Antonio Pierce: I want to be on the Mt. Rushmore of coaches who’ve done it with the Raiders
Antonio Pierce was named the Raiders full-time head coach midway through last month after a successful 5-4 stint as the interim coach during the 2023 season.
While Pierce never played for the Raiders in his pro career, he has made it clear that the organization played a pivotal role in his upbringing in Compton. Now that he’s officially the one to lead the organization forward, Pierce wrote in The Players’ Tribune that he has high expectations for his tenure.
“At the end of the day, I want to be on that Mount Rushmore of coaches who’ve done it with the Raiders and led this organization to the promised land,” Pierce wrote. “I want to be holding that Lombardi Trophy with one hand and a cigar in the other.”
Pierce also noted his appreciation for all of the current and former Raiders who were “pounding on the table” to say he should get the full-time job.
“And believe me, I fully realize how fortunate I am to have this opportunity,” Pierce wrote. “This isn’t something too many people would’ve predicted. I’m an African-American. I came from an urban environment. I was undrafted. Too small. Too short and everything else. Then I was told I was gonna s—t the bed as an interim head coach. I was told the odds were against me to get the job. I was told I couldn’t be a leader of men.
“But now, you know what? Here we are.”
As the Raiders look to build a consistent contender in the AFC West, Pierce said that not every player is built to be a part of the organization that he envisions. In Pierce’s mind, Las Vegas’ building is going to be a place that feels uniquely tied to the history of the organization and that will provide the foundation for the future.
“To be honest with you, not everybody’s a Raider player,” Pierce wrote. “Case in point: There’s what, about 500 guys getting ready for this draft? Well, I promise you there’s only about five of them that’s really Raiders, guys that we really want. The real ones, the Raider dudes, they got mental toughness. They got an edge. They got a sense of family in them, a brotherhood. They don’t want to be some social media like, or a quick click, or a retweet. You know what I mean? They’re looking for that long-term satisfaction.
“And they also got a certain makeup to them where … they want to make opposing players suffer. I call it ill intent. It’s not about going at the head, or doing nothing illegal or stupid. No, no. It’s about laying your paws on somebody so hard that you leave marks. That’s what it is to be a Raider. It’s intimidation. It’s winning the game before the game’s played. That’s the Raider way.”
We’ll see how the Raiders implement that going forward with Pierce and General Manager Tom Telesco in charge of the football operation.
