Even he saw the end coming. “I don’t think this was a real mystery to anyone,” he said hours after being dismissed.

Turner’s firing resolved one problem, but re-created another, more fundamental crisis. Namely, how can anyone willing to work for Davis make the team any better?

“Any coach who has been here in the history of the Raiders has had the same authority,” Davis snorted when asked if he would consider taking a page from Dallas owner Jerry Jones’ book and cede power to a Bill Parcells-style Type A-to-the-third-power. “Bill Parcells is a close friend of mine. If he were to come here, he would be satisfied to share the authority with me.”

That makes for a snappy sound bite, but you couldn’t find 10 people in the Black Hole who would agree with the premise. A roll call of Davis hires is illustrative:

John Madden (no head-coaching experience); Tom Flores (no head-coaching experience); Mike Shanahan (no head-coaching experience); Art Shell (no head-coaching experience); Mike White (no NFL head-coaching experience); Joe Bugel (20-44 in four forgettable seasons with the Arizona Cardinals); Jon Gruden (34; no head-coaching experience); Bill Callahan (no head-coaching experience); and Turner.

“For me, it’s to go with my gut instinct,” Davis said. “I’ve hired a lot of young people who no one would hire in a million years.”

In fairness, that’s been a good thing, in that Davis broke the minority hiring barrier with Shell, who is black, and Flores, an Hispanic. There’s no telling how long Gruden would have waited for his big break without Davis’ willingness to think outside the box.

Slide show   Super Bowl bound Top images from the NFL’s championship game round.

Speaking of Gruden, he did enjoy more freedom than other Raiders coaches. Davis was desperate enough at the time to grant it to him. What Davis didn’t grant him, Gruden took for himself. How do you think the West Coast-oriented Gannon came to be a Raider?

And why do you suppose that arrangement didn’t last?

“Now, I admit as we started to change coaches after the Shell years, and White years, we started to get into new terminology, new ideas and a new way of playing football,” Davis said. “Norv came in with a trademark of certain things, power running and vertical football.”

Funny that Davis can’t see that those trademarks are yesteryear’s news in the NFL. Or that beyond Gruden’s final two seasons (and Callahan’s first), the Raiders have been an unremitting mediocrity (or worse) since their return to Oakland.

Slide show   The Week in Sports Pictures A sky-high dive, a Formula One fire, a catcher catches one on the head and more. more photos

In Davis’ mind, he tried loosening his grip, didn’t much like it, and isn’t likely to try it again. Now he dives back into the job pool, seeking a sufficiently compliant candidate to lead the team according to his dictums and dog-eared philosophy.

It could be you, depending on how you feel about working with the boss’ chin resting on your left shoulder.