The Las Vegas Raiders fired head coach Antonio Pierce after only one season, the team announced Tuesday. Pierce, 46, went 4-13 in his lone season as the Raiders’ full-time head coach. He previously served as Las Vegas’s interim head coach in the 2023 season, posting a 5-4 record after the firing of Josh McDaniels.
Appreciation for Antonio Pierce
“We appreciate Antonio’s leadership, first as an interim head coach and this past season as the head coach,” the team wrote in a statement. "Antonio grew up a Raiders fan and his Silver and Black roots run deep. We are grateful for his ability to reignite what it means to be a Raider throughout the entire organization. We wish nothing but the best for Antonio and his family in the future.”
Antonio Pierce's Background
The Raiders promoted Pierce to the head job last January. Before then, he was the team’s linebackers coach starting in 2022. Pierce played nine seasons at linebacker in the NFL, winning a Super Bowl with the New York Giants after the 2007 season, then started his coaching career in high school at Long Beach Polytechnic in southern California. Prior to joining Las Vegas, Pierce coached at Arizona State from 2018 through 2021, serving in multiple capacities, including linebackers coach and defensive coordinator. He resigned ahead of the 2022 season during an NCAA investigation into a violation of recruiting rules.
Raiders' Recent History
The Raiders have made the playoffs only once since relocating to Las Vegas from Oakland, reaching in their turbulent 2021 season when head coach Jon Gruden resigned midseason after racist, misogynistic and homophobic emails he wrote were revealed publicly as part of an investigation into the then-Washington Football Team’s workplace culture. Including interim coaches, Las Vegas’s next head coach will be their fifth since the start of the 2021 season. The Raiders will select No. 6 overall in the upcoming NFL draft.
