There were a lot of big names available this coaching cycle, but Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis didn’t really consider anyone besides Antonio Pierce, whom he said surprised him a little bit — but not that much — last season.
Davis also cleared up a misconception about the general manager hiring process when he talked with The Athletic Thursday evening, a day after the Raiders officially announced the promotion of interim coach Pierce to the full-time position as well as the hiring of former Los Angeles Chargers general manager Tom Telesco.
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Pierce sat in on the final round of GM interviews, Davis said.
Telesco came from behind to beat out the other two finalists‚ interim general manager Champ Kelly and Indianapolis Colts assistant general manager Ed Dodds — but Davis said he always kind of knew that Telesco was the right fit. Telesco, 51, has served as the Chargers general manager since 2013 before being fired last month.
“I had followed him for the past (11) years obviously,” Davis said in a phone interview Thursday evening. “I had got to know him a little bit and liked his temperament. I always felt that the Chargers had a scary type of roster. Playing them twice a year, Raiders-Chargers games were never easy.”
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Telesco drafted eight Pro Bowl players and signed another in undrafted running back Austin Ekeler. The Chargers made the playoff three times but never advanced past the divisional round or won the AFC West under Telesco and three head coaches.
“I looked back at the (11) years he was there and basically, we split,” Davis said. “The Raiders won two more games than them. … He’s got experience, and that was really important at this point. That was huge.”
Especially with a first-time head coach in Pierce. He and Telesco spoke Wednesday of their first time meeting last week, but that wasn’t after Telesco was hired like most think.
“I don’t think people understood how that process went,” Davis said. “The initial interviews with the GMs were only them and the group of five or six that we had. Once we narrowed it down to the three finalists, I wanted to make sure that Antonio was in on those interviews as well. So, he was in all of the second interviews with the three candidates.”
Among the finalists, only Telesco’s second interview happened after Pierce was officially hired.
“That was part of the process, and then a decision was made,” Davis said.
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Pierce went 5-4 as interim coach after taking over for the fired Josh McDaniels, and not only did the home crowd chant his initials after the finale but the Raiders players loudly campaigned for Pierce when they weren’t smoking celebratory cigars.
Davis chuckled at that a little bit.
“There was a lot of pressure on me from the outside to hire Antonio for the head-coaching job, but I think people forget I was the one who hired him in the first place for the interim job,” Davis said. “When I interviewed him back then, I got the feeling that he was something special.
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“Growing up in L.A, knowing the Raiders and the culture of the Raiders back then, I thought he was the perfect choice at the perfect time to take us through the season. What surprised me was how successful he was at winning over the team as quickly as he did. Winning over the fan base as quickly as he did. Winning over the alumni as quickly as he did. And winning over the building as quickly as he did.”
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Those are the four constituencies Davis said he is always looking to.
“I went through a nine-week interview process for the head coaching job of the Raiders,” said Davis, referring to Pierce’s time as interim coach. “And it was unanimous from the players, fans, alumni and staff that Antonio Pierce was the right man moving forward. He earned that.”
Pierce, who was a Super Bowl-winning captain for the New York Giants, is often called a players’ coach. But Davis thinks that sells him short.
“A players’ coach is a players’ coach, but (Pierce) is also someone who will discipline guys, as we saw during the season with Marcus Peters (who was released),” Davis said, “Antonio has compassion, but he also has discipline.
“Antonio is more than just a players’ coach. He absolutely has the X’s and O’s and is very smart and is a quick learner. He has the humble ability to understand that he doesn’t know everything and therefore he is willing to bring in people like Tom Coughlin and Marvin Lewis. And learn from them, learn the nuances of being a head coach in the National Football League, learn the nuances of scheduling and all of those different kinds of things that come with the job.”
Davis said the roles of coaches have grown over the years.
“Both the coach and GM are like the CEOs now,” he said. “They have to have a lot of abilities, and the coach has to have to ability to learn them, and Antonio is willing to listen to people who have done it before.”
"We're going to build this bad boy."
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) January 25, 2024
Lewis, a head coach for 15 years with the Cincinnati Bengals before he was an adviser at Arizona State, once coached Pierce when he was defensive coordinator at Washington. He is staying on with the Raiders after advising Pierce last year, and it appears his role will be tied to the coaching staff rather than in football operations.
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“That’s really up to Antonio and Marvin to figure that out,” Davis said. “He brings experience and a tempered personality, which is a good balance for Antonio. He brings a lot.
“You can’t learn enough from people when you’re first starting off doing something. There are so many things that hit you. As I tell people, every day I wake up and there is a WTF moment. Whether it’s about the football field, or the offense or this or that … it’s not like it looks on video games.”
Just like on video games, though, the Raiders need someone to call plays on offense, and they have had several candidates in for interviews. Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan, who once coached for Coughlin, was in the building Thursday, and former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury is in Friday. Former Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, who has ties to Lewis, is also a strong candidate.
The Raiders also requested permission to talk with Los Angeles Rams quarterback coach Zac Robinson, but he has not come in and may be following new head coach Raheem Morris to the Atlanta Falcons.
After that, the Raiders will look to free agency or the draft to find a quarterback to compete with Aidan O’Connell, who went 5-5 in his rookie season and finished strong. He tallied eight touchdowns and no interceptions in the final four games.
“I thought Aidan did a really nice job,” Davis said. “He won some games. He beat the Chiefs. That’s big. … He scored 63 points against the Chargers.”
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Television cameras at that game last month caught Davis so happy that he looked like he was almost in shock.
“The Chargers game was an incredulous thing,” he said. “The Jack Jones interception … at that point, you’re thinking, ‘Is this really, really happening?’”
It’s a fun feeling that Davis hopes to recapture with Pierce and Telesco.
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“You always want to win the Super Bowl at the start of the season, and we understand some of the holes we have to fill on the roster,” Davis said. “We’re putting together our staff and getting our personnel department up and ready, and we’ll see what the offseason brings.
“But we’re off to a great start.”
(Top photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
