Who is Antonio Pierce the man that is now the Las Vegas Raiders interim head coach?
With a new head coach in place, albeit interim, the Las Vegas Raiders will be looking for something better, but who is he and what can we expect from him?
Following the shocking news that the franchise was dismissing both the head coach and the general manager, the team now has a new man in charge. Of course, questions remain regarding his pedigree and whether or not this is the right decision.
The Las Vegas Raiders turned heads with Josh McDaniels dismissal
At 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, October 31st, the NFL’s trade deadline passed, and with it a whole lot of movement in the league. Yet, there was one development in particular that had nothing to do with player movement, but rather coaching staff. Indeed, so it came to pass that Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis fired both head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler at the deadline itself which as you can imagine left many wondering, ‘what happens now?’
Of course, while it may seem rather sudden, the reality is that Davis posted a record of 9-16 during his time with the Raiders, a statistic that in the cutthroat world of the NFL was simply not good enough. With that, the former New England Patriots offensive coordinator sees his time with a team come to an end before the conclusion of his second season for the second time in his career. Do recall that McDaniels was dismissed by the Denver Broncos following an 11-17 start back in 2010. This of course brings us to former linebackers coach Antonio Piece who has been appointed as the team’s interim coach, but who exactly is he?
So, who is Antonio Pierce?
Having celebrated his 45th birthday just last week, Antonio Pierce has been with the Raiders as linebackers coach for a season and a half now. What’s interesting about the Long Beach native is that he actually comes from a rather successful playing career in the NFL. A former linebacker himself, Pierce had his initial stint in the NFL with Washington where he played in all 16 games of his maiden season in the league. Yet, it’s got to be said that 2004 was the year that the NFL took notice when he recorded a combined total of 114 tackles, one sack, five passes defended, and two interceptions.
Following that initial campaign in Washington, Pierce then moved to the New York Giants where he truly came into his own as he marshaled what would soon become a Super Bowl-winning defense. In just his second season in the ‘Big Apple’, he posted a career-high 139 combined tackles and was named in his first Pro Bowl. Believe it or not, he would go on to complement that year with another in which he registered more than 100 tackles for the fourth straight year, before going on to get the better of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
What came after Antonio Pierce’s playing career?
In 2010, Pierce called time on his career in the NFL and promptly began to forge a path as a coach, which saw him get his first opportunity with Long Beach Poly High School in 2014. After several seasons in his native district, Pierce was hired by Arizona State as a linebacker coach, though it’s got to be said that he performed many more functions for the program, as he also acted as associate head coach and defensive coordinator. Finally, in 2022, Pierce was granted his first opportunity in the NFL with the Raiders.
At risk of stating the obvious, Pierce now has a clean slate to work with and one that will be closely watched as he attempts to demonstrate that he can in fact cut it in the big leagues. Even better, is the fact that he will kick off his tenure as head coach with the Raiders this Sunday in a game against the team he played for, the New York Giants. At this point, it would be fair to say that the Raiders who are 3-5 aren’t in the best of shape, but assuming he can demonstrate progress, then this could well be the start of something bigger.