Klint Kubiak has been on the job as Raiders head coach for less than two months, but it already feels like a full season’s worth of drama. The first major test came when a voided trade nearly sent defensive end Maxx Crosby to Baltimore — a situation Kubiak described as part of the job’s unpredictable nature.
“You get experience, and you go through battles, and when things like that come up, you’re ready for them,” Kubiak said at the NFL annual meetings in Phoenix. “We lost him, we got him back, our team is better. Hell yeah.”
The 38-year-old coach, who won a Super Bowl as Seattle’s offensive coordinator in February, has been leaning on a network of mentors including his father Gary, a two-time Super Bowl-winning coach, and minority owner Tom Brady.
“I talk to him almost every day about everything from asking questions about scheme, about the draft, about how to assemble the hitting tee in our garage for my kids,” Kubiak said of his father. “He’s my dad. We talk about everything – work, family – every day.”
Kubiak also credited Brady for providing candid advice. “I’ve asked him to give the advice that I really don’t want to hear. It’s OK to hurt my feelings,” Kubiak said. “I have all the confidence in the world that we’re going to keep building that relationship and it’s been a good start.”
Despite the chaos, Kubiak said he never wanted to be a coach initially. “I saw the hours (my dad) worked, and I loved playing. I was going to go play in the NFL for 20 years,” he said. But after college, he fell in love with coaching as a graduate assistant.
He has worked under Kyle Shanahan, Kevin Stefanski, and Norv Turner, but emphasized forging his own path. “We’re going to try to do it my own way. I’m not going to try to be like them,” he said.
The Raiders’ offseason program begins Tuesday, marking the first time players and Kubiak’s assembled staff will work together. Mandatory minicamp follows in June.
Kubiak, who has moved five times in five years, looks forward to settling his family in Las Vegas. “My family’s moving in about a month. So, looking forward to getting my kids on a baseball team, softball team, get them in swim lessons, and get them ingrained in the community, because we plan on being here for a long time,” he said.
