ALAMEDA -- The phone rang late at night last week and Mark Davis recognized Reggie McKenzie's cell phone number on the screen.McKenzie was excited, giddy almost on the other end of the line."Mark," the disembodied voice said from Mobile, Ala., "I found my guy."Davis smiled at the recent memory.
"I knew then he had found the guy he was looking for," the Raiders owner said of the Raiders general manager.And the Raiders had a new coach in Dennis Allen, a newbie to the world of head coaching that Davis endorsed. Heartily.Of course, Davis sold off on Allen after meeting him. Not that he necessarily needed to. Davis hired McKenzie for precisely this reason -- to run the football side of things."He's young, he's disciplined, he's organized, he's passionate, he's young," Davis said, with a laugh to stress the whole youthful thing."I think that's the key thing. I like that. I think between him and Reggie, I think they're going to put something together really special."So yes, the first post-Al Davis head coaching hire has the stamp of approval from Davis' son, who also felt the connection to the 39-year-old Allen right away."It's hard to put it all into words," Davis said. "But just meeting him, he's intense but he's young. He's got a great smile, he's got a great family -- I think that's a very important factor. And just everything that I heard about him in the past, seemed to fit."See, Reggie got his guy; I got my guy -- I got Reggie."
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