Breaking news: Antonio Pierce is fired

Another coaching change for Mark Davis

Antonio Pierce lasted one full season as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Team owner Mark Davis has decided to relieve Pierce of his duties after a terribly disappointing season in which the Raiders finished just 4-13.

In the end, it’s not completely shocking that Davis made this decision. Last month, he failed to give Pierce a vote of confidence and he said he wanted to see progress made in the final stretch of games before evaluating Pierce.

However, in the big picture it is, indeed, stunning that this is the end of Pierce after one season.

Pierce, who was hired as linebackers coach in 2022, went 5-4 to end the 2023 season after taking over for the fired Josh McDaniels. The fiery Pierce was a player and fan favorite. But he went 4-13 in 2024 and was 9-17 overall. McDaniels was 9-16 when he was fired.

While the team always played hard, they weren’t very competitive this season, The Raiders trailed by double digits in 15 of 17 games. They lost by double digits nine times and were outscored by 125 points, which was sixth worst differential in the league. That helped doom him.

Several players, led by then team leaders Maxx Crosby and Davante Adams, pushed hard last January for Davis to make Pierce the head coach. Crosby publicly said he’d rather be trade if Pierce wasn’t kept. Crosby said the players were sick of change and wanted to stick with Pierce.

Now, however, the Raiders are facing change again.

Pierce’s positive influence as the interim coach didn’t carry over in 2024. It was a rocky season and Pierce and his staff made several odd in-game moves that contributed to the Raiders’ awful record. He fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and two other assistants in November, but it didn’t help.

Now, there are wholesale changes in Las Vegas as Davis embarks on yet another coaching search.

There have been eight head coaches (including interim coaches) of the Raiders since Davis took over as the owner in 2011 after his father Al Davis died.

As expected, the Raiders are reportedly retaining general manager Tom Telesco, who was hired after Pierce last year.