By IAN O'CONNOR
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

SAN DIEGO - His apartment is a temple, a house of wisdom and worship, and so the old man understands that a knock on the door often announces a pilgrim on the other side. John Wooden has opened that door to basketball coaches of all ages, colors and creeds, but one day last summer brought a unique guest, a football lifer, a man who had written down 40 questions to ask and one article of faith to confirm.

Bill Callahan was off to see the Wizard to learn how to lead. Callahan had long admired Tom Landry and Don Shula, men of stone-cold eyes and rock-solid chins, but he had never been a head coach, never mind a head coach who was replacing the face-contorting, foot-stomping, camera-hogging ball of fire that was Jon Gruden.

Callahan wanted to be true to himself when he assumed control of the Raiders, true to the anti-Chucky reflection he saw in his bathroom glass. If he needed one final nod in that rightful direction, the path leading to a Super Bowl date with Gruden's Buccaneers, the greatest and most gracious winner of them all was pleased to oblige.

"I was very impressed with him when we met," Wooden said from his Encino home. "We talked about demeanor and leadership. Bill's not bombastic or flashy, and that approach commands respect. He's a leader rather than being a driver.

"I believe in calmness and serenity, in not getting wild on the sidelines. I believe Bill Callahan's style keeps his followers under control. It's different with Gruden; he does create a certain enthusiasm in a different way. But normally in the long run, that style has more ups and downs. My opinion is Coach Callahan's type is better, and more even, over the long haul."

Wooden didn't want to say that Callahan is the superior coach. With 10 national titles and 92 years of living behind him, Wooden only wanted to say that the notion of Callahan as a mere caretaker, as a guy simply riding the Gruden wave to Super Bowl XXXVII before reality crashes around him, could end up looking more absurd than a Don King impersonator interviewing Warren Sapp.

"It's just my opinion, and Lombardi was great in doing it a different way," Wooden said. "But Callahan is like Walter Alston or Joe Torre; he's doing it the way Mike Scioscia did it with the Angels. Scioscia didn't panic when the Angels got off to the worst start in history, and they had their best finish. Coach Callahan didn't panic when the Raiders lost four straight, and look where they are now."

The Raiders are in a place Gruden didn't take them, a truth too many of his former players have used against him. Gruden wasn't, as Jerry Porter suggested, the guy who was "holding us back" from a Super Bowl run. Gruden was, however, a Napoleonic figure - "a little man who wanted to be a big man and rule the world," Lincoln Kennedy said.

He was the dominant personality of the team and a perfect candidate to be replaced by the faceless Callahan, a cop's son who dreamed of someday becoming a big winner in the Chicago Catholic League.

Callahan replacing Gruden was like Tom Flores replacing John Madden, or Torre replacing Buck Showalter, or Jim O'Brien replacing Rick Pitino. It's best to replace an oversized presence with an Everyman touch, and vice versa, as Gruden proved in Tampa by taking the Bucs deeper than the mild-mannered Tony Dungy ever could.

"Gruden must be a very good coach or his team wouldn't be in the Super Bowl," Wooden said. "There can be great heights with Gruden's kind of leadership. But I just happen to prefer one style over the other.

"I've watched the Raiders a lot and I watch them primarily because of Coach Callahan. I'm a people person, not a team or city person. Bill understands that if you want your players to stay under control, the players have the right to expect the same from their leader."

From the rubble of a four-game losing streak, Callahan told his team he still believed it had a championship core. The Raiders needed to hear that. They needed to know their head coach could take command without putting on some counterfeit face.

"Bill's a very firm guy," said Fred Biletnikoff, his receivers coach. "He's not a wishy-washy guy. He has a great deal of respect for football. I've told him many times, 'Bill, you should've been born in Knute Rockne's age."'

He ended up in John Wooden's apartment instead. The Wizard wouldn't claim that he helped Callahan get to Sunday's Oz and wouldn't offer specifics on the 40 questions the Raiders coach came to ask.

Wooden would reveal that their hour-long meeting ended with a simple philosophy shared, and an article of faith confirmed.

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