Mike Mayock Pushed Raiders to Hire Rich Bisaccia as Head Coach Before Being Fired

Before he was fired, the former Las Vegas GM pulled for the interim head coach to hold his position.

Former Raiders general manager Mike Mayock had big plans for Las Vegas, especially after his team managed to earn a wild-card spot in the AFC playoffs in January. Despite losing 26–19 to the eventual Super Bowl runner-up Bengals—a game that Cincinnati had led 20-6 in the fourth quarter—Mayock felt that the Raiders had all of the right pieces in place to succeed for the 2022 season. 

However, Mayock was fired a day after the Raiders’ wild-card loss, adding to the already tumultuous season of issues within the franchise. After three seasons and zero postseason wins under Mayock’s leadership, a key reason that led to his firing stems from his backing of then interim head coach Rich Bisaccia. 

Paul Domowitch of the 33rd Team reported that Mayock told Raiders owner Mark Davis that Bisaccia “should have been retained as the team’s head coach” and explicitly stated that the day after the loss to the Bengals.

“The two (special teams) guys I pushed for for years to be head coaches were John Harbaugh and Richie Bisaccia,” Mayock told the 33rd Team. “I thought both of them would be special head coaches. To the point where I recommended both of them to Boston College, a school near and dear to my heart, back in 2007. Harbs [Harbaugh] interviewed for the job and didn’t get it. The following year he got the Ravens job and is one of the best coaches in the league.

“In my mind, I felt Richie [Bisaccia] had earned [the opportunity to be the Raiders head coach]. I thought we worked incredibly well together.”

Beyond the play on the field, Mayock said his relationship with Bisaccia allowed them to see the game similarly and that the two had built what they felt was a “strong foundation” for the future.

“We had one of the youngest rosters in the league,” Mayock said. “Our salary cap situation was outstanding. We felt like we had the right kind of people in the building … now let’s continue to build on it.

“We were both pretty excited about the future there. Obviously, that’s not what happened.’’

Per Domowitch, Davis had made up his mind to replace Bisaccia when Las Vegas sat at 6–7 in the 2021 season. As a result, Davis hired Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as the team’s next head coach in January. Dave Ziegler, New England’s director of player personnel in 2021, replaced Mayock. Bisaccia was hired as the Packers special teams coordinator after his departure. 

Mayock took control of Las Vegas’s front office in 2019, as the Raiders had gone a combined 10–22 in the previous two years. The team posted a combined 15-17 in Mayock’s first two seasons, missing the playoffs both years, before qualifying for the wild-card spot with a 10–7 record last season.

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