Bill Williamson, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Tony Sparano enjoys relationship with Mark Davis

Tony Sparano doesn’t know what his future with the Oakland Raiders will be. But he is confident he will talk with owner Mark Davis about it.

A day after leading the Raiders to their third win in his 11 games as their interim coach, Sparano said Monday that he has enjoyed building a relationship with Davis. Sparano said he didn’t have a close relationship with ownership when he was the coach in Miami.

“I’ve gotten great feedback from Mark. Any conversation that he and I have is really open and really honest about anything. I owe it to him to do that,” Sparano said. “I encouraged that in the beginning of this process and it was something that, quite honestly, I owe to him as the owner of the football team. He’s the boss and I owe explanations when it goes well and even when it doesn’t go well. I owe explanations in both of those scenarios; I’m not afraid to do that. And it’s been really good. “

Sparano would like to return as the permanent coach. The Raiders are expected do have a search. Sparano said he expects to chat with Davis after the season, but nothing is set.

“We’ve had good conversations. Conversations that I hope and assume will continue at some point,” Sparano said.  “His goal, my goal is plain and simple. Last week we had two games left. This week we have one game left. The goal is to make sure we’re doing the right things. I’ve got a ton of work to do upstairs. He’s got a ton of work that has to be done right now. There’s time at the end of this thing to make those decisions.”

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