Las Vegas Raiders make Antonio Pierce full-time head coach

The Las Vegas Raiders made their interim coach Antonio Pierce the full-time head coach, the team announced on Friday.

The Raiders began the 2023 National Football League (NFL) regular season with a 3-5 record. One day after the 26-14 loss to the Detroit Pistons on October 30, 2023, the team fired coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler, replacing them with linebackers coach Pierce and Champ Kelly on an interim basis.

The Raiders finished the rest of the nine games with five wins under Pierce, including the franchise-record 63-21 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. Though the team failed to qualify for the playoffs in the end, their owner Mark Davis was "really excited" about the job Pierce did, according to ESPN.

The Raiders allowed only 16 points per game, four defensive touchdowns and 31 penalties in the nine games under Pierce, all the fewest in the league. "[Pierce] understands the culture of the Raiders, and that's important to me," Davis said.

"It's legendary," the Raiders' defensive end Maxx Crosby said of Pierce's coaching performance. "When you have the right culture, a guy like A.P. that embraces the history of the Raiders, it's special. ... A ton of legends [visit] consistently because the amount of respect they have for him. So it makes you, as a player, want to go out there and show who you are. You know what I mean? You want to be at that level one day."

Crosby posted a career-high 14.5 sacks this season and was selected into both the Pro Bowl and the Second-team All-Pro.

"I will never use the word 'deserve'," Pierce said when asked about the head coach job after the regular season finale. "Hopefully, I've earned it."

The Raiders have appeared only twice in the postseason and have only had two winning seasons since they reached Super Bowl XXXVII in the 2002 campaign.