1969 Profile: John Rauch

Head Coach
"When Al Davis suddenly found himself elevated to Commissioner of the AFL during the recent off-season, the logical choice to succeed him as head coach of the Raiders was John Rauch. John has been Davis' chief assistant with the offensive backfield since he joined the Oakland staff in 1963, and he has helped to rig some of those imaginative formations used by the Raiders.
A calm, patient man, he is not given to the extraordinary bursts of emotion that personify so many coaches, but his authority is unquestioned. 'He commands leadership,' a co-worker says of him, 'but John does it in a silent, unassuming way. You know they respect him.'
This will be Rauch's first head coaching assignment, after 14 years of assistantship. He has coached at Florida, Tulane, Georgia and West Point.
It was at Georgia, of course, that he began his fabulous career. He quarterbacked every game for the Bulldogs from 1945 through 1948, leading them to four post-season Bowl games and making All-America in '48.
He played pro ball for the New York Yanks/Bulldogs of the old AAC, then for the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL. He turned to coaching in '52."

-Jack Zanger, Pro Football 1966

"Like a relay runner picking up where his trackmate has left off, John Rauch has taken the baton from Al Davis with no noticeable loss of ground to the Oakland Raiders. While John may lack Davis' flair for color, he nevertheless held the same steady hand last year, as he guided the Raiders to the identical 8-5-1 second-place finish they had in 1965. Even more, the team seemed to be coming of age at various times last season, and some of the personnel changes they've made since then could make them an even stronger contender in the West in 1967.
John is the complete coach. His training and background have given him an intense knowledge of every facet of the game, and his nimble brain has conceived some of pro football's more imaginative innovations. It was John who helped Davis install his highly original offense when Davis took over at Oakland in 1963.
In his playing days, John quarterbacked every varsity game for the great University of Georgia teams between 1945 and '48. He later played some pro football for the New York Yankees, of the old All-America Conference, and the Detroit Lions. He launched his coaching career in 1952.
He doesn't have to shout to be heard, because when John speaks to his athletes, the room is silent."

-Jack Zanger, Pro Football 1967

"The blueprint was drawn up by Al Davis, who also provided the essential material. But the man who put the finishing touches on Oakland's 'Project Championship' was John Rauch, who led the Raiders to the AFL crown and a Super Bowl meeting with the Packers last season. This year, John has designs on a second championship, plus that elusive Super Bowl win.
Since succeeding Davis in 1966, after three years as his top assistant, John has compiled a record of 21-6-1. He may lack Davis' outward spark and drive, but behind that Southern drawl and seemingly bland manner is a man with an intensely sophisticated football mind. This is revealed not in the way Rauch appears in public, but in the way his Raiders play football.
John was an All-America quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs, whom he led to post-season bowl games between 1945 and '48. He was drafted by the New York Yankees of the old AAC when he came out of college, and after spending three years as a pro, decided to switch to coaching.
He served as an assistant at Florida, Tulane, Georgia and West Point, then joined Davis' staff in 1963. It was in Oakland that John's fertile imagination was let loose, and he and Davis devised some of the more original and complex- not to mention successful- offenses in the AFL.
As head man of the Raiders, he doesn't have to flaunt his authority- everyone seems to know who's in charge."

-Jack Zanger, Pro Football 1968

"The opportunity to be his own man at last was the reason John Rauch gave for leaving the Oakland Raiders at the conclusion of last season to take over the coaching job in Buffalo. There were skeptics who sneered - there always are - but why else would a man want to leave Oakland, with its championship-caliber football club for Buffalo, with its fallen team and its miserable winters?
During his three years as head coach of the Raiders, Rauch compiled the best won-lost record in professional football. But Rauch always had the sensation former coach Al Davis was looking over his shoulder. It was Davis, after all, who had molded the Raiders into what they were, and then had voluntarily stepped down to fight the AFL's then existing war against the NFL. That chore accomplished, Davis then came back to the job of managing general partner, which some people construed as overseer to Rauch. Both men denied it, and indeed, Rauch insists that he made his own decisions, and that these were sometimes in conflict with Davis' theories. So the parting was completed just after the Raiders lost the AFL championship to the Jets.
The Bills became John's second pro team following a lengthy career that began at the University of Georgia, where he was an All-America quarterback. He played pro football for the old New York Yankees, then took a series of college coaching jobs. He joined Oakland at the time Davis was beginning to form the Raiders, and he remained a top assistant until Davis handed him the number one job three years ago.
But John knows you don't get handed jobs for nothing. You produce or else. Those terms will suit him fine in Buffalo."

-Jack Zanger, Pro Football 1969