Photo courtesy ol Los Angeles Raiders
Shell recently returned to Maryland-Eastern Shore to take part in a youth football camp. The camp Is part of a plan to eventually bring football back to that, campus. UMES dropped
its football program in f 980.
For most people, summertime is that time
of year to chill out, time to get a little R&R.
But if you're the head coach of a pro football
team, your summer schedule is booked solid.
As another season approaches, you're involved
in numerous brainstorming sessions with your
assistants. A lot of your energies are devoted
to analyzing and evaluating rookies and free
agents. Time is crucial. Pre-season camp starts
in three weeks. A month or so after that, the
real season begins.
Welcome to the world of Art Shell, head
football coach of the Los Angeles Raiders.
Shell, 43, is the NFL's youngest gridmas
ter. He is also the first black head coach on the
pro circuit since the days of Fritz Pollard, who
guided the Hammond (Ind.) Pros from 192;
25J The Maryland State (now Maryland-East
ern Shore) alumnus was very aware of the
race issue when he accepted the Raiders job in
Oct. '89. But at this juncture, he feels that skin
color is no longer an issue.
"At first, there was a lot of emphasis on
me lining a black head coach," Shell admitted, rates the achievers from the dreamers. When it
"For sorrie people, it will always be an issue, comes to the bottom line, Shell has delivered.
But! three weeks after 1 became the head Entering his third year as the team chief,
coacjh, the beat writers in LA stopped referring the dudes in Silver and Black are 19-9 in regu
"What a lot of people forget is that we had4 a lot of young
players who had never been to the playoffs before. You
can talk about post-season , but once it starts, it's a differ
ent situation. You have to play at a higher level to win. Now
our people understand what it takes to get to the playoffs.
They also know what it takes to get over the hump once
you get there." | 1
-Art Shell
to mfc as a black head coach. Now I'm known
only as Art Shell, coach of the Raiders. To me,
that's progress."
Regardless of color, the bottom line in the
NFL is winning. It's the barometer that sepa
lar season play. In the three-and-a-half seasons
before he assumed command, the team was
21-30.
Last year the Raiders finished at 13-5,
won the AFC West and fell one game short of *
playing in Super Bow! XXV. Shell reaped
some benefits along the^way, being named
NFL Coach of the Year and becoming the first
black head coach to take his team to the play
offs. U . I
Under Shell, a member of pro football's
Hall of Fame (class of '89), the Raiders have
resurfaced as one of the NFL's dominant
teams., Prior to la^t season, the Raiders had
been absent from the playoffs since '85. The
memory of coming so close to getting in the
big game is still fresh in the Raiders minds.
But the question is: Will LA use a demor
alizing 51-3 AFC tide game loss to Buffalo as
motivation to strengthen its resolve to win it
all in *91? I
"We should bp OK this year/' Shell said
"But the most important thing is getting this
team out of training camp healthy. We'll be
decent"
Decent?
After the Raiders exited the post-season
Please see page 10