Interim coaches doomed to failure

Published 10:44 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

Emmitt Thomas. Joe Vitt. Terry Robiskie. Jim Bates. Gary Moeller. Mike McCormack.

Only a diehard football fan would recognize the names, and even that person might not know why.

Interim coaches disappear from the scene just as quickly as they arrive, often forgotten like an uneventful date. It’s a job meant to create opportunity, and yet one rarely exists.

Thomas, a 65-year-old assistant coach with the Atlanta Falcons, assumed as much when he took over as head coach following Bobby Petrino’s sudden resignation last December.

“I knew (when I was promoted) I was just holding the seat,” he told Seattle reporters before the 2007 regular-season finale against the Seahawks, “keeping it warm until they find their guy.”

Not all interim coaches have as much wherewithal in regards to their sudden promotions.

And so Snohomish’s own Tom Cable and, to a lesser degree, one-time New Orleans Saints head coach Jim Haslett enter their latest job opportunities with eyes wide open and goals unbridled.

It’s just too bad that the new head coaches for the Oakland Raiders and St. Louis Rams, respectively, have about as much chance of keeping the job as Jim Riggleman did of extending his.

Interim head coaches, especially at the NFL level, are doomed for failure. They’re almost always promoted from within a team’s coaching staff — the Seahawks’ McCormack, who was director of football operations, is among the rare exceptions — and have to try to change a culture of losing overnight. They’re given no new players and the same set of assistant coaches, and yet the organization is asking for better results.

More than likely, Cable and Haslett will be back in assistant coaching posts this time next year.

That they even have a chance is somewhat remarkable, given how early it is in the season. The Raiders’ Lane Kiffin and the Rams’ Scott Linehan were fired before the end of September, marking the first time since the 1970 NFL merger that two head coaches were canned four games into a season.

In a sense, Cable and Haslett have time to try to get their respective ships righted.

But history tells us that the cards are stacked against them.

Just ask Seahawks receivers coach Keith Gilbertson, a man who should know because of his experience getting thrown into the University of Washington job after Rick Neuheisel’s ouster in the summer of 2003.

“As I could tell you,” Gilbertson said this week when asked about Cable, “sometimes taking over something very late is not always the optimum deal.”

Career-wise, Cable and Haslett are in much different places — despite their recent commonality.

The 52-year-old Haslett has already had a chance as a head coach, having gone 45-51 in six seasons with the New Orleans Saints. He proved capable of turning things around in a hurry by taking over a 3-13 New Orleans team and leading it to a division title in his first season as head coach. Haslett might get another shot as a head coach, but chances are that he’s content as an assistant.

For the 43-year-old Cable, becoming a head coach is the first step toward his eventual goal. His only experience as a head coach came at the University of Idaho, where he spent four seasons. He went 11-35 while coaching his alma mater, having gone under .500 in each of his four years as head coach. The 1982 Snohomish High School graduate is hoping to have better success in his first opportunity at the NFL level.

When it comes to on-field talent, Cable might actually be in the better situation. His team has some young offensive weapons in quarterback JaMarcus Russell and running back Darren McFadden, and the 1-3 Raiders have actually shown improvement over the 2007 team that went 4-12.

In St. Louis, the Rams are in a complete state of disarray, with aging stars and a dearth of young talent. The Rams have been outscored by an average of 26 points per game this season, with their only “nail-biter” being a 17-point home loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Of course, Cable has the Al Davis Factor. Oakland’s aging owner has been less than kind to his head coaches over the years — just ask Kiffin, Mike Shanahan or Jon Gruden — and he’ll probably turn on Cable at some point.

Then again, maybe the Raiders experience will give Cable some valuable experience, much like it did Shanahan and Gruden.

What it probably won’t give him is an extension. As an interim coach, opportunities aren’t always what they seem.

All Haslett and Cable can do is try to enjoy the ride — and hope that history doesn’t forget them.

Scott M. Johnson is The Herald’s pro football writer.