OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – The Oakland Coliseum is notorious as a stadium that’s unfriendly to the Raiders’ opponents.

Just ask Art Shell.

Even though he was one of the franchise’s greatest players, Shell still got to experience the visitors’ treatment three times as an assistant with Kansas City and Atlanta.

“I remember coming in on the bus, somebody threw an egg at the bus, but hey, it happens when you go elsewhere,” Shell said.

“Other stadiums, those things happen. I remember when we used to go to Denver, they would throw snowballs and oranges at us. Hey, that’s OK. They’re good fans.”

Shell knows the reaction will be much more positive tonight, when he will be part of the Silver and Black for a game in Oakland for the first time since the end of the 1981 season.

The Raiders moved to Los Angeles following Shell’s penultimate season as a player and his 51/2 years as head coach of the team came before owner Al Davis moved the team back to Oakland.

Shell was hired for his second stint as coach in February. After winning his first two preseason games away from home, Shell finally gets his first chance as a head coach at the stadium where he played most of his Hall of Fame career when the Raiders host the San Francisco 49ers.

“It’s going to mean a lot,” he said. “Coming back home, being in front of the rabid fans that we have, the loyal fans that we have, it’s a great group of people to be in front of and have cheer for you. I know you go around the country and everybody talks about, one of the worst places you can play is Oakland, because of the noise and the fans. The fans kind of intimidate people sometimes. But we have to go out and play well to give our fans something to cheer about.”

There hasn’t been much to cheer about for the Raiders in recent years.

They are 13-35 have the past three seasons, including 15 losses at the Coliseum. It’s a far cry from Shell’s days as a player, when the Raiders went 86-23-2 in Oakland.

Davis hired Shell in part to help return the Raiders to the style of play that was so successful in the 1970s. The team has won its first two exhibition games but has not looked sharp.

“I’m looking forward to it because one thing they keep saying is how they’re going to bring back the old-school toughness,” 49ers coach Mike Nolan said. “That’ll be a challenge for us. So we’ll see if they have gotten tougher. … We’ll see what Art has got going over there.”

The game also marks the home debut for Raiders quarterback Aaron Brooks and the return of former coach Norv Turner, who was hired as San Francisco’s offensive coordinator after being fired by Davis in January.

“You can tell how much (Turner) does for us, just in the first few weeks of practice,” 49ers second-year quarterback Alex Smith said. “There’s so much I’ve learned from him already, I can’t even say it all. He gives you experience, and I just feel confident with him in charge of it.”

After looking lost at times as a rookie, Smith appears more confident and composed this year in Turner’s system.

Smith, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft, went 16-for-21 for 137 yards in San Francisco’s 28-14 win in the exhibition opener last week against Chicago.

Turner, who won two Super Bowls as an offensive coordinator with Dallas in the 1990s, struggled to implement his system in two years as head coach of the Raiders.

The offensive struggles led the team to cut quarterback Kerry Collins and bring in Brooks from New Orleans. Brooks has struggled so far, going 2-for-9 for 28 yards with one interception and one touchdown in Oakland’s first two wins.

Brooks knows from his visits to Oakland with the Saints how rowdy those fans can get. He remembers dodging coins on the sideline and extra security on hand to protect visiting players. He hopes he will be able to please the fans – some of who have called for backup Andrew Walter to take Brooks’ job. Shell said Brooks and the starters should get an entire half of play.

“Any time we get a chance to go out there and play for the duration like that it’s good,” Brooks said. “We’ll try to get something out of it, get a better rhythm going and put more points on the board.”

AP-ES-08-19-06 1633EDT