Raiders announce Cable's return, hire 13 assistant coaches

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Jon Gruden put some respected assistants on “red alert,” for a time when he would return to coaching. Count Paul Guenther, Greg Olson and Rich Bisaccia among those he wanted as top lieutenants.

They became defensive, offensive and special teams coordinator, respectively, formally announced last week during Gruden’s introductory press conference.

Those guys went to work hiring a full staff. They interview several during a busy week, and formally announced 13 hires on Thursday morning.

Most names had been reported previously, with former Raiders head coach Tom Cable as the marquee name returning to lead the offensive line.

Defensive line coach Mike Trgovac was a new name and a good get. He spent the last nine years coaching the position in Green Bay, and was Carolina defensive coordinator from 2003-08. He has worked with Gruden before, with Philadelphia from 1995-97.

Trgovac has been particularly effective in Green Bay. Since he started running that defensive line, the Packers fourth in sacks and fifth in rushing touchdowns allowed.

Trgovac, senior defensive assisstance Jim O'Neill and receivers coach Edgar Bennett have experience as a coordinator. O'Neill was 49ers and Cleveland Brown defensive coordinator. Bennett was Packers offensive coordinator the pass three seasons, though he did not call plays.

The Raiders snagged Derrick Ansley from the University of Alabama to coach defensive backs, and Guenther brought David Lippincott from Cincinnati to coach linebackers.

The Raiders hired former NFL scout Dave Razzano has director of football research, and he’ll compile statistical analysis from game film on the Raiders and their opponenets.

The Raiders retained Travis Smith (quality control – defense) and Nick Holz (quality control – offense), who have survived two regime changes.

Here’s a complete list of 13 assistant coach hires announced by the team. A quarterback coach is not among them. Olson said Wednesday the Raiders are still contemplating whether to hire one. That position isn’t vital, considering how involved Olson and Gruden will be with signal callers and Derek Carr in particular.

Coach                              Title

Ansley, Derrick                       Defensive Backs

Bennett, Edgar                        Wide Receivers

Berbenich, Tim                        Quality Control – Offense

Cable, Tom                              Offensive Line

Holz, Nick                               Quality Control – Offense

Lippincott, David                    Linebackers

O’Neil, Jim                              Senior Defensive Assistant

Razzano, Dave                        Director of Football Research

Singleton, Jemal                      Running Backs

Smith, Frank                           Tight Ends

Smith, Travis                           Quality Control – Defense

Storer, Byron                          Assistant Special Teams

Trgovac, Mike                        Defensive Line

Here’s some background on each coach, provided by Raiders media services: 

Ansley: Joins the Raiders for his first NFL season after spending the past two years coaching defensive backs at the University of Alabama, helping the Crimson Tide win the 2018 BCS National Championship…Served as the cornerbacks coach at the University of Kentucky from 2013-14 before being promoted to the secondary coach in 2015…Spent the 2012 season as the defensive backs coach at the University of Tennessee…Served as a graduate assistant at Alabama from 2010-11 and helped the team win the 2011 BCS National Championship…Began his collegiate coaching career at Huntingdon College working with defensive backs from 2005-09.

Bennett: Enters his first season with the Raiders after spending the past 13 on the Green Bay Packers’ coaching staff…Served three seasons as the team’s offensive coordinator from 2015-17…Spent three seasons (2011-14) as Green Bay’s wide receivers coach…Entered the coaching ranks in 2005 as the Packers’ running backs coach, where he served six seasons from 2005-10…Before becoming a coach, worked four years in the Packers’ front office, serving as the teams’ director of player development form 2001-04…Played eight seasons in the NFL as a running back for the Packers and Chicago Bears from 1992-1999, totaling 3,992 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns on 1,115 carries. 

Berbenich: Enters his 15th season as an NFL coach, his first with the Raiders…Spent the past five seasons with the Indianapolis Colts…Served the last two years as the team’s offensive assistant/assistant quarterbacks coach…Spent the 2015 season as the team’s defensive assistant…Joined the Colts in 2013 as an offensive assistant, a role he served for two years…Was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for six years (2006-11), working the first three under Head Coach Jon Gruden…Joined the staff as an offensive quality control coach in 2006, before being promoted to assistant running backs coach in 2008 and assistant wide receivers coach in 2009…Entered the NFL with the New York Jets in 2000 as an intern in the team’s operations department and was hired on full-time in 2002…Joined the coaching ranks in 2003 as an offensive assistant and spent the 2005 season as New York’s offensive assistant/quality control coach.

Cable: Begins his second stint with the Raiders, bringing over 30 years of coaching experience to the post…Spent the last seven seasons (2011-17) as the Seattle Seahawks’ assistant head coach/offensive line coach, helping the team win Super Bowl XLVIII…Originally joined the Raiders in 2007 as the team’s offensive line coach, before serving as the interim head coach for the final 12 games of 2008 and head coach from 2009-10…Entered the NFL coaching ranks in 2006 as the offensive line coach for the Atlanta Falcons…From 2004-05, was the offensive coordinator/offensive line coach at UCLA…Served as the University of Idaho’s head coach from 2000-03…Served as the University of Colorado’s offensive coordinator/offensive line coach from 1998-99…Spent six seasons (1992-97) as the University of California’s offensive line coach…Spent one season in 1991 as UNLV’s offensive line coach after coaching the defensive line at Cal State Fullerton for one year in 1990…Began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Idaho (1987-88) and San Diego State (1989).

Holz: Enters seventh season with the Raiders…Spent 2017 as the team’s assistant wide receivers coach, after two seasons as the Silver and Black’s quality control – offense coach from 2015-16 and three seasons as the team’s offensive assistant from 2012-14, working closely with the team’s wide receivers…Prior to joining Raiders, spent four years (2008-11) at Stanford University as assistant quarterbacks coach…Began his coaching career at the University of Nebraska as an offensive quality control coach in 2007.

Lippincott: Joins the Raiders for his 11th NFL season, having spent the previous 10 seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals from 2008-17…Was the assistant linebackers/quality control coach for six seasons in Cincinnati from 2012-17…Spent the 2011 season as the team’s defensive quality control coach…Joined the Bengals in 2008 as a coaching assistant, a role he served in for three seasons…Coached at the University of Richmond for three seasons from 2005-07, serving as the assistant defensive line coach from 2005-06 and the safeties coach in 2007…Spent two years as a graduate assistant at the University of Minnesota from 2003-04…Began his coaching career at Bluffton University as the team’s defensive line coach from 2000-02.

O’Neil: Enters his first season with the Raiders and ninth year as an NFL coach…Brings three years of experience as an NFL defensive coordinator to the post…Served as the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive coordinator for the 2016 season…Spent two seasons as the defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns from 2014-15…Coached linebackers for the Buffalo Bills for one year in 2013…Spent four years with the New York Jets (2009-12), serving as the defensive backs/quality control coach in 2009 before being promoted to assistant defensive backs coach for the 2010-12 seasons…Served as the defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach at Towson University in 2005…Spent two years at Northwestern University from 2003-04, serving as a graduate assistant/defensive backs coach…Coached at the University of Pennsylvania in 2002 as the team’s assistant offensive line coach…Began his coaching career at the University at Albany in 2001 as the assistant offensive line/tight ends coach.

Razzano: Enters his first season with the Raiders after spending the previous six years as an area scout with the Indianapolis Colts, focusing on the western United States and assisting on special assignments for both pro and college scouting…Holds 25 years of scouting experience, which also includes stints with the San Francisco 49ers (1988-92), St. Louis Rams (1992-2006) and Arizona Cardinals (2006-09).

Singleton: Enters his first season with the Raiders and third NFL coaching season…Spent the last two seasons as the Indianapolis Colts’ running backs coach…Served as the special teams coordinator/running backs coach at the University of Arkansas in 2015…Coached running backs at Oklahoma State for four seasons from 2011-14…Spent nine years over two stints at the Air Force Academy…Served as the run game coordinator/running backs coach from 2007-10 after spending the 2006 season as the running backs coach…Was a varsity assistant from 2003-05 after getting his start in 2000 as a prep assistant.

Frank Smith: Joins the Raiders after spending the past three seasons (2015-17) as the tight ends coach of the Chicago Bears…Brings 13 years of coaching experience, including the last eight within the NFL ranks…Began his NFL coaching career with the New Orleans Saints (2010-14) as an offensive assistant/offensive line coach…Prior to joining NFL ranks, Smith served as the offensive coordinator/offensive line coach at Butler University from 2007-09…Started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Miami (Ohio) University from 2004-05.

Travis Smith: Enters his seventh season with the Raiders, after previously serving as outside linebackers in 2017 and quality control - defense from 2015-16…Served as the team’s defensive assistant from 2012-14, working closely with both the linebackers and defensive line…Joined Raiders after spending three years in the college ranks as offensive technical intern at the University of Colorado in 2011 and tight ends/defensive line at Santa Monica Junior College in 2010…Began coaching career as an undergraduate assistant at Cal Poly in 2009. 

Storer: Enters his first season with the Raiders and his fifth year coaching in the NFL…Begins his second stint on assistant head coach/special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia’s staff…Served as the San Diego Chargers’ assistant linebackers coach in 2013 after spending one season as the team’s assistant special teams coach in 2012…Spent the 2010-11 seasons as the assistant special teams coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers…Played three seasons in the NFL for Buccaneers from 2007-09, appearing in 16 games.

Trgovac: Enters his first season with the Raiders after spending the past nine years (2009-17) as the defensive line coach of the Green Bay Packers…Joined the Panthers in 2002 as the defensive line coach before being promoted to defensive coordinator from 2003-08…Served as the defensive line coach for the Redskins from 2000-01…Served his first stint with the Packers in 1999 as the defensive line coach…Began his NFL coaching career with the Eagles from 1995-98, working on the same coaching staff as Head Coach Jon Gruden for the first three seasons…Prior to coaching in the NFL, spent 11 seasons coaching defensive linemen at the college level with Notre Dame (1992-94), Colorado State (1990-91), Navy (1989), Ball State (1986-88), Michigan (1984-85).

Raiders media services contributed to this report

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