Raiders Hope Pierce Is Better Than Other Interim Coaches

There are high hopes inside the Las Vegas Raiders executives, players, and fans that Antonio Pierce can have success not experienced by other interim coaches.

Antonio Pierce got off to a promising start as the Interim Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders with a 30-6 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and hopes to keep things going on Sunday Night Football against the New York Jets.

Pierce took over last week when owner Mark Davis fired Coach Josh McDaniels and General Manager Dave Ziegler after a 3-5 start this season and a 9-16 overall mark a little less than a season and a half leading the Silver and Black.

This is the sixth interim coach in the 64-year history of the Raiders, founded in 1960 as inaugural members of the American Football League. However, they were an afterthought as this franchise was initially supposed to go to Minneapolis before the established National Football League stepped in and created the Minnesota Vikings.

The Raiders had two interim head coaches in their first three seasons. Still, the most successful of the previous five was the most recent one, Rich Bisaccia, who was elevated from assistant head coach and special teams coordinator when Coach Jon Gruden resigned after an email scandal during the 2021 season.

Bisaccia stepped in and led the Raiders to a 7-5 record the rest of the season for a 10-6 record and a runner-up finish in the AFC West behind the Kansas City Chiefs, but the Silver and Black were beaten 26-19, by the Cincinnati Bengals in an AFC divisional playoff game at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.

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There were those, including many of the Raiders players and coaches, who felt Davis should have kept Bisaccia as head coach, but instead, he hired McDaniels before the 2022 season, and we all know how that worked out.

“The two (special teams) guys I pushed for years to be head coaches were John Harbaugh (now head coach of the Baltimore Ravens) and Richie Bisaccia,” said Mike Mayock, general manager of the Raiders at the time who also was fired when Ziegler came on board as GM along with McDaniels. “I thought both of them would be special head coaches.

“In my mind, I felt Richie had earned the opportunity to be the team’s head coach. I thought we worked incredibly well together. I think the way we looked at the situation was, we’ve got this thing going the right way. We built a strong foundation. We had one of the youngest rosters in the league. Our salary cap situation was outstanding. We felt like we had the right people in the building and that the foundation was built. Now, let’s continue to build on it.

“The bottom line was we were both pretty excited about the future there. Obviously, that’s not what happened.”

One reporter wrote that Davis “never was sold on Bisaccia,” who now is assistant head coach and special teams coordinator of the Green Bay Packers.

The other four interim head coaches for the Raiders were:

Marty Feldman in 1961 after Eddie Erdelatz, a successful college coach at Navy, was fired after two games following a 6-8 record in the Raiders’ inaugural AFL season of 1961 and a 0-2 start in 1962. Feldman posted a 2-15 record before he was replaced by another interim head coach, Red Conkright.

Conkright, who recorded a 1-8 record to close out the 1962 season, winning the final game, 20-0, over the Boston Patriots at Frank Youell Field in Oakland to avoid going 0-14, but owner Wayne Valley turned the Raiders franchise around in 1963 by hiring Al Davis as coach and general manager.

Bob Blum, the Raiders’ play-by-play announcer, famously said in the final minutes of that victory over the Patriots: “There will be dancing on Broadway tonight.”

Tom Cable, who became interim head coach of the Raiders in 2008 after a 1-3 start under Lane Kiffin, who was in 17-27 in his career as head coach of the Silver and Black. Cable was 5-11 the rest of the season before being replaced.

Tony Saprano, who was hired as interim head coach in 2014 after the Raiders started that season 0-4 under Coach Dennis Allen, who had an 8-28 record from 2012-14. Soprano had a 3-9 mark the rest of the way.

Raider Nation can only hope that Pierce can achieve more than the Silver and Black’s first five interim coaches.

The Silver and Black will remain at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to take on the New York Jets on Sunday, Nov. 12, at 8:20 p.m. EST/5:20 p.m. PST.

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