Antonio Pierce: A Head Coach Who Held Everything Together
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 This is an interesting one.
00:04 So after Josh McDaniel's guys was fired,
00:07 they obviously moved ahead with Antonio Pierce
00:09 as their linebackers coach,
00:10 who had been a guy that coached college football.
00:13 In fact, when I met Antonio, let's see, in 2015,
00:16 he was working with us at ESPN.
00:18 He was deciding what he wanted to do with his career.
00:19 He had private businesses.
00:21 And you know, you fast forward now,
00:24 you know, eight or nine years later,
00:25 and now he's a head coach of the National Football League.
00:27 Here's why.
00:28 He held everything together.
00:29 He was five and four, which is pretty consider,
00:32 it's pretty good considering what happened there.
00:34 The players tuned out Josh McDaniel's.
00:36 They felt too tight.
00:37 They weren't playing freely.
00:39 That's what you want your players to do.
00:41 Not worry about being yelled at.
00:42 Team Source told me that McDaniel's was on his players
00:45 all the time.
00:46 They didn't take to his coaching.
00:48 And Pierce being an assistant knew this.
00:50 He was aware of it.
00:51 And he let these guys play freely.
00:53 He didn't let them do what they wanted,
00:54 but he just, he had them stop overthinking
00:58 on the practice field and in games.
00:59 And it worked.
01:01 And look, they looked into other head coaching candidates,
01:03 but the players really spoke up for Pierce.
01:06 And Mark Davis, I'm told, was so impressed
01:07 with Pierce's ability to keep everything together
01:10 when they could have fallen.
01:11 And guys, they pushed for a wild card spot for a while there.
01:14 In the end, they're not talented enough.
01:16 Now, what I'm interested to see going forward is
01:18 what does Pierce do?
01:19 He's going to be hiring an offense coordinator.
01:21 Yes, at all, I'm a starting quarterback.
01:22 Aiden O'Connell did a good job.
01:23 He certainly could be a backup,
01:25 but they have to figure out who the quarterback's
01:27 going to be for the future.
01:29 That is a big deal going forward here for the Raiders.
01:31 And give Patrick Graham, by the way,
01:33 the defense coordinator credit.
01:34 He was phenomenal this season,
01:36 with not a ton of talent to work with on the back end.
01:38 Do one of the best jobs in the NFL here.
01:41 And Patrick Graham deserves to be a head coach someday.
01:42 He's a really good coach.
01:44 (upbeat music)
01:47 (bells chiming)