ALAMEDA — Jon Gruden has thrown himself into personnel evaluation and reconstructing systems of offense, defense and special teams since being hired as the Raiders’ head coach a little over a month ago.

Gruden took a break Wednesday in an exclusive interview with the Bay Area News Group to talk about what has transpired since Jan. 11.

Topics included the process of assembling a staff, his disdain for restrictions of the collective bargaining agreement, his thoughts on players such as Derek Carr, Marshawn Lynch, Khalil Mack and Michael Crabtree and whether the hiring of offensive line coach Tom Cable signifies a commitment to zone-scheme running.

Q: What have you been able to accomplish in your first month on the job?

Gruden: It’s been a little like Groundhog Day. You get up, it’s dark, you leave it’s dark. You do the same thing over and over again. Spent a long time, really, entertaining potential coaches, interviewing coaches, trying to find the best nucleus that we can find. We’re looking for compatibility, trying to find different types of guys from different places. Trying to get everybody on the same page is not an easy thing to do.

No. 2, we evaluated our current players, and it takes awhile to study each player.

No. 3, we looked at our salary cap situation, obviously. And then start to meet and a scheme together. How to get everybody coordinated. How do we put the ball in play, what are we calling formations? What are we calling different blitzes and personnel groupings. It’s been an ongoing process.

The last four or five days, we’ve really focused on some specific free agents that will be available when free agency begins. It’s been a grind. For complete Oakland Raiders coverage follow us on Flipboard.

Q: Coaches have in their mind a list of potential assistants. You can’t get them all, some are under contract with other teams. But did you come close?

Gruden: A lot of the guys I coached with are head coaches now or coaching at different places. I feel great about the guys we were able to get. Rich Bisaccia is some I’ve got history with. Edgar Bennett (wide receivers), Mike Trgovac (defensive line), I’ve got a lot of history with those guys. Have a lot of people that I know well. Paul Guenther (defensive coordinator), I have history with him and am really excited to get guys like Tom Cable (offensive line). I think Derrek Ansley (secondary) is going to be a star in this profession. Going to be a great secondary coach. Really excited to get him. And Tom Shaw, our strength coach, is very established in this business and he’s going to change the way we’ve done things here and hopefully our players respond to it. I really like the guys that we’ve assembled.

Q: How different is the process of putting together a team than it was 20 years ago when Al Davis hired you?

Gruden: It’s a different process because of the salary cap. The salary cap is a big deal, no question. Guys now are making $20 million, some guys are making $25 million a year. So you have to be mindful of the salary cap a little bit more. I think the biggest thing is the collective bargaining agreement. You’re not allowed to be with your players. Some genius thought that would be great, that we’re not even allowed to talk to our players. So that’s been a big challenge. Changing the way you put together your offseason program, the way you put together training camp, as you consider all the changes in the collective bargaining agreement that was put in place.

Q: With contact that limited what can you say to players? You talked at the press conference about looking forward to meeting Marshawn Lynch . . .

Gruden: You’re not allowed to do anything. You’re not allowed to coach your players. I’ve called several players, introduced myself. I think that’s legal. I’m not having contact with everybody. I’ve had people call me to tell me that Marshawn Lynch didn’t show up to a meeting that we had. I mean, there’s a lot of stuff out there that’s being written that’s not even true. We’re not allowed to have any real contact. It’s pretty clear on what the rules are. All you’ve got to do is read ’em.

Q: Is it driving you crazy at all that it’s still going to be awhile until you can actually set foot on a field and coach players?

Gruden: I hate it, personally. When I was out of coaching, I had players come and visit me to help them with getting their football fix. A lot of these guys want to work. A lot of these guys are dying to work. And a lot of these men have hired independent coaches to help them work. But the big thing is, I just want to start having relationships with these guys, learn what makes them tick. What motivates them. How they learn. The only way you can learn is by being with people but there’s some geniuses out there that have put together this formula and we’re going to certainly abide by the rules.

Q: Do you think Lynch will be on the roster this year?

Gruden: I don’t know. I bumped into him. Some of these players that live locally do come to the facility to get a workout, see the trainer. I’ve been downstairs and met several guys. I have talked to Marshawn briefly. We’ll see. We’ll keep everybody posted. Right now, he’s our leading ballcarrier. He’s our back, and we’re counting on him. Hopefully we get an opportunity to work together. that’s a man that has a lot of respect in this league as a player and I certainly have respect for him also.

Q: Had much contact with Derek Carr?

Gruden: No. I mean, you’re not allowed to have contact with guys, really. You can bump into a guy and say, I’m looking forward to working with you, but that will hopefully come whenever the rules allow that.

Q: Does Tom Cable’s hiring signify the Raiders will be a zone-scheme team when it comes to running the ball?

Gruden: No. I think Cable’s background is one of the outside zone, the inside zone, but he’s also a very versatile coach. He’s proven that. He can run gap schemes. He’s going to run what we’re good at running. If we have a good back, and some good linemen and a tight end and a fullback, we’ll have a good running game with Tom Cable. But we’ve got to get the components in place so he can be all he can be. That’s something we’re working on right now. He’s a versatile coach, certainly he’s an expert in the zone scheme and I’m excited about that, but there’s a lot of ways he’s run the ball in his background.

Q: You’ve pretty much stayed underground the past month in terms of interviews and the like, but in your time out in the community, what has the reception been like with Raider fans?

Gruden: It’s been really cool. I mean, I’ve only been out a couple of times. You come to work it’s dark, you go home it’s dark. You just try and get caught up on sleep and I haven’t really gone out much. But I’ve got a lot of respect and love for the Raider fans. I can’t wait to get out and mingle with ’em, but right now I’m just trying to stay submerged and focused on what I’ve got to do. Pretty soon we’ll be heading to the combine.

Q: You went back to Florida for a bit . . . did you close the Fired Football Coaches of America offices?

Gruden: I had to go back to Florida for a few days to say good bye to my friends. I had to move a lot of my equipment here. I have a lot of film, a lot of notebooks, a lot of information that was in the FFCA headquarters that I had to get moved to California and I had to close down the doors. It was painful.

Q: There are so many things you probably want to implement that you’ve learned over the last several years, how do you layer those things in?

Gruden: We’ve got to learn about our personnel. We’ve got to resolve a lot of issues with this roster right now and that’s what we’re working on. We’re going to put in the core, the roots, the foundation of our system on offense, defense and special teams. But obviously personnel will have a lot to do about which way we go. But we’ll have versatile scheme that allows us to do different things. But right now we’re really focused at looking at our team and how we can somehow improve. Like our Oakland Raiders Facebook page for more Raiders news, commentary and conversation.

Q: You said at initial press conference it wasn’t the time to go over the roster because you’d just been hired. Now that you’ve had a month to look at the roster, what excites you about it?

Gruden: I think we’ve got a great young quarterback. I think that’s enough to be excited about. I think a lot of our center. I think the quarteback-center (Rodney Hudson) battery is as good as I’ve ever had in football. I’m really excited about the two guards (Kelechi Osemele, Gabe Jackson), obviously. That’s the strength of this team. And Khalil Mack, I think he’s a proven superstar football player. I think the excitement around working with Amari Cooper is just certainly pretty cool. I got to bump into Crabtree. Hopefully we can get the best out of Crabtree and his career. There’s some people in place, but we’ve got a number of issues that are concerning right now and we’re focusing on them.

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Of teams with new coaches, Raiders best positioned for bounce-back season Q: Your first days back, as you went to the office you were in before, were there moments where you had to pinch yourself?

Gruden: Every day I go in the offensive staff meeting I’m thinking Fred Biletnikoff is going to be walking in with a cigarette. I see Willie Brown walking around here. A lot of the employees are still here. So there is some deja vu that is striking at times. But I’m really focused on what we have to do. We have to lay a foundation, we’ve got get moving, we’ve got to get going, we’ve got to get better. There’s an urgency that I like and I think it’s spreading rapidly.

Q: Have you found a place to live?

Gruden: I’m near where I was before. It’s a little further commute than I recall. Traffic has certainly picked up. I used to get up at 3:17. Now I’m probably going to have to get up at 2:17. I’m going to have to figure something out because I’m a terrible driver.