Back in the spring of 2008, when he was very much in charge of the Oakland Raiders' singularly peculiar organization, Al Davis presided over a predraft meeting at the team's Alameda, Calif., training facility. As coaches and personnel officials discussed what to do with the fourth overall pick, which the team would ultimately use to select Arkansas halfback Darren McFadden, the Hall of Fame owner's son, Mark, casually drifted into the room.

"Mark," Davis said, stopping the meeting and sounding genuinely interested. "What do you think we should do?"

Caught off guard, the younger Davis mumbled something about needing a wide receiver.

Wrong answer.

"A [expletive] receiver?" Al Davis snapped, his voice rising. "Get the [expletive] out of here."

And with that, the heir to one of the NFL's most storied franchises slinked out of the room and continued with the rest of his day.

I cite this incident not to illustrate that Al Davis had a mean streak and did not suffer fools gladly, even when the fool in question was his only child. Nor is it necessary as a means of proving that Mark Davis doesn't know much about personnel – he essentially admitted that Tuesday at the news conference announcing the hiring of general manager Reggie McKenzie (a potentially sound move) and the firing of head coach Hue Jackson (an astonishingly dumb one).

No, the reason I share this story – which was related to me by a former member of the Raiders' coaching staff who witnessed it – is to explain why I think the younger Davis made a coaching change after Jackson's promising, 8-8 rookie season: To project an image of authority, Mark Davis needs to surround himself with employees who didn't see him routinely disparaged and condescended to by his legendary father.

[ Michael Silver: Fired Hue Jackson says Raiders owner made decision ]

"We were all in that room," the ex-Raiders assistant coach said, referring to the aforementioned draft meeting. "We saw Mark get kicked out like a little [expletive] puppy dog, in front of everyone."

Another former Raiders coach said that he "saw [Al Davis] tell Mark to 'shut the [expletive] up' all the time. It was a regular occurrence. He treated him like his opinion didn't matter."

It matters now, and has mattered since Oct. 8, when Al Davis died of congestive heart failure at the age of 82. That Mark Davis would assume his father's role as nominal owner was part of the succession plan, but this was not a man being groomed as Al 2.0. As numerous Raiders insiders will attest, that ship had sailed – and crashed and burned – a long time ago.

Some owners' offspring, such as the Patriots' Jonathan Kraft, the Cincinnati Bengals' Katie Blackburn and the Pittsburgh Steelers' Art Rooney II, are shrewd, engaged presences entrusted to operate their respective franchises at the highest levels. Others, such as the Indianapolis Colts' Jimmy Irsay and the 49ers' Jed York, inherit ownership and obviously outshine their parents.

Mark Davis is Tommy Boy, trying not to face-plant on a table full of beers. And the thought of presiding over a team with a brash, intelligent and charismatic coach who knew how dismissively his father used to treat him had to be a daunting prospect.

So, in my opinion, Davis did what many bosses do when they feel threatened by someone with a superior skill set and an aversion to brown-nosing: He kneecapped Jackson. And I suspect that the owner will encourage McKenzie to clean out as many people on the football side of the building as he can, if only to start fresh with a new crop of employees who don't have visceral images of his inglorious past.

On a positive note, he didn't botch his first hire. McKenzie is a Ron Wolf protégé who had a long, highly regarded stint in the Packers' front office, and on paper he is a good choice. McKenzie claimed at Tuesday's news conference that he was the one who wanted to get rid of Jackson, and I'm not necessarily questioning that – it's possible that both the GM and owner wanted the coach gone, or that the latter gave clear and obvious signals to the former during their interview.

Now, about that interview process: I like that the great John Madden, whom I respect as much as I do anyone in football, and other experienced NFL executives (Wolf and former Falcons general manager Ken Herock) were advising Davis. As I said, I don't believe the outcome was necessarily bad.