Breaking: Raiders Have Finalized Decision On Antonio Pierce
01/07/2025 03:41 PM
Antonio Pierce survived Black Monday as Las Vegas Raiders head coach, but not much longer after that.
Las Vegas has officially fired Pierce after one season, NFL Network reported Tuesday afternoon. The former Pro Bowl linebacker earned the job by going 5-4 as the Raiders' interim head coach in 2023 following the dismissal of Josh McDaniels, but was unable to carry that success over to this season. While Las Vegas did win back-to-back games in Weeks 16 and 17, they still finished 4-13 overall, missing the playoffs for the 20th time in the last 22 seasons.
Stability at the head coaching position has been an issue for the Raiders over the last two decades, and it's a problem they still need to solve now that they have dismissed Pierce, who is the second one-and-done head coach this cycle, along with Jerod Mayo.
Prior to taking over the Raiders, Pierce's only previous head coaching experience came at his high school alma mater, Long Beach (Calif.) Poly from 2014-17. From there, Pierce moved on to Arizona State, where he spent four seasons under Herm Edwards in a variety of roles.
The Raiders hired Pierce as their linebackers coach in 2022, a role he filled until being picked to lead the team following McDaniels' midseason dismissal in 2023.
Next season, Las Vegas will be on its fourth full-time head coach since the start of the 2021 season. That's not counting Pierce's run as interim leader in 2023 or Rich Bisaccia's time serving in place of Jon Gruden following his resignation during the 2021 campaign.
Josh McDaniels was hired during the 2022 offseason, but got dismissed after less than two full seasons. Speaking of McDaniels, his former protege in New England, Tom Brady, is a minority owner of the Raiders and will reportedly have a major say in the upcoming coaching search.
"It will be interesting to see how much influence Tom Brady will have in this next Raiders coaching search. I'm told it will be a lot," tweeted Dianna Russini of The Athletic after news of Pierce's firing broke.
Should be an interesting offseason in Sin City.
Related: Report: Tom Brady Could Decide If Raiders Make Coaching Change
