INDIANAPOLIS — Klint Kubiak knows the Raiders are in a rebuild. He also knows the NFL doesn’t offer patience.
“I think we’re all on the same page there, but we also understand the NFL is about, ‘What have you done for me today?’” the new Las Vegas head coach said Wednesday at the NFL combine. “So yes, we have a long way to go. However, we have to make sure we set ourselves up for success, too. The expectation is not to just kind of get to this thing slowly. In a perfect world, you want to win and you want to win now.”
Kubiak takes over a 3-14 team that owns the No. 1 overall pick, widely expected to be Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. The Raiders also have significant salary-cap space. But general manager John Spytek is urging restraint.
“I’m not into quickly turning it around,” Spytek said Tuesday. “I’m into turning it around the right way. You can see every year in this league there are teams that rise fast and others that fall fast. We’re trying to rise and stay there.”
Kubiak, who won a Super Bowl as Seattle’s offensive coordinator just weeks ago, agrees with that philosophy. “John preaches about getting the right people in the building, and I think that was a great start last year with his draft and the type of people and the character he brought into the building,” Kubiak said. “When you can build with young, high-character guys that work hard, that’s going to give us the best shot.”
Off and running
Kubiak formally accepted the job just over two weeks ago. He has nearly finished assembling his coaching staff while also diving into roster evaluation and draft preparation.
“We’re working on getting to know the pieces we have so we can identify our needs for free agency,” he said. “Just knowing this roster first before we can dive into what holes we have to fill.”
Having worked with many of his new assistants before helps. “There’s some guys who have been in the fire together and that really helps things when you’re on a short timetable,” Kubiak said.
Football lifer
Kubiak credits his father Gary and the many head coaches he has worked under for preparing him. He says he hasn’t been caught off guard by the whirlwind since the Super Bowl.
“We signed up for a challenge, and I’m really excited for that challenge,” he said. “Any team I’ve ever been part of, you have expectations going into the year and you’re always pleasantly surprised by the people around you. As I’m starting to look more at our roster, the guys I see I’m really encouraged by the talent we have.”
He has yet to pause and reflect on becoming a head coach. “It’s a real blessing to get to jump right into it,” Kubiak said. “I was talking to my wife the other day and looking at a few pictures from the Super Bowl thinking, ‘Man, did that really just happen?’ Now I’m seeing some Seattle coaches and scouts in the hallway and realizing I don’t work with those guys anymore. It all happened really fast.”
He hopes his work now leads to short offseasons later.
