The Raiders wrapped up their coaching search Sunday, finally settling on Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels after an exhausting 12-day interview process with candidates including Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, New England inside linebackers coach Jerod Mayo and interim coach Rich Bisaccia.
This will be McDaniels’ second head-coaching job following an earlier stint with Denver from 2009-10. McDaniels was also pursued by Indianapolis during the 2018 hiring cycle, but stayed in New England after a sudden change of heart. That stunt (which his agent at the time equated to “professional suicide”) took McDaniels years to recover from, only receiving serious consideration from the Raiders, who double-dipped by tapping another Patriots alum, director of player personnel Dave Ziegler, as their new general manager.
McDaniels arrives as one of the most decorated coordinators in all of football, boasting six Super Bowl rings as an assistant and, more importantly, the trust of coaching legend and longtime mentor Bill Belichick. Some suspected McDaniels would be the heir to Belichick’s throne in New England, though the 45-year-old must have gotten tired of waiting, forging a new path for himself in Las Vegas. And while there’s reason to believe McDaniels has learned from his past mistakes (the Broncos canned him after just 28 games), the hire was met with mixed reviews by players, who would have preferred the Raiders remove Bisaccia’s “interim” title and made him the permanent head coach.
Per beat reporter Vic Tafur of The Athletic, players were “disappointed” Bisaccia wasn’t retained after closing the regular season with four straight victories. Bisaccia’s coaching staff felt similarly betrayed, “bitter” that the Raiders went in another direction.
Las Vegas could have packed it in after Jon Gruden’s stunning midseason departure (the result of leaked emails containing racist, homophobic and misogynistic language), followed weeks later by the Henry Ruggs tragedy. But the resilient Raiders never quit, beating the Chargers in Week 18 to secure their first playoff berth in five years.
Bisaccia clearly made a tremendous impact during his 13 games as head coach, quickly winning over the locker room with his poise and confidence at a time when Vegas needed it most. Still, the Raiders obviously felt they could do better, turning the page on the Gruden Era once and for all with a new regime led by McDaniels and Ziegler. Though it won’t be with the Raiders, Bisaccia may still end up as a head coach after being granted an interview with the Jaguars, who are seeking new leadership after their failed Urban Meyer experiment ended in predictably disastrous fashion.
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