Mark Davis made the mistake of passing on Rich Bisaccia for the Raiders’ head-coaching job two years ago, but is there a chance he could circle back to Bisaccia now?
Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter believes Bisaccia is high on the Raiders’ list of candidates to replace Josh McDaniels, but said a lot will depend on who Davis is listening to this time around.
On his Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast, this is what Hondo said about Bisaccia’s chances…
“Do I think Mark [Davis] will give it to him? I don’t know who is going to be in Mark’s ear. If Mark is going on his gut, I think Rich [Bisaccia] has a very good chance. Not as good as [Antonio Pierce] and not as good as [Jon] Gruden, but a very good chance… I think Bisaccia is right there. If he goes with [the input of] other people, I don’t think Rich has a good chance.”
Hondo listed his top five candidates for the Raiders head coaching job, and Bisaccia came in at no. 3. The top two candidates were Antonio Pierce and Jon Gruden. Lions OC Ben Johnson and Dolphins OC Frank Smith came in at no. 4 and no. 5, respectively.
We don’t know who will be advising Davis in the coaching search, but Tom Brady and Jim Gray have both been mentioned as two of his primary advisors.
Former Raidres CEO Amy Trask talked about that dynamic several weeks ago…
“Many of his in-house advisors have changed of late,” Trask said last month on Maggie & Perloff. “People that were in house that advised him when he was selecting Josh McDaniels, they’re gone.”
“He’s got a lot of outside advisors,” Trask continued. “There’s a connectivity with the Tom Brady advisor role in the following sense. One of his primary, primary advisors is Jim Gray, and of course Jim Gray has connectivity with Tom Brady. So that’s a little… Venn diagram. There are others [including] Ron Wolf [and] Ken Herock. Both of them have very strong football backgrounds. Mike Ornstein is an advisor, so he does have advisors outside the building.”
Herock presumably won’t have the same role that he did when the Raiders hired McDaniels. Rumor has it that he didn’t even ask McDaniels about what went wrong in Denver in those interviews. That reported detail, and the fact that McDaniels ended up being an ineffective head coach, should be enough to disqualify Herock from having a strong hand in the team’s latest coaching search.
As for Jim Gray, he is an accomplished sportscaster, but is there any reason to believe he understands how to build a football team?
Tom Brady was a great quarterback in the league for a lot of years, but many believe he played a role in the decision to bring McDaniels to the Raiders.
So when the dust finally settles on the season, Davis might be wise to follow his own gut on this coaching hire… whoever that might lead him to.
twitter: @raidersbeat
I’m thinking Harbaugh.
Hate the misnomer insiders, unless you’re a member of the organization you are less of an insider to anything, than the thousands of us that have been followers of the raiders since the early 60s. Just a bunch of hooyah speculation 😤
You know, God sometimes gives us a second chance, if Mark truly wants to help clear his name of all the feces his has put this organization through, this will help. If not , may he burn in hell for millenniums.
Gruden should have never been let go! That’s what happens when you listen to the political woke mob! Leave politics out of sports! Bisaccia should have never been let go! Pierce is NOT ready for prime time. Not that it matters, but my picks, in order of preference are: 1st – Rich Bisaccia; 2nd – Harbaugh; 3rd – Gruden; 4th – Pierce (???)
A bunch of speculation, at this point. But, the team should leave no stone unturned when searching for viable HC and GM candidates. I don’t think Gruden would be a wise choice for multiple reasons. He’s proven that he can’t build thru the draft, and with his pending NFL lawsuit, the Raiders would be on the bad side of the league’s power brokers. I would prefer a younger cutting-edge type HC.
Raiders need keep the Coach Antonio P and Josh Jacob bottom line. AND get the a top Quarterback out of college. Ans reload their defense backs. Raiders need to really focus on their “Defense” RaidersFan4Life
Hard to believe that coach Pierce could be a good HC in this moment. He has been working with our defense for several years without any success.
Bring the Liuons OC has HC and give coach Pierce the DC position and see how it goes
Hard to believe that coach Pierce could be a good HC in this moment. He has been working with our defense for several years without any success.
Bring the Lions OC has HC and give coach Pierce the DC position and see how it goes