Nearly 20 years after the Raiders fired Norv Turner from his HC post, they are bringing back the veteran offensive coach. As Scott Turner looms as the most likely OC fill-in, his father is coming in, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo report.
Norv Turner surfaced as a potential staff addition recently, as the Raiders determine their post-Luke Getsy path. The older Turner is coming in as an assistant, with the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore noting the Raiders are hiring him for an advisory role. Although it is not yet known if Scott Turner will be the Raiders’ new play-caller, signs are pointing to it.
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This marks an unretirement for Norv Turner, 72. He last worked as the Panthers’ OC from 2018-19. Once the Panthers fired Ron Rivera that year, Norv moved into a different role as Scott became Carolina’s play-caller. Scott Turner parlayed that Panthers stint into a three-year run as Washington’s OC. The Raiders hired him as pass-game coordinator after his 2023 Commanders dismissal. With Getsy gone, the Turners appear set to play a central role in the Raiders’ second-half plans on offense.
Al Davis initially hired Turner after firing Bill Callahan, but the former Washington HC and future San Diego leader could not prevent what became an extended period of Raiders futility. Norv went 9-23 as Raiders HC, taking over an aging team that ended up saying goodbye to most of its Super Bowl XXXVII bastions — including Rich Gannon, Tim Brown, Jerry Rice and Rod Woodson — during his short HC tenure. (The Raiders traded Rice to the Seahawks during the ’04 season.) The Raiders acquired Randy Moss in 2005, and while the all-time WR great fared better under Turner than he did during a disastrous 2006 Oakland season, Davis still fired his HC ahead of a search that produced a second Art Shell HC stint — one that lasted all of one season.
Turner went just 1-for-7 in playoff berths as Washington’s HC but was 3-for-6 in San Diego. Since the Chargers canned him following the 2012 season, Turner spent time as OC for the Browns (2013), Vikings (2014-16) and Panthers before retiring from coaching. Norv’s 15 seasons of HC experience aside, his most successful coaching period came when he served as Cowboys OC under Jimmy Johnson for three early-1990s seasons during a period that doubled as the launch of the team’s ’90s dynasty.
Scott Turner, 42, will have his father and fellow ex-HC Joe Philbin to lean on, with Antonio Pierce‘s staff also including a third former HC in Marvin Lewis. Pierce said he would spend a day or two determining where he would turn for OC. Ex-Packers OC Edgar Bennett is also on the Raiders’ staff, but an announcement installing Scott Turner as the next play-caller appears imminent.