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Star cornerback Charles Woodson expects to return to the Oakland Raiders next season, only if coach Bill Callahan is not in charge.
``I won't play for him,'' the four-time Pro Bowler frequently repeated Monday as the Raiders cleaned out their lockers before the offseason.
``He's not the type of person you want to be around,'' Woodson said. ``He's just really brought a really negative vibe to this team over the course of the season.''
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There has been speculation for weeks that Callahan would be fired after the
franchise's worst showing since also going 4-12 in 1997. Ticket master. The
Raiders finished their awful season Sunday with a 21-14 loss at San Diego. But
Callahan still had a job as of Monday, when three other NFL coaches were ousted.
Woodson, a sixth-year pro who could become a free agent, has been one of the most outspoken critics of the second-year coach, who guided the Raiders to the Super Bowl a year ago. Woodson has called Callahan stubborn and said he lost the respect of his team.
``He's really made this thing personal,'' said Woodson, Oakland's first-round draft pick out of Michigan in 1998. ``When things get personal, it's not a good situation to be around people that it's personal with. ...
``This is where I plan on being. I don't plan on Callahan being here. They just need to bring in somebody positive, somebody with a positive outlook on everything. This guy has such a negative outlook on things and such a negative vibe about himself that it transfers to his team. That's not good for our team.''
Woodson and running back Charlie Garner were deactivated by Callahan just before Sunday's game against the Chargers because they missed curfew Saturday night. Woodson claims he was late for the 11 p.m. bed check by about an hour. Callahan said another check was done at 12:30 a.m., and Woodson still wasn't back in his room.
The coach defended his decision not to play Garner and Woodson, citing his suspending center Barret Robbins for the Super Bowl after he disappeared the day before and missed team meetings.
``And my decision to bench them was predicated solely as my responsibility as a head football coach and also as responsibility to this team,'' Callahan said.
``The bottom line is that we're all accountable and as an organization -- and I feel strongly that as a society -- we cannot function without structure and we cannot function without discipline. There are consequences.
``I'm paid to manage this team, and in all fairness to the other team members I had to do what was necessary, as any leader would do in any organization. I cannot and will not accept lack of discipline on this football team.''
Yet Woodson claims Callahan acted out of resentment. Woodson had already begun changing his clothes when he was called into Callahan's office before the game. Woodson said he walked out on the coach while Callahan was still speaking. He and Garner flew home and skipped the game. Woodson did not attend a short team meeting Monday morning -- ``Why?'' he said.
``I didn't give him a chance to finish what he was saying because I knew he was doing it out of spite,'' Woodson said. ``There was no reason for me to sit in there and listen any further to what he was talking about.''
Woodson said it hurt not to get to finish out the season with his teammates.
``Our season was a bad season, but the San Diego game is one of the best games that any Raider or San Diego Charger can play in,'' he said. ``You go down to that game, you see the turnout, you see all of those fans, all the old Raider fans that come down from L.A., it's a great atmosphere for a game. I missed being out there with the teammates, fighting for that one last time.''
Woodson has said he wants a big contract -- ``I want every penny'' -- and Raiders senior assistant Bruce Allen remains optimistic that the Raiders can work something out to bring Woodson back.
Woodson, meanwhile, is going
to get away from things for a while. He is headed to Pasadena for New Year's
Day to root for his Wolverines when they play top-ranked USC in the Rose Bowl.