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May 15, 2003) -- First-year NFL head coaches rarely soar to the heights Bill Callahan reached last season.
Their designation says it all. Regardless of whatever they might have accomplished as assistant coaches, the fact they have never been in charge of a team at the top of football's food chain is supposed to be a major handicap. They presumably have far too much learning to do and far too many growing pains to experience to possibly achieve the highest level of success in their profession -- or even the second-highest level, as Callahan did with the Oakland Raiders.
A year ago, Callahan was the little-known, nondescript offensive coordinator with the unenviable task of replacing one of the more successful and dynamic coaches in recent Raiders history. How would the mostly quiet Callahan ever be able to fill the high-volume, high-intensity void Jon Gruden left? How would he ever get players to respond to him the way they had to his predecessor in back-to-back strong playoff seasons?
Here's how: The Raiders won their third consecutive AFC West championship and first conference title since 1983.
OK, so they were overwhelmed, 48-21, by Gruden's Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII. It doesn't change the significance of Callahan leading them, or any team, that far as a head-coaching rookie. It doesn't diminish his great achievement.
The 7-9 finishes by Steve Spurrier's Washington Redskins and John Fox's Carolina Panthers last season are closer to the reality of what can be expected from a first-year head coach in the NFL (even if Spurrier did carry the additional burden of being a legendary figure in the collegiate ranks and the highest-paid coach in league history).
Their designation says it all. Regardless of whatever they might have accomplished as assistant coaches, the fact they have never been in charge of a team at the top of football's food chain is supposed to be a major handicap. They presumably have far too much learning to do and far too many growing pains to experience to possibly achieve the highest level of success in their profession -- or even the second-highest level, as Callahan did with the Oakland Raiders.
A year ago, Callahan was the little-known, nondescript offensive coordinator with the unenviable task of replacing one of the more successful and dynamic coaches in recent Raiders history. How would the mostly quiet Callahan ever be able to fill the high-volume, high-intensity void Jon Gruden left? How would he ever get players to respond to him the way they had to his predecessor in back-to-back strong playoff seasons?
Here's how: The Raiders won their third consecutive AFC West championship and first conference title since 1983.
OK, so they were overwhelmed, 48-21, by Gruden's Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII. It doesn't change the significance of Callahan leading them, or any team, that far as a head-coaching rookie. It doesn't diminish his great achievement.
The 7-9 finishes by Steve Spurrier's Washington Redskins and John Fox's Carolina Panthers last season are closer to the reality of what can be expected from a first-year head coach in the NFL (even if Spurrier did carry the additional burden of being a legendary figure in the collegiate ranks and the highest-paid coach in league history).
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