Getty Las Vegas Raiders interim head coach Antonio Pierce.
Though the Las Vegas Raiders are coming off a 20-13 loss to the Miami Dolphins, opinions on interim head coach Antonio Pierce are still high. The team is 2-1 since Pierce took over for Josh McDaniels and was very competitive against a Dolphins team that is considered among the best in the NFL.
Even following the loss, former NFL wide receiver turn Fox Sports analyst Keyshawn Johnson believes he’s seen enough and urged the Raiders to give Pierce the full-time head coaching job.
“As far as Antonio Pierce goes, why are we even still talking about if he should be hired or not? It’s done. That should be done,” Johnson said on a November 20 appearance on “The Herd.” “Right now, Mark Davis, if he didn’t do it on the plane home last night, he should be meeting with the president and general manager of the team … sitting down and talking to them about announcing Antonio [Brown] as the permanent head coach for the Raiders.”
The early signs are strong for Pierce as players have clearly rallied around him. He’ll have a real shot at earning the full-time head coaching job after the season but the situation is complicated for now.
Las Vegas Raiders Can’t Give Antonio Pierce Full-Time Job Yet
Keyshawn Johnson isn’t the first person to say the Raiders should make the move to promote Antonio Pierce but it’s simply not possible right now, according to NFL rules. The Rooney Rule states that “Clubs must conduct an in-person interview with at least one external minority candidate for any GM or head coaching interview” when they’ve moved on from a previous head coach.
While Pierce is a minority candidate, he is not an external one. Though Jeff Saturday would not qualify as a minority candidate, the topic came up when he served as the interim head coach for the Indianapolis Colts last season. Pittsburgh Steelers president and chair of the NFL’s workplace diversity committee Art Rooney II made it clear at the time that the Colts would have to do a full search regardless of how Saturday performed.
“Once the season’s over, the position has to be declared vacant, and they have to comply with all the rules,” Rooney said of the Colts at an owners meeting last year, via Pro Football Talk. “So as much as coach Saturday might be a candidate, they still have to go through all the procedures and requirements to fill the position that any other club would have. … The requirements still are there after the season, and we expect they’ll be complied with.”
Heavy Sports has reached out to the NFL for further clarification but based on this information, the Raiders would have to conduct a full head coaching search this offseason to satisfy the Rooney Rule.
No Rush to Make Decision
While Antonio Pierce has shown promise, there’s no reason for the Raiders to rush a decision even if the Rooney Rule didn’t exist. There are still six games left in the season for Pierce to keep showing Mark Davis why he deserves the job going forward.
Pierce only has less than two seasons of NFL coaching experience so it’d be risky to give him the full-time job after just three games. He’ll have a real chance to get the job but the Raiders are in a good position to evaluate him in the coming weeks.