The Las Vegas Raiders are shaking up the leadership ranks in the NFL and creating a structure never before seen in professional football — Black power. For the first time in history, the NFL has a team with a Black interim coach in Antonio Pierce, a Black interim general manager in Champ Kelly, and a Black female team president in Sandra Douglass Morgan.
Last week, Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis made a demonstrative change in leadership when he fired head coach Josh McDaniels, general manager Dave Ziegler, and some of the coaching staff of the Raiders. The move cost Davis approximately $85 million per multiple reports, but for David, it was about more than just the money; he wanted new energy.
“Unfortunately, I had great hopes for Josh and Dave,” Davis said to ESPN last Wednesday. “It just seemed we were going in the wrong direction. So, with the trade deadline, I just felt it was time to make a change, time to make a move.”
The Pierce Effect
In the aftermath, the contracts of interim head coach Antonio Pierce and interim GM Champ Kelly were reworked, and now the trio of Blackness at the top of the Raiders organization could be the precursor for a new way to imagine an NFL structure’s executive team.
For many, Davis’ choice for head coach has made headlines, as the former NFL player has a chance to turn around a franchise. David was reportedly “intrigued” by Pierce, who was an NFL linebacker for nine years with one Pro Bowl selection and a Super Bowl title with the New York Giants.
Pierce made his NFL head-coaching debut on Sunday, ironically, against his former Super Bowl-winning team, demolishing “Big Blue” 30-6, the NFL’s largest margin of victory immediately following a midseason coaching change since 2015.
“Seemed like a fresh approach,” Davis continued. “Seemed like the adjustment we need at this time. I was impressed.” Davis expressed that Pierce “understands the culture of the Raiders, and that’s important to me. I felt very good about it.”
New Day In The Desert
Raiders star Davante Adams felt renewed with Pierce at the helm, and the fact that he played the game on a high level was refreshing for Adams.
“We’ve got a new leader right now,” said All-Pro receiver Davante Adams to ESPN after the blowout win against the Giants on Sunday. “And it’s somebody that we can get behind and somebody that played the game. So it makes it a lot easier for us to connect with him, because he understands the mind of a player and he’s done a really good job just making sure we understand that it’s not about him — it’s about this team. It’s about us figuring it out and getting behind him, obviously. And I feel like that’s what everybody did. That’s why it looked that way today.”
The Raiders’ iconic black and silver was the uniform for NWA and general badassery, and now it’s the symbol of cultural progression in a league rife with old stigmas.
