Coaching Articles : Eric Musselman File For Coaches Jackson makes Hall of Fame on principle By Roscoe Nance, USA TODAY Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson heads the 2007 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class, which will be inducted Saturday in Springfield, Mass. The group includes University of North Carolina men's coach Roy Williams, Louisiana State University women's coach Van Chancellor, the 1966 Texas Western University men's team, referee Marvin "Mendy" Rudolph and international coaches Pedro Ferrandiz of Spain and Mirko Novosel of Yugoslavia. Jackson, 61, has won nine NBA championships as a coach — six with the Chicago Bulls and three with the Lakers — tying Hall of Famer Red Auerbach's record. He has coached some of the NBA's greatest players, including Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen with the Bulls and Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal with the Lakers. Jackson gets players to buy into his coaching philosophy, which is influenced by Native American and Eastern beliefs. "The great thing about Phil is the way he has handled players," Hall of Famer Magic Johnson said. "He has a different style, too, that old Zen thing. I love him because he never gets too high and never gets too low and always wants to help the guys grow as men. He teaches them basketball and also teaches them outside the sport." One of his more renowned strategies is handing out books for players to read during road trips. "He's trying to get players to see that there's more to life than the NBA and your performance today," said NBA TV analyst Steve "Snapper" Jones. "… I think that his ulterior motive is to make them a better person." Visualization and meditation are also part of Jackson's style. "The biggest thing is he chooses to use unorthodox methods to get his point across, to motivate you," said ESPN radio analyst Will Perdue, who played on three Bulls championship teams. "The best way from point A to point B is straight line. Phil doesn't think that way. He may go from point A to point C, but he'll get you to point B, and at the end of the day it's productive." Jackson has never had a losing record in his 16-year NBA career, and he is one of three coaches to win an NBA title with two teams. "He always manages to put a winning product on floor," Jones said. "He's patient and he's observant, and he's demanding." Jones said one thing that sets Jackson apart is his willingness to allow his players to work their way out of difficult stretches of games. "He can sit and wait and watch and stay calm and get his team to adjust on the move," Jones said. "He has a long-term approach in assessing problems." Jackson will become the ninth NBA coach enshrined in the Hall of Fame, which honors participants from all levels of basketball. "We don't have enough of our guys in it," NBA Commissioner David Stern said, adding that he likes how the Hall of Fame is structured. "Phil has had a great Hall of Fame career. We like it when our players and our coaches get in … and maybe someday we'll get some more owners in." Davis turns to Kiffin to rejuvenate Raiders 09/07/07 - 07:20 AM USA Today Friday Sept 7, 2007 NAPA, Calif. -- There is no telling where the conversation will drift when you catch Al Davis in a golf cart during an Oakland Raiders training camp practice. He's surely watching the action, forever the personnel man as he talks up young tight end James Adkisson after a catch on a seam route and checks Daunte Culpepper's dropback. Between snaps, topics run the gamut. Davis, frail at 78 but still feisty, grumbles about the lack of peace in the Middle East ... and red tape for NFL retirees in dire need. He cherished his last visit with Bill Walsh. He can't knock Roger Goodell -- yet. "I have a good relationship with him, not great," Davis says, "because we haven't gotten down to anything strong yet." The real gut-check issue of the moment is his football team. In the four seasons since they were drilled in Super Bowl XXXVII, the Raiders are 15-49. Ask Davis if he hopes Lane Kiffin -- his third coach in three years and eighth in 20 years -- will be the one who clicks for the long haul and delivers him another championship, and here comes the snarl. "I don't hope things," Davis says. "I look at life different than you. I've been in five Super Bowls with four different head coaches and four different quarterbacks. I want to win." Last year, Davis brought Art Shell back from a 12-year layoff for a second stint. They were going back to Raiders roots. They bombed with another last-place finish and the NFL's worst offense since the 1987 replacement units. Now it's Kiffin's turn. His presence and age -- at 32, he's the NFL's youngest head coach - - also mark a throwback for Davis. In 1969, Davis hired 32-year-old John Madden as the league's youngest coach. In 1988, Mike Shanahan got the Raiders job at 35. Jon Gruden was 34 when he took over the team in 1998. In recruiting Kiffin off Southern California's campus, where he was co-offensive coordinator for back-to-back national champions and helped developed Heisman Trophy winners Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart, Davis showed he still has a thing for young pups. "He believes in his system, and it really doesn't matter how much is on someone's resume," says Kiffin, whose only previous year working in the NFL was as a quality- control assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2000. "He interviews the person." Says Davis: "We have to clean this thing up. Bad or good, we had to bring in freshness." Kiffin, whose father, Monte, is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' longtime defensive coordinator, knows all about Davis' reputation. He is probably the most demanding owner in the league, and despite his gingerly gait, he still serves as his own general manager. Davis, who makes the final call on draft picks, is also known for being hands- on on game days as well as during the week-to-week grind of the season. How Davis and Kiffin interact is among the NFL's most intriguing make-or-break subplots as the Raiders attempt to regain respectability. So far, so good. "But no matter who they are, two people are not always going to agree on everything," Kiffin says. "In the end, we try to do what's right for winning games." Davis has allowed Kiffin more latitude than any Raiders coach in recent years. Although defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and most of the defensive assistants remained, Davis let Kiffin choose his own offensive staff, which includes coordinator Gregg Knapp, who has something to prove after three tough years in the same capacity with the Atlanta Falcons. And Kiffin made the call to sign Culpepper while JaMarcus Russell, drafted No. 1 overall, missed training camp in a contract dispute. While Russell held out, Kiffin maintained phone contact. "We've moved on as though he's not here," Kiffin says. "But I feel more disappointment for the kid. I just tell him, 'Hang in there. Keep working out.'" Kiffin wants to emulate his father's primary trait of relating to players. "He's always been very honest with his players," Kiffin says. "Too often, coaches are scared to say what they really need to. They just say what they think will end the conversation. "That's the one thing I've taken with me from my father, and it's helped me already in some situations. Players don't always want to hear what you're telling them, but they appreciate the honesty." Reunited with Kiffin is ex-Trojans receiver Mike Williams, an overweight, two-year bust after the Detroit Lions drafted him 10th overall in 2005. Williams now looks trim. "I don't know what happened in Detroit. I wasn't there," Kiffin says. "I'm sure he was at fault for a lot of things. But sometimes, the second chance is the last chance." Kiffin has impressed camp observers with his energy, organization and high-tempo practices. The players appreciate that unlike Shell, he did not wear them down in camp (last year, the company line suggested the Raiders needed to get back to the tough discipline that Shell brought). Kiffin scheduled practices to avoid consecutive sessions with full contact. With an NFL-high 46 new players in camp, Kiffin also sent a message of urgency. "The thing about it is you can't judge a guy off the first 100 days on the job," says defensive tackle Warren Sapp, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer who has known his new boss since Kiffin was 19. "This ain't the presidency we're talking about. Right now we're in the process of molding this team. ... But it's fun again." The most significant tests will come when Kiffin is faced with adversity in the regular season. But at least he has a plan, which includes improving locker room chemistry. "I want players who are dedicated to each other, and are not in it for themselves," Kiffin says. "I don't know what it was really like before. I just know it needed to change. "And now we need to win." He took the words right out of Davis' mouth.