RAIDERS

(01-18) 22:16 PST -- A young coach with a bright offensive mind who likes to trash-talk and challenge defensive players in practice. New Raiders coach Hue Jackson is a lot like a former Raiders coach in that regard.

"He was like, what's his name ... Gruden," owner Al Davis said. "Gruden was like that - feisty, he could lead the defense. But they are different, definitely, Hue Jackson and Jon Gruden. But on that particular thing they are very similar."

Raiders fans hope Jackson has a lot in common with Gruden, Oakland's only winning coach in the last 15 years. And rest assured he does, thanks to their one year together as young assistants at the University of the Pacific in 1989.

"The person that really shaped me in football is Jon Gruden," Jackson said. "We were office mates. We were both young coaches, both young, aspiring coaches, we shared an office together and Jon Gruden, I'll never forget it, used to put me on the (chalk) board at nighttime for three months straight, and we would talk football. That's where my start happened."

Jackson hopes to duplicate Gruden's success in Oakland thanks to a high-powered, young offense that scored 410 points last season - the sixth-most in franchise history.

"My job is to do everything I can to take this team where we know we want to go, which is the Super Bowl," Jackson said. "Obviously this is a very talented and young football team here, as Coach (Davis) just talked about. We have some tremendous players on the offensive side of the football."

Jason Campbell overcame a bad start and a couple of benchings to solidify the Raiders at quarterback. He completed 64.7 percent of his passes over the final five games with six touchdowns, two interceptions and a passer rating of 96.4.

Davis stood by his preseason Jim Plunkett comparison, saying that Jackson is the coach to get Campbell to the next level. Jackson said Campbell may already be there based on his late-season success.

"He played flawless," Jackson said. "He played almost as good as you can play as a quarterback in our league. Led us to some very impressive wins. And I look forward to him doing the same thing this year in our system, same system, opportunity to go out with the same teammates, OK, and go out and play the way we know he can play."

On the other side of the ball, defensive coordinator John Marshall did not have his contract renewed after what Davis called two disappointing seasons.

"I thought with about five games to go we had a great chance to get into the playoffs if we didn't mess it up," Davis said. "We messed it up. I'm not saying necessarily on offense, but we didn't play well enough on defense."

Davis isn't sure what to make of Nnamdi Asomugha's free agency. Last offseason, he asked the star cornerback if he wanted to be traded to the Jets and was told no.

"And then just the other day you get another signal," Davis said. "I try not to get tied up in that. If we get to the point where we know what the rules are in the collective bargaining agreement, and see what we want to do and see what he wants to do, we'll work on it."

E-mail Vittorio Tafur at vtafur@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle