[Teligacio]

By Kevin Acee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

4:53 p.m. January 16, 2007

While the Chargers are dragging their feet regarding the future of their head coach, the team's most hated rival appears ready to fill its head coaching position with a Chargers assistant.
Receivers coach James Lofton and the Oakland Raiders are working on details of a contract, sources said Tuesday.

Lofton, 50, who also interviewed with the Raiders after last season, could be named the team's coach as soon as Wednesday. However, one source cautioned, “You never know with these things.”
Lofton is almost certainly concerned about things such as how much control he will have under owner Al Davis and how many of the staffing decisions he will be allowed to make.
Lofton was a finalist for the Stanford head coach's job that went to Jim Harbaugh last month. The Hall of Fame receiver also interviewed with the Buffalo Bills last offseason.
He has been the Chargers' receivers coach since 2002.
Also Wednesday, Dolphins chief operating officer Bryan Wiedmeier told the media in South Florida the team has been in contact with the agent for Chargers offensive coordinator Cam Cameron since the Chargers' playoff loss Sunday.
Meanwhile, Chargers president Dean Spanos continues his silence and, presumably, his deliberations on whether to fire Marty Schottenheimer.
Schottenheimer met with his assistant coaches Tuesday morning, but his job status remained unknown. Several sources within the organization said they had not heard whether Schottenheimer will be retained.
“It's probably not a good sign,” two sources said of the amount of time Spanos is taking, meaning they thought it was a sign Schottenheimer will be let go.
The Chargers had their first 14-win season and put together three consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1982.
But Schottenheimer's failures in the playoffs could doom him.
While the final decision belongs to Spanos, it does not help that Schottenheimer lacks an endorsement from General Manager A.J. Smith. The two have hardly spoken in more than a year.
Spanos said last month he was waiting to judge Schottenheimer until after the playoffs. The Chargers lost 24-21 to the New England on Sunday in their playoff opener.
Schottenheimer is 47-33 in his five seasons here, 24 more victories than the franchise had in the five seasons before his arrival. But the Chargers have lost in their only two playoff appearances with him as coach, after the 2004 season and this past Sunday. Schottenheimer, 63, is the fifth-winningest coach in NFL history with 200 regular-season victories. But he is 5-13 in the playoffs and is the winningest coach to never make the Super Bowl.