ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Stepping into the power vacuum created by Al Davis’ death the night before the Oakland Raiders’ Week 5 game of the 2011 season at the Houston Texans, head coach Hue Jackson was equal parts mad offensive genius and self-promoter.
He had been brought in by Davis a year earlier to get the Raiders' offense humming as a coach-in-waiting under Tom Cable and, boy, did it hum -- as it more than doubled its scoring output from the previous season.
Jackson asked running back Darren McFadden what kinds of plays he liked to run, and suddenly, McFadden was playing at a league MVP level.
And in the weeks after Davis’ death, Jackson, often the biggest trash-talker on the Raiders sidelines, became a de facto general manager. Jackson engineered the massive midseason acquisitions of linebacker Aaron Curry and quarterback Carson Palmer after signal-caller Jason Campbell was lost for the season with a broken collarbone, calling it the “greatest trade in football,” and brought in receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh.
Hue Jack City was a hit. A rap song and accompanying video praising Jackson popped up. Heading into a Dec. 4 matchup at the Miami Dolphins, Jackson was riding high, as he had the Raiders rolling at 7-4 and eyeing their first playoff berth since the 2002 season, which had ended with a Super Bowl appearance against their former coach, Jon Gruden.
Then things got weird.
When Jackson, who now is in his third season as Cleveland Browns coach, steps onto the Oakland Coliseum field on Sunday, he’ll obviously see many familiar faces. But one in particular will stand out from the rest. It belongs to a guy with whom Jackson shared an office at the University of the Pacific in 1989 -- Gruden, who returned to Oakland’s sidelines this year after nine seasons in ESPN’s Monday Night Football booth.
“He’s a good friend, he’s a good coach and I look forward to seeing him,” said Gruden, who was the Tigers’ tight end coach that season, after spending the 1986 and 1987 seasons as a graduate assistant at Tennessee and 1988 as Southeast Missouri State’s passing game coordinator.
Gruden would move to the NFL in 1990 as an offensive assistant with the San Francisco 49ers, while Jackson, who played quarterback at Pacific and was its running backs and special-teams coach in 1989, moved to Cal State Fullerton a year later for the same roles.
But in 1989, with Gruden and Jackson on Walt Harris’ staff, the Tigers went 2-10, getting blown out by Pittsburgh, Auburn, Syracuse and even UNLV.
Jackson called them “body bag games” and, well, learning experiences.
“It wasn’t very good,” Gruden said this week with a laugh. “Then [Pacific] dropped football. I could say it wasn’t the greatest, but it was a lot of fun.
“Charles Davis [now a Fox NFL analyst] was my roommate. We had a blast.”
Jackson agreed.
“Probably more fun for me than it was for Jon [because] I went to school there,” Jackson said on a conference call with San Francisco Bay Area reporters.
“Jon taught me football. ... There is a lot of him that still runs through me as I coach, as I’ve made my stops. I appreciate the growth I’ve had from my time with him to where I am today.”
Despite the coaching fraternity being relatively small, Gruden and Jackson would not be on the same staff again. Even if they would ultimately run across Al Davis later, in different stages of their respective careers, and hold the same job, albeit at different times.
Gruden became Chucky. Jackson was the mayor of Hue Jack City.
And after Gruden’s initial Oakland run, from 1998 through 2001, it was Jackson in 2011 whose energy reminded the denizens of Raider Nation so much of Gruden.
“The thing [Al Davis] instilled in me and that’s been the toughest thing for me to deal with my last two years is, ‘Just Win,’” said Jackson, who is 2-32-1 in Cleveland.
“You know, everything you do is about winning. There is not anything in this sport of football that you take lightly because it’s really about performance, it’s about winning. He really instilled that in me, and you always try to find a way just to do that, win the game.”
The Raiders under Jackson, though, could only win one of their final five games.
It was before the Dolphins game when middle linebacker Rolando McClain, back home in Alabama for what he said was a grandfather’s funeral, was arrested for allegedly firing a gun near a man’s head. His goofy grin as he was put in the back of a police car went viral, and the Raiders season went south after Jackson allowed McClain to play in Miami after sitting out a few plays.
The Dolphins rolled the Raiders 34-14. Then the Green Bay Packers smoked Oakland 46-16, before a particularly disheartening home loss to Detroit, in which the Lions went 98 yards at the end of the game to win 28-27, with Jackson not going for a two-point conversion early and McClain covering Calvin Johnson deep late -- and unsuccessfully.
A 16-13 overtime win at the Kansas City Chiefs kept the Raiders alive for a shot at the division title in the season finale at home against the San Diego Chargers. The Raiders came out flat and were embarrassed by their Southern California rivals 38-26.
Jackson usually showered to cool off after games. This time, he came straight to his media conference, with smoke coming out of his ears.
“To say I’m pissed off is an understatement,” Jackson bellowed. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it ... I’m pissed at the team.
“Let me tell you something, I’m going take a stronger hand in this whole team, this whole organization. There ain’t no way that I’m going to feel like I feel today a year from now. I promise you that. There’s no question. Defensively, offensively and special teams. I ain’t feeling like this no more. This is a joke. To have a chance at home to beat a football team that is reeling ... is one of your rivals, and come in and beat us like that? Yeah, I’m going to take a hand in everything that goes on here.”
Jackson, who many saw as controlling the organization after the death of Davis, did not slow down a day later, saying he wanted to be involved in the Raiders’ hiring of a general manager.
“The year is over now,” Jackson said. “Now I can tell you what I really feel and what's really on my mind.”
Jackson -- who also had angered many in the organization with the way he mishandled the Palmer trade in regard to Campbell, as the QB found out about the deal for his successor by seeing it on TV while recuperating from his surgery -- was done. Jackson’s coaching record is 3-36-1 since he allowed McClain to play in Miami.
Mark Davis hired Reggie McKenzie as his GM, and after so much fire and brimstone and offensive fireworks, Jackson was shown the door. He joined Marvin Lewis’ staff with the Cincinnati Bengals, before the Browns hired him in 2016.
McKenzie, meanwhile, hired Dennis Allen, who lasted 36 games, going 8-28, before the late Tony Sparano closed out the 2014 season. Then came Jack Del Rio, who led the Raiders to the playoffs as a 12-4 wild-card team in 2016. But after a 6-10 flameout last season, and with Gruden ready to accept Davis’ overtures after a “six-year dance,” Gruden 2.0 embarked in Oakland -- before the whole show heads to Las Vegas in 2020.
“I’m sure there is some deep, hidden motivation somewhere, but the Raiders have a lot of respect for Hue Jackson, and rightfully so,” Gruden said.
And here they are, Gruden’s reimagined Raiders winless at 0-3 after a pair of heartbreaking, last-minute losses in Denver and Miami, and Jackson’s Browns sitting at 1-1-1 after their thrilling Sept. 20 victory over the New York Jets, with No. 1 overall draft pick Baker Mayfield coming off the bench to get Cleveland its first win since Dec. 24, 2016.
Time for reflection? No doubt. Redemption and an opportunity for Jackson to get his pound of flesh?
“Contrary from what anybody believes, I had an unbelievable relationship with Al Davis and the other coaches that were on the staff,” Jackson said this week. “To be able to become the head coach there, which was a dream, to be a kid from South Central Los Angeles and to be able to become the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, that’s what you dream about.
“What I learned was, ‘Hey, look, I don’t have all the answers.’ There is some things I need to get better at, need to keep growing, need to keep finding ways to better myself, and I was able to do that.”
By remembering the past -- and learning from it.