Antonio Pierce is a former Pro Bowl NFL linebacker and defensive captain for the New York Giants and Super Bowl champion from the 2011 team that upset Tom Brady’s New England Patriots. He’s also a well-regarded coach. His resume includes stints as a defensive coordinator at the collegiate level, a linebackers coach for the Las Vegas Raiders, and as an interim head coach for the Raiders following the midseason firing of Josh McDaniels in 2023. Under his stewardship for the remainder of that season and the next, the Raiders posted a record of 9–7, and he was let go following the 2024 season.
Pierce is considered a strong leader of men, not a wizard of the “x’s and o’s” of football schemes or in-game strategy. At 47 years old, he’s likely not yet reached his peak as an NFL coach and may very well receive another shot running his own team, perhaps following a successful stint as a defensive coordinator. But for teams with current head coaching vacancies, his resume and reputation don’t stack up against those of the more coveted head coaches on the open market, a list that currently includes Super Bowl-winning coaches John Harbaugh and Mike McCarthy and two-time NFL Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski.
One team currently in the head coaching market is Pierce’s former squad, the Giants, who have wallowed in misery since the days Pierce and Eli Manning brought the franchise to glory 15 years ago, cycling through one failed head coach after the next. Upon hearing the news that Harbaugh and Stefanski had been let go by their former teams, the Giants pounced like a Republican on a bad Democratic news cycle, initiating contact and scheduling interviews. Giants general manager Joe Schoen wined and dined Stefanski within 48 hours of his firing by the Cleveland Browns. And reports that the Giants were “all in” on luring Harbaugh shot through sports media that very same night.
Giants fans have been refreshing their social media feeds by the minute, hoping to see a post from a trusted NFL reporter breaking news that either Stefanski or Harbaugh has been hired. The Giants, too, sense the urgency: every moment that passes without hiring either risks either or both of them being scooped up by a different team.
But quick hires rarely happen in the NFL, even when teams and coaches are a perfect match. That’s because the “Rooney Rule” requires teams to interview at least two minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operations jobs. Before they can pull the trigger on either of their preferred head coaches, they are required to hold sham interviews with black coaches they have no intention of hiring.
Pierce is one of those two black coaches being trotted in for an interview with Giants management this week, with little, if any, chance of landing the job. And that’s not because he’s black — indeed, if Super Bowl-winning Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin or Texans coach DeMeco Ryans hit the market, they would be among the team’s top choices. But Pierce, despite being a fan favorite and a highly regarded coach, simply lacks the qualifications of the top candidates.
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Worst of all, Pierce will now be stigmatized as a “Rooney Rule” coach, good enough to be used as a prop, but not enough to be taken seriously. The Giants, too, will be tarnished by the virtue-signaling charade.
Who exactly benefits from any of this? It’s time to put an end to this racist farce and get back to football.
