Raiders' patience pays off in getting Kubiak

LAS VEGAS — It appears the search is over. The Raiders have a new coach.

However, they’re going to have to wait a while longer before he can get to work in Henderson.

NFL insiders were reporting Sunday that Klint Kubiak has agreed to become the Raiders’ next head coach, thus ending a nearly month-long search after the team parted ways with Pete Carroll on Jan. 5. The 38-year-old Kubiak, who turns 39 on Feb. 17, still has some unfinished business with the Seattle Seahawks, who will face the New England Patriots a week from today in Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif.

Kubiak, the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator, can’t and won’t talk about his new employers until after the game. And yes, he will be hounded daily about it. Fortunately for him, coordinators aren’t exposed to the media daily like head coaches are. The Raiders are obviously hoping the day will come when Kubiak is addressing the media daily at a Super Bowl.

He’ll likely be formally introduced at the Intermountain Health Performance Center on either Monday or Tuesday following the Super Bowl and we’ll hear from him then, along with owner Mark Davis, general manager John Spytek and perhaps minority owner Tom Brady, who supposedly hit it off with Kubiak during the initial interview. In the meantime, don't expect a peep out of the Raiders or Kubiak until after the Super Bowl.

So what are the Raiders getting?

In addition to being young and having helped the careers of Brock Purdy in San Francisco and Sam Darnold in Seattle, he has coached around the league with stops in Minnesota, Denver and New Orleans in addition to the 49ers and Seahawks. Some would say his constant mobility is something to raise eyebrows over. I say it’s been an unbelievable opportunity to learn from different head coaches, to grow as an NFL assistant, to see what systems work best with various quarterbacks and help prepare him for this moment.

“Yeah, in this profession, those are things that you’re always kind of thinking about in the summers, in your off time, so that when those times come, then you’re ready to roll,” Kubiak said earlier this week to the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune. “But (the) main thing is just being yourself.”

After having the 74-year-old Carroll run things, the Raiders get considerably younger in the coach’s office. They’ll get someone with fresh ideas, someone who will be willing to work with young players, give them a chance through game experience to prove they can play in this league and be contributing members of a franchise that has struggled mightily for most of the 21st Century.

But perhaps most important, Kubiak will be asked to develop the team’s quarterback of the future. He will likely be tied to the hip to Fernando Mendoza, who should be the guy the Raiders select when they pick first in the NFL Draft come April.

I’m sure he’ll solicit Brady’s input and tap into his knowledge of the position and together, they should help Mendoza build a foundation to what the Raiders hope will be a highly successful career.

But beyond Mendoza, Kubiak is going to get to work with running back Ashton Jeanty, tight end Brock Bowers, wide receiver Tre Tucker along with Jack Bech, Michael Mayer and Dont’e Thornton. He’ll also hope to have a healthy Kolton Miller at tackle and other O-linemen who were injured during the season, including Jackson Powers-Johnson and Jordan Meredith.

He should also be excited with the opportunity to coach a healthy Maxx Crosby and rework a defense that showed promise during Patrick Graham’s tenure as defensive coordinator. Graham has left the Raiders for the Steelers to work for Mike McCarthy so whoever Kubiak brings in will get to impart a new philosophy on that side of the ball.

I’d like to think Kubiak has a staff in mind as he worked through the interview process. He will be the last of the new coaches to get to work so he’ll have to hustle a little. But perhaps he has received enough commitments from people who will be part of his coaching staff. It’s something that will certainly come up during his introductory news conference in Henderson.

And while the Raiders took their time with this search, I have to believe they did it the right way, that they were thorough with their interviewing process, that they vetted Kubiak and others completely and that in the end, there was a comfort level between Kubiak and Spytek, something I’m not sure existed with Carroll and Spytek, regardless of what both said about each other.

Obviously this is a gigantic moment for this franchise. They can’t afford to screw up this hire. A 3-14 record demands you get it right. The Raiders’ players are counting on it. Even more so is the frustrated and disillusioned fan base that has been through so much insanity during Mark Davis’ tenure, going back to when the team still called Oakland its home.

I have no doubt Kubiak is ready for this move. He better be. The AFC West is run by great coaches, guys with Super Bowl rings. Perhaps Kubiak will get a ring this coming Sunday at Levis Stadium. Then he can begin pursuit of his own ring as a head coach in Las Vegas. And after the last coach the team hired from Seattle didn't work out, this one stands a better chance of having success, even if this hire has never been a head coach.