THE RAIDERS' NEW COACH: Skip

THE RAIDERS’ NEW COACH: Skip Bayless writes that for a head coach, Norv Turner is a great offensive coordinator:

Norv Turner is not made of the right stuff to be a successful head coach — especially not one required to regain control of this Raiders locker room. I wince at the thought of the Turner I knew in Dallas thrown into this players-rule war zone. It would be like casting Henry Gibson instead of Mel Gibson in “Road Warrior.”

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Yet I stress that Turner is a rock-solid coordinator capable of calling killer games. As Washington’s head coach/coordinator, Turner had no one to blame but himself for betting his future on two high draft picks who failed spectacularly — quarterback Heath Shuler and receiver Michael Westbrook. But now Turner will have absolutely no input into personnel decisions.

So if he can buffer himself with some “bad cop” assistants — a tough-guy defensive coordinator and an enforcer on the offensive staff — he has a chance.

Turner inherits a mess in Oakland. It will be interesting–and probably painful at times–to see if he can clean it up.