The Las Vegas Raiders have fired Antonio Pierce, per multiple reports Tuesday.
A 9-year NFL veteran with the Washington Redskins and New York Giants, Pierce became the Raiders' head coach due to dysfunction above him on the team's org chart.
Raiders statement on the firing of Antonio Pierce: pic.twitter.com/hz4POrmyqr
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 7, 2025
The head coach at Long Beach Poly from 2014-17, Pierce joined Herm Edwards's Arizona State staff in 2018. That tenure saw him rise to defensive coordinator before he was suspended by the NCAA for violating multiple recruiting rules. He received an 8-year show-cause, and Arizona State self-imposed a bowl ban for the 2023 season.
Nevertheless, Pierce joined the Raiders staff as linebackers coach in 2022, was promoted to interim head coach in 2023, and then named the full-time head coach for 2024. The club went 5-4 with him as the interim, but 4-13 during his one full-time season.
As with many NFL head coaching tenures, Pierce's regime cannot be analyzed apart from the organizational failure around him. The next Raiders head coach will be the club's fourth since the 2021 season, a span that began with Jon Gruden's midseason resignation for offensive emails he sent in his time between head-coaching jobs.
Even aside from that, since the franchise traded Jon Gruden to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ahead of the 2002 season, the Silver and Black have employed 11 full-time head coaches. None have lasted four full seasons, and only one left with a winning record: Jack Del Rio, who went 25-23. The Raiders have not won a playoff game since winning the AFC and reaching the Super Bowl in the 2002 season.
In that Super Bowl, the Raiders lost, 48-21, to Jon Gruden.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.