Why did Antonio Pierce get one of the longest NCAA show-cause penalties ever?

Pierce, now the Las Vegas Raiders coach, committed a series of blatant college football recruiting violations during the pandemic

Antonio Pierce was the linebackers coach and defensive coordinator at Arizona State from 2017 to 2022. / Rob Schumacher/The Republic

It is safe to say Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce will not be returning to the college football ranks anytime soon.

Pierce, who was an assistant coach at Arizona State from 2017 to 2022, was hit with an eight-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA on Thursday - one of the longest NCAA football punishments ever given.

Why was the penalty so severe? Here's everything you need to know about the NCAA's ruling.

'RINGLEADER IN RECRUITING VIOLATIONS'

The NCAA's report implicated Pierce as the "ringleader in orchestrating the recruiting violations" that occurred during the COVID-19 dead period. The NCAA imposed the dead period in March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, and it lasted until June 2021. During this period all in-person recruiting activities were banned.

Despite the in-person ban, Pierce continued to invite recruits to campus. He coordinated unofficial recruiting visits for 35 high school football prospects and their families. The visits occurred over 15 weekends and included "tryouts, football facility tours and entertainment." The entertainment included taking a prospect's parents to a gentlemen's club.

According to the NCAA, Pierce personally arranged for airfare, lodging, apparel and free meals for 27 of the prospects. He did this in collaboration with a booster who was a parent of a football player in the program.

PIERCE 'RAN THE SHOW'

During the course of the NCAA's investigation, several members of the Arizona State coaching staff directly implicated Pierce. The coaches said Pierce "ran the show" and that if they did not comply with his directives they feared losing their jobs.

In addition to bringing recruits to campus, Pierce and defensive analyst Anthony Garnett committed violations by traveling out of state to observe prospects in workouts and competitions, and meet with their families.

Pierce also directed an assistant coach to engage in tampering by texting and calling a player who was enrolled at another school and was not in the NCAA Transfer Portal. The assistant coach sent the player 46 text messages and called him at least once. The player did not end up transferring to ASU.

PIERCE FAILED TO COOPERATE

After conducting its investigation, the NCAA determined Pierce violated ethical conduct rules. The NCAA has historically been more lenient in its penalties if the school and subjects cooperate with their investigation. According to the NCAA, Pierce "failed on multiple occasions to meet his responsibility to cooperate."

This all resulted in a Level I-aggravated case for Pierce and an eight-year show-cause order. If an NCAA college football program hires him during the eight-year period, he will be suspended from all athletically related activities for 100% of the first season of his employment. The penalty makes it very difficult for an NCAA member school to hire Pierce during the eight-year period. The school could be penalized just for hiring him.

ARIZONA STATE PENALTIES

The NCAA praised Arizona State in April when it released its initial findings in the investigation. Because of ASU's cooperation, the penalties levied against the program were far less severe than they could have been. Pierce was clearly the NCAA's primary target.

"Arizona State's cooperation throughout the investigation and processing of this case was exemplary, and the cooperation began with the leadership shown by the university president," said Jason Leonard, executive director of athletics compliance at Oklahoma and chief hearing officer for the Committee on Infractions panel. "The school's acceptance of responsibility and decision to self-impose meaningful core penalties is a  model for all schools to follow and is consistent with the expectations of the NCAA's infractions program."

ASU's penalties include four years of probation for the school, a fine, a self-imposed postseason ban for the 2023 football season, vacation of records for contests in which ineligible student-athletes competed, scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions in alignment with the Level I-mitigated classification for the school.