's jersey number. If a player had gotten into it with a coach at practice, I'd say, 'Case 0033: Anthony Dorsett versus the Raiders' or 'Case 0024: Woodson versus Callahan.'
''It was like Judge Wapner every morning on 'The People's Court.' At the end, things were bad and we were just trying to get some humor from it.''
The Raiders ultimately played, losing by a touchdown to the Chargers on the same field where the Buccaneers humiliated them last January.
In the ensuing days, Davis told reporters in the Bay Area that the Raiders were not a team in disarray, but Gannon took a different view. ''I wouldn't say I'd take a torch to the place, but it wouldn't be far from that,'' said Gannon, who missed the final nine games because of a shoulder injury. ''We all have to accept responsibility. I have to demand more out of people around me. I ask for more out of our coaches. Stuff needs to get fixed, and it didn't. It just continued to get worse to the point where it was disgraceful.''
Ten days after being fired, Callahan was named the coach at Nebraska.''That one year, we loved playing for Coach Callahan,'' Shaw said of the Super Bowl trip. ''We ran through the wall for that guy. But once this season started, guys felt like they were jilted without explanation.''
Sound Familiar?????????????? dedhoarse
