There are photos of his wife and kids, of big fish caught, of him at USC — both as a young baseball player and at last year’s Hall of Fame ceremony. But the biggest and most prominent pictures in Jack Del Rio’s office in Alameda are of John Madden and Tom Flores, the Raiders’ two Super Bowl-winning head coaches.

“That’s the goal,” Del Rio said.

Del Rio sat down for a one-on-one interview recently, despite being focused on Sunday’s season opener in New Orleans that can’t come soon enough.

Oakland improved from 3-13 the year before to 7-9 in Del Rio’s first season, but, he said, “We want more. A lot more.”

So Del Rio and his staff keep pushing.

The players love that Del Rio played in the NFL — and at a high level — and that he can relate to them in a way many coaches can’t. The energy at practice and in the halls between meetings at the team’s practice facility is much different than it was a couple of years ago with stoic head coach Dennis Allen.

For that, Del Rio owes a debt of gratitude to former Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis, who played for Del Rio when he was the Ravens’ linebackers coach. Del Rio won a Super Bowl ring with that team.

“He said to me, and I thought it was a real compliment, ‘You keep it real,’” Del Rio remembered. “And I always felt like I could keep it real, because I have been in the trenches, I have had that helmet on, those pads on, I’ve been in the meetings. I understand what it’s like to get up and compete every day.…

“I’m not asking them to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself as a player.”

If the players understand what a coach wants and believe it will get results, they will give it to him. So Del Rio works at having relationships with his players, and he enjoys the interaction.

To a point.

“I’m not trying to be anybody’s friend,” he said. “There is a respect for what they do and an appreciation for the fact that it’s a player’s game. As coaches, we provide a blueprint and a vision, and we want them to embrace that.”

He even takes suggestions — quarterback Derek Carr said about 10 percent of the way things were done at training camp were changed after Del Rio met with the team’s leaders.

At his first head-coaching stop, in Jacksonville, Del Rio might not have been so agreeable. He used to cringe when he was called “a player’s coach.”

“I felt I really had to fight that when I was a young coach,” he said. “Because I was so close to playing. There were so many guys still in the league that I had played with or against. Six years after I started coaching, I was a head coach.

“So I was very sensitive then. … Now, I am completely comfortable with that label. Being a player’s coach just means that you get it and you’re not so far removed.”

Speaking of labels, how about the “defensive coach” one?

“No, I don’t like that one,” Del Rio said. “I don’t like that because I am not. I mean, that’s what my background is, and if we’re going to talk X’s and O’s, I may have more to offer on that subject. But I am a head coach.”

Del Rio is heavily involved with everything, down to special teams.

“I am very much into the offense, very heavily invested in everything that makes up the team,” he said. “The weight room, strength and performance, how we’re feeding and training our guys, how we’re traveling. Everything that helps us be as good as we can be.”

A big key to the team’s improvement this year will be the free agents that Oakland signed. Del Rio thought the secondary was a glaring need, and the Raiders added former Kansas City cornerback Sean Smith and ex-Cincinnati safety Reggie Nelson. They also addressed the run game with former Baltimore guard Kelechi Osemele and the pass rush with ex-Seattle linebacker Bruce Irvin.

“The mystery with free agents you bring in is always the chemistry, how are they going to fit in,” Del Rio said. “You ask about guys beforehand, but you never really know until they’re in the building. But we’re very pleased with how everyone has fit in.”

The goal this year — as it was last year — is to win the AFC West, and that road goes through Denver and the Super Bowl-champion Broncos.

“Expectations are important,” Del Rio said.

That road is paved by 300-pounders, as Del Rio and general manager Reggie McKenzie agree that the foundation of a football team is the offensive and defensive lines.

“Being physical in the trenches is where it all starts for both of us,” Del Rio said.

The offensive line of (left to right) Donald Penn, Osemele, Rodney Hudson, Gabe Jackson and Menelik Watson should be one of the best in the league — which is good, because Del Rio wants to run a lot this season.

“An offensive line is a fist, and the fingers are starting to come together,” Del Rio said.

One can imagine Del Rio with his fists clenched on the sideline. He not only enjoys helping players reach their potential; coaching also feeds that competitive beast that still lies within.

“It’s very addictive to me, the thrill of going in there knowing that you’re putting your neck on the line,” he said. “And you know that there are going to be Sundays where it gets chopped off. There’s going to be pain. … But I love it.”

Del Rio is getting a fresh perspective now that his son, Luke, is going through that as a quarterback at Florida. Dad flew to see the sophomore’s first start Saturday.

“It’s awesome for him,” Jack said. “I’ve always told him that I am more concerned with his character than what he does in sports. I never pushed him to play or do anything, because I knew there would be a lot of pressure to live up to this whole thing and I didn’t want him to feel that. He still did.”

Luke transferred from Alabama to Oregon State to Florida to pursue his dream of being a starting quarterback.

“Most people would have given up by now,” Jack said. “He hung in there, kept the faith, kept grinding and kept paying the price.”

Luke grew up watching his dad’s game film, and then, about five years back, the script flipped.

“That was cool,” Jack said. “He wanted to start talking ball. We started watching his stuff, his next opponents, showing him what I was seeing on defense. We would have sessions on the plane rides home where he would draw up a play and I would show him how defenses would adjust to it.”

Jack attended Florida’s spring practice this year and brought along a special guest, Academy Award-winning actor Gene Hackman. Hackman’s wife and Del Rio were friends at USC.

“When he was doing ‘The Replacements’ in 2000, he came out to Baltimore and came to practice with her,” Del Rio said. “And the four of us, with my wife, hit it off.”

In “The Replacements,” quarterback Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves) says, “Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever.”

Del Rio couldn’t have said it better himself.

“Winning in this league is hard,” Del Rio said. “For us, it’s just about preparing our butts off and then competing our butts off. All that other stuff is just talk.

“When we get our opportunities, if they’re not going well, how is our resolve to bounce back? When they are going well, how do we put it behind us and move forward? One way or another, you’re going forward.”

The two things that pleased Del Rio the most this preseason were Carr’s continued development and his team’s work ethic.

“Last year, we showed them how we want to do things,” Del Rio said. “This year, guys that were new, whether they were free agents or draft picks, heard from the guys that were here, ‘Hey, this is how we do it.’”

Since-retired safety Charles Woodson was the team leader last season — “Him buying in was huge,” Del Rio said — but Carr and All-Pro defensive end Khalil Mack, each 25, have taken over the heavy lifting.

“Those guys are really hard workers, always on point, and players see the leaders doing it so they do it,” Del Rio said. “It‘s become part of the culture....

“That’s your culture change.”

Vic Tafur is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vtafur@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VicTafur