Raiders & Superstar Head Coach Could Have Mutual Interest: Insider

Getty Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis.

Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh turned a lot of heads with the news that he hired Don Yee as his agent. This was notable due to the fact that Yee represents Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo, who are both involved with the Las Vegas Raiders currently.

The Raiders have a head coaching opening this offseason and Harbaugh has been linked to the job in the past. It looks like there’s a lot of smoke surrounding the situation this time around. Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the two sides have had “mutual” admiration in the past and the stars could finally be aligning for them to partner up.

“The buzz of him being in play for the Raiders has been ongoing since Davis fired McDaniels on Halloween night, but it wasn’t clear how interested Harbaugh was in leaving Michigan for the NFL. The hiring of Yee changes all that, and as an NFL source with knowledge of the situation indicated Tuesday, Harbaugh to the Raiders is very much ‘in play,'” Bonsignore wrote in a January 2 column.

“Harbaugh, whose wife is from Las Vegas, began his coaching career in 2002 as an assistant with the Raiders and spent two seasons in Oakland as the quarterbacks coach. In his short time with the Raiders, Harbaugh made quite an impression on Al Davis, the team’s longtime owner and Mark’s father.”

Mark Davis Is a Fan of Jim Harbaugh

Jim Harbaugh has been linked to the Raiders head coaching job for years. He got his start with the franchise as a quarterbacks coach back in 2002 so he has ties to the franchise. Vincent Bonsignore gave some insight into how Mark Davis feels about Harbaugh.

“Mark Davis has remained a fan of Harbaugh and considers him a winner and difference-maker,” Bonsignore wrote. “He considered him for the Raiders’ coaching job in 2015 and 2022 before turning elsewhere.

“But there’s growing speculation that things might be different this time around.”

Davis likes to take big swings at head coach as proven by his last two hirings of Jon Gruden and Josh McDaniels. Those two coaches didn’t work out but it’s hard to ignore Harbaugh’s 44-19 record as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. He’s had success at every stop in his career so there’s no reason to believe he’ll fail now.

What About Antonio Pierce?

Interim head coach Antonio Pierce could be the victim of bad timing. After the Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 16, it looked like the full-time head coaching job was his to lose. Had the team beat the Indianapolis Colts in Week 17 and kept Las Vegas in the playoffs race, Harbaugh might not even be a topic related to the Raiders right now.

However, Pierce’s record as head coach is 4-4 and the team isn’t going to the playoffs. He’s almost certainly in the mix to be the head coach next season but Mark Davis could be convinced that a more experienced and proven coach like Jim Harbaugh is the smarter move. If Harbaugh decides to stay in college or go elsewhere, Pierce should be the favorite to be the head coach of the Raiders next season.