Titans request interview for Raiders interim coach Antonio Pierce
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have requested an interview with Las Vegas interim coach Antonio Pierce, potentially giving the Raiders competition should they eventually offer him the full-time job.
Tennessee is looking for a replacement for Mike Vrabel, who was fired Tuesday after six seasons. He went 56-48, but lost 18 of his last 24 games and went 6-11 this season.
The Titans also requested an interview with Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka. The Cowboys host the Green Bay Packers on Sunday in the wild-card round.
NFL teams can’t start in-person interviews until after the divisional round, and they also cannot interview candidates employed by other NFL teams until Tuesday or Wednesday for any coach whose team is done or team has a playoff bye.
The Raiders’ season is over after they finished 8-9, but went 5-4 after Pierce replaced Josh McDaniels at midseason.
Tennessee hired Ran Carthon last year, making him the franchise’s first Black general manager.
Las Vegas is making hiring a general manager a priority, having requested interviews with five external candidates. Interim general manager Champ Kelly is believed to be a strong candidate to get the position on a full-time basis, but the Carolina Panthers have requested an interview with him.
The Raiders aren’t the only team that might be interested in making Antonio Pierce their head coach this offseason.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Titans have requested permission to speak with Pierce about their head coaching vacancy. Pierce was the interim head coach for the Raiders after they fired Josh McDaniels during the season and the Raiders went 5-4 with him at the helm.
Pierce’s success led to calls from Raiders players to keep him on board on a permanent basis. The Raiders’ head coaching search is just getting underway, though, and interest from other teams could lead to Pierce being less of a bird in the hand this offseason than the Raiders might have expected him to be.
Vrabel completed his sixth season as Titans coach with Sunday’s win over the Jaguars that denied Jacksonville an AFC South title. Despite that win and the upset win over Miami last month, the Titans finished 6-11 and is 6-18 over the last 24 games with two missed postseasons.
In the last 13 months, the Titans GM and coach from a stretch of three straight playoff berths and two AFC South titles have exited Nashville. Jon Robinson and Vrabel helped create the roster and culture that produced the most successful stretch since Amy Adams Strunk has been controlling owner of the team. Both are now gone.
Vrabel leaves Nashville with three playoff appearances in six seasons, with one AFC title game berth and two AFC South titles. He had a 54-45 career record in the regulars season.
A source close to the situation told the Tennessean on Tuesday that Vrabel’s philosophy regarding collaboration between the coaching staff and the front office didn’t align with what the team wanted to do going forward. Vrabel’s philosophy more closely aligned with one person having the bulk of the decision-making power, similar to how the Titans functioned with Robinson as GM. With current GM Ran Carthon, that process is evolving.
Strunk released a statement on Tuesday about Vrabel’s firing, alluding to the different process of collaborating by the team moving forward.
“As the NFL continues to innovate and evolve, I believe the teams best positioned for sustained success will be those who empower an aligned and collaborative team across all football functions,” Strunk said in the statement. “Last year, we began a shift in our approach to football leadership and made several changes to our personnel to advance that plan. As I continued to assess the state of our team, I arrived at the conclusion that the team would also benefit from the fresh approach and perspective of a new coaching staff.”