Antonio Pierce won’t get to roll the dice again in Las Vegas.
The Raiders have fired their head coach following a dismal 4-13 campaign in Pierce’s first full season in the role, the team announced Tuesday.
“The Las Vegas Raiders have relieved Antonio Pierce of his duties as head coach,” the Raiders said in a statement. “We appreciate Antonio’s leadership, first as an interim head coach and this past season as the head coach.”
A Super Bowl-winning linebacker with the Giants, Pierce’s coaching career in Las Vegas began in 2022, when he coached the position.
He was named interim head coach midway through the 2023 season after Josh McDaniels was fired and went 5-4 the rest of the way, and players advocated strongly for him to get the job on a full-time basis.
Pierce, 46, was then elevated to the top job for the 2024 season.
Despite promise early in the year — an upset win over the Ravens in September — the Raiders soon found themselves in a race for the top pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, a prize ultimately won by the equally woeful тιтans.
The Raiders, now one of six NFL teams seeking a new coach, expressed graтιтude for Pierce and “his ability to reignite what it means to be a Raider throughout the entire organization.”
“We wish nothing but the best for Antonio and his family in the future,” the statement concluded.
Before his dismissal Tuesday, Pierce told reporters Monday he hadn’t been “told anything different” about his future with the franchise.
Pierce’s firing comes one day after the Jaguars let go of Doug Pederson. The Patriots also parted ways with first-year coach Jerod Mayo on Sunday.
The Bears, Jets and Saints fired their coaches midway through the year.
