The Las Vegas Raiders had arguably the most exciting coaching search of the offseason. After Antonio Pierce helped turn around a Raiders team spiraling downhill, many felt that Pierce had done enough to prove he could be the Raiders’ next permanent coach.
Pierce finished 5-4 in his nine games as Las Vegas’ interim head coach. While grateful for the support, Pierce says he told Raiders owner Mark Davis not to make the head coaching decision based on the opinions of others.
“What I told Mark [Davis] is, I told Mark. I told him very simple; I don’t want to Mark making the decision base off of the noise or what he’s feeling pressure to do,” Pierce said. “I said, ‘When you make your decision, I want you to go home at night and sleep well.'”
Pierce said he wanted Davis to be fully confident in hiring him.
“[I want Davis to feel] like, ‘that’s my guy. I made the right decision.’ No second guessing. If you second guess it, let me go; let me walk. We had a great conversation about that,” Pierce said.
Although the mutual between Pierce and the Raiders was more than mutual, and the Raiders ultimately decided to hire him, Pierce still interviewed with other teams around the league. It was an experience Pierce enjoyed.
