Commitment to Bugel Lasts One Season

Joe Bugel, who led the Oakland Raiders to their worst record in 35 years in his one season as coach, was fired Tuesday.

Bugel, promoted to the job after two seasons as the team’s assistant head coach for offense, led the Raiders to a 4-12 record that included five losses to finish the season.

The Raiders, who have missed the playoffs four consecutive seasons, will be searching for their fourth coach since the end of the 1994 season. Bugel was promoted when his predecessor, Mike White, was fired on Christmas Eve 1996 after two seasons as coach.

“We felt it was necessary to make a change,” Raider senior assistant Bruce Allen said in a conference call. “The record speaks for itself. We live in a society that does grade people on their record.”

Bugel has one year remaining on his contract with the Raiders.

Bugel, 20-44 at Phoenix from 1990-93 in his only previous head coaching job, was promoted by Raider owner Al Davis after players lobbied for him. But some of those players turned against Bugel this season.

The team bordered on anarchy late in the season, and wide receiver Tim Brown was so infuriated at the play-calling that he threatened to ignore coaches and call his own plays in the huddle.

Allen said the Raiders have not yet begun interviewing for a replacement for Bugel, but said the team recently contacted the New York Jets seeking permission to talk to defensive coordinator Bill Belichick about his availability for an assistant’s job in Oakland.

Allen said the Raiders also have sought permission from the Philadelphia Eagles to speak with assistant coach Jon Gruden.

Bugel was not available for comment Tuesday, but said after the team’s final game that he knew changes had to be made in the off-season.

“This team is not in disarray. We don’t have a lot of dissension, which I keep hearing about,” Bugel said. “I thought our team played with great effort throughout the whole year. We just came up short. We know we have some things we need to fix.”

In addition to Belichick and Gruden, considered for the job before Bugel was hired last January, another possible candidate is Minnesota’s Dennis Green. He has feuded with Vikings owners and has expressed an interest in coaching Oakland if he leaves Minnesota.

Allen said the decision to fire Bugel was not made immediately after the final game because Davis wanted time to look back at the season. It was the Raiders’ worst since they went 1-13 in 1962--the year before Davis joined the team.

“We wanted to make sure we took some time to clearly investigate and evaluate what happened this year,” Allen said. “Mr. Davis and Joe had some time to talk.”

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Larry Allen became the NFL’s highest-paid offensive lineman when he signed a reported six-year, $24-million contract with the Dallas Cowboys, but the bigger news was the absence of Barry Switzer.

The Cowboy coach, believed to be on his way out of Dallas after a 6-10 season, was a no-show at the news conference to announce Allen’s six-year deal.

Cowboy owner Jerry Jones was coy when asked why Switzer wasn’t there.

“I don’t know what you can read into it that hasn’t already been read into it,” Jones said. “I don’t have anything to say about coaching. I’m the master of ceremonies for this. I didn’t need anybody else up here.”

Jones said it will be after the Super Bowl--perhaps late February--before he addresses the coaching situation.

Meanwhile, Allen, whose bonus is believed to be about $6 million, will move from right guard to left tackle next season. No other offensive lineman in the NFL is making more than $3.5 million a season.

Allen’s signing probably means 15-year veteran Mark Tuinei won’t return.

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George Young, 67, who came to the New York Giants as a compromise choice for general manager in 1979 and rebuilt the team into a two-time Super Bowl champion, is expected to announce his retirement Thursday.

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Philadelphia Eagle center Steve Everitt was cleared of a drug paraphernalia possession charge lodged after police stopped him for speeding last year in Mount Laurel, N.J.

Municipal Court Judge John Madden said prosecutors failed to prove Everitt knew there was a pipe was in his car and intended to use it.

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Running back Ki-Jana Carter of the Cincinnati Bengals will skip off-season surgery on his shoulder.

Carter was examined by orthopedic surgeon James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., and decided not to be operated on for the torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder.