Deion Sanders congratulates Antonio Pierce on landing the head coaching job with the Raiders
The Las Vegas Raiders made a popular hire on Friday, when they decided to take the interim head coaching tag off Antonio Pierce. The Raiders named him their new head football coach on Friday, after leading the team to a number of impressive wins, including a 20-14 road win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
On Friday evening, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders congratulated Pierce on the big opportunity in front of him.
After Pierce took over in Week 9, the Raiders were tied for 10th in the NFL in takeaways (14), tied for fifth in turnover margin (+6), and tied for third in sacks. Their defense also managed to allow a league-low 16.0 points per game.
Before joining the NFL coaching ranks, Pierce spent five years with the Arizona State Sun Devils, working as their linebackers coach, before adding the title of associate head coach and defensive coordinator. In 2021, he was promoted to defensive coordinator for ASU, helping the Sun Devils defense rank first in the Pac-12 in scoring defense (20.8 points per game), first in total yards allowed per game (326.3 yards), tied for first in defensive touchdowns (three), second in interceptions (16) and second in sacks (27).
The Raiders officially announced the new hire around 7:30 PM EST on their Twitter page.
Pierce posted a 5-4 record with the Raiders during his nine games as their interim head coach in 2023. He was in his second season of coaching the linebackers for the franchise, prior to being named the interim head coach on Oct. 31, 2023. One of the highlights of the season came when Las Vegas put up a franchise-record 63 points in a blowout win over the LA Chargers.
Before joining the Arizona State coaching staff, he spent four seasons as the head coach for Long Beach Poly High School. As a player, he played for Arizona after transferring from Mount San Antonio College. Pierce played in 23 games and racked up 152 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, and seven sacks for the Wildcats.
He entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with Washington in 2001, playing four seasons with them before joining the New York Giants as an unrestricted free agent in 2005. During his nine-year career, he started 85 games, racking up 732 total tackles, eight sacks, seven interceptions, eight forced fumbles, and 11 fumble recoveries. Pierce won a Super Bowl with the Giants and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2006.