New Oakland Raiders head coach, Jack Del Rio, is hard at work filling out his second NFL coaching staff.
Del Rio has already convinced the Atlanta Falcons to allow him to bring in his good friend Mike Tice - the two played together with the Vikings - for an interview for the offensive line coach position, per Vaughn McClure of ESPN.
But rumors have it that Tice may not be the only former Falcon coach Del Rio is looking to bring onboard his new NFL ship in Oakland.
Mike Smith, former head coach of the Falcons, fired at the end of this season, is apparently Del Rio's top choice to be his defensive coordinator with the Raiders, per Steve Corkran of the Bay Area News Group.
Josh Alper of NBC Sports is also hearing that Smith is set to join Del Rio in Oakland.
"Former Falcons head coach Mike Smith is reportedly going to join Del Rio in that effort as defensive coordinator, a job he filled for part of Del Rio's Jacksonville tenure as well."
Smith, who amassed a 66-46 record in seven seasons as the head coach of the Falcons, was Del Rio's defensive coordinator from 2003-2007 when the two were members of the Jacksonville Jaguars organization.
His head coaching tenure was marked by monumental regular season success, but an inability to advance in the post season - in his team's four playoff appearances they lost two Wild-Card Round games, one Divisional Round game and one NFC Championship game.
Meanwhile, Del Rio and the Raiders are planning on contacting former Chicago Bears head coach Marc Trestman as a potential offensive coordinator candidate, per both Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle and Albert Breer of NFL.com.
Trestman, per Mike Garafolo and Alex Marvez of Fox Sports, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, has been recruited by Del Rio "for some time" now.
Trestman was abysmal as the head coach of the Bears the past two seasons, but was the offensive coordinator of the Raiders previously, in 2002, when the team led the NFL with 389.8 yards per game and quarterback Rich Gannon earned NFL MVP honors as the franchise played their way to a Super Bowl berth.
