Sports
Las Vegas Raiders Coach Antonio Pierce Is Trying to Bring Back Glory to Raider Nation

COSTA MESA, Calif. – For someone who supposedly finds himself in such a difficult situation, Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce definitely doesn’t seem burdened.
The Raiders have had a winning record in only two of the last 21 seasons, and their last postseason victory got here during former President George W. Bush’s first term. Given the franchise’s long-standing struggles, it seems the Raiders’ iconic motto needs an update: Just Win, Baby?
But if Pierce, who’s entering his first full season because the Raiders’ running back, is worried in regards to the team’s alleged major shortcomings, he has hidden it well.
As Pierce recently milled about monitoring training camp drills, he wore a broad smile. He was clearly energetic during transient meetings with assistant coaches and support staff between practice periods. And in his interactions with the ardent Raiders fans and reporters who cover the team, Pierce was an enticing ambassador for the franchise.
He’s not burying his head within the sand, Pierce said. He knows the Raiders are on a roll. It’s just that Pierce has shocked doubters throughout his playing profession, so he isn’t changing course now. Let others give attention to the Raiders’ apparent shortcomings. Pierce has a job to do. And make no mistake, he said, it’ll get done.
“My whole life (I’ve had) a back-to-the-wall mentality,” Pierce told Andscape. “I’ve always been told what I can’t do. And when you have the opportunity to go out and do it, and you’ve shown (before) that you can do it, why wouldn’t you believe you can do it again? And why wouldn’t you talk about doing it from now on?”
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Pierce is respected inside the Raiders organization for not mincing words but taking motion.
In November 2023, Pierce was in just his second yr because the team’s linebackers coach when owner Mark Davis tapped him as interim coach. In the midst of a significant organizational shakeup, Davis ousted then-coach Josh McDaniels, who had failed to connect with players as Las Vegas descended into 3-5 chaos.
The ineffective Daniels seemed stuck in his glory days as an assistant coach with the New England Patriots, which meant about as much to the Raiders because the brand of lightbulbs utilized in their headquarters in Henderson, Nevada. Pierce immediately set about rebuilding the bridges within the locker room, as is normal for him.
Throughout his NFL playing days with the Washington Redskins and New York Giants, the previous middle linebacker was an excellent teammate and leader, former NFL players said. Pierce emphasized labor, trust and responsibility, telling Raiders players and coaches that he would expect no less of himself than he demanded of them. For grown men bored with the mini-dictator approach, Pierce’s style was refreshing.
The change in management philosophy translated into improved results on the pitch.
The Raiders went 5-4 under Pierce. The victories included a 20-14 victory over the archrival Kansas City Chiefs in Kansas City on Christmas Day, which delighted Davis and played a task in rewarding Pierce with a multi-year contract that allowed him to stay on. Confident in himself as the proper man to lead the Raiders, Pierce proved it to Davis as well.
“It’s not always perfect. Sometimes things don’t go the way you think they’re going to, and some things are just out of your control,” Pierce said. “The only thing I could control was my effort. That’s something you’ll be able to do day-after-day.
“The good thing about it is that everyone sees the effort. They see what you expect of yourself and what (standard) you set for yourself. Our players, coaching staff and Raider Nation saw that and supported me to be a head coach in the future. Mr. Davis saw that, too.”
As star wide receiver Davante Adams said, from what players saw each day, Pierce had loads of upside.
“AP is the right coach for any team,” the three-time first-team All-Pro said. “He’s real. He’s understanding. He’s very realistic (about the difficulty of the game), but he also upholds and maintains the standard of play that he believes in and that we all believe in. It’s just very, very easy to follow a guy (who) understands the bigger picture and has the same mindset that we do as players. It’s easy to get behind that.”
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Born and raised in Southern California, Pierce, 45, fell in love with football and the Raiders as a baby. In 1982, the franchise moved from Oakland, California, where it was founded in 1960, to Los Angeles, where it played its home games at the large Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Although Pierce developed right into a standout linebacker and fullback at Paramount High in Paramount, California, he was not considered an elite college prospect. After two years at Mount San Antonio College, a community college in Walnut, California, Pierce transferred to the University of Arizona. Despite solid performances for the Wildcats, Pierce was not chosen within the 2001 NFL Draft.
In 2001, Washington signed Pierce as an undrafted rookie free agent. Undeterred by the way in which he arrived within the NFL, Pierce was determined to prove he was in the proper place.
By his fourth season, the determined Pierce had gone from a special teams player and little-used defensive linebacker to the team’s starting middle linebacker. He was rewarded for his perseverance when the Giants signed him as a free agent after the 2005 season.
Pierce finished his playing profession with the Giants by becoming a team captain, being named to the Pro Bowl and helping the Giants win Super Bowl XLII over favored New England, which was vying to change into the second undefeated team in league history. Before joining the Raiders, Pierce was an ESPN analyst and spent five seasons because the coach at Arizona State.
Including interim coaches, the Raiders have had 13 head coaches previously 21 seasons. For Pierce to enjoy longevity on the position, he needs to discover a way at quarterback. Fast. Sophomore Aidan O’Connell, who had some good moments as a rookie in Las Vegas last season, is competing with veteran Gardner Minshew II for the starting job.
The Raiders are, in a way, unlucky to play within the AFC West, which is run by the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. Kansas City has won three Super Bowls in five seasons, becoming the NFL’s newest dynasty, and has won eight straight division titles.
Pierce is well aware of the Chiefs’ long list of accomplishments, but he won’t accept mediocrity, nor will he allow those under his command to accomplish that.
“You train and play this game to win the Lombardi (Super Bowl trophy). That’s it,” Pierce said. “So that’s what we attempt for.
“But more importantly, it’s something more for this organization, after not having the success we’ve been accustomed to over the last 25 years. It would be great to see, for me and for this team, something back for Raider Nation. To bring back the glory.”
To do this, the Raiders, like the remainder of the AFC, could have to face the Chiefs. Kansas City has appeared in six straight AFC Championship Games, winning 4.
Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, widely considered the league’s best player, has terrorized the Raiders in 12 profession games against them, throwing 30 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. The Chiefs are 10-2 in those games. So Pierce got here up with “The Patrick Mahomes Rules.”
In short, Pierce’s strategy emphasizes using physicality against Mahomes (inside the principles, in fact), hoping to affect the three-time Super Bowl MVP’s psychology. The concept harkens back to “The Jordan Rules,” a successful scheme utilized by the Detroit Pistons within the late Nineteen Eighties to demoralize Chicago Bulls point guard Michael Jordan, then the sport’s best player, within the playoffs.
A coach calling on defensive players to go above and beyond in harassing the league’s most iconic quarterback is something that plays well within the locker room. But not a lot within the league office.
Of course, NFL referees will likely be especially vigilant in monitoring things as teams play this season. The Raiders correctly kept away from commenting on the topic.
Pierce, for his part, said he isn’t holding back on any of the actions he’s taken since becoming Raiders coach, “because at the end of the day, you’ve got to try something different. You’ve got to try to make the change you want. I want to win. I want to win for the coaches, the players, Mr. Davis … everybody in Raider Nation. If we do that, if we can have that success again, that’s what makes me happy.”
And in pursuit of happiness, Pierce will come to work day-after-day with a positive attitude, trying to prove the naysayers flawed. So far, it’s an approach that has served him well.
Sports
Jalen Milroe can follow the Jalen path in NFL

Star Black playmakers aren’t any longer an exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the entire football season, this series will discover the importance and influence of black QB from bottom -up to NFL.
Indianapolis-keep me, should you heard it earlier: playmaker Alabama born in Texas, who’s a stronger runner than a passerby, will probably be called outside the first round of the NFL Draft.
The playmaker was undefeated in Sec as a primary -year starter.
The playmaker never played for the same offensive coordinator.
The name of the playmaker is even Jalen.
But it isn’t clear that Jalen hurts. This winter he was busy winning the Super Bowl MVP, and he didn’t play Iron Bowl or against Michigan.
Instead, it’s a former playmaker of Crimson Tide Jalen Milroewho last week Combine Combine tried to convey the case to the trainers and evaluators that he – like his namesake – is price being their playmaker franchise in the future despite questions on his ability.
“I went through adversity. I saw everything as a quarterback, “Milroe said on Friday. “I played at the most difficult conference in the country. It would be easier to play at other conferences, but what I could see in Sec catapulted me that I was ready to play NFL. “
Justin Casterline/Getty Images
Departing from Katy in Texas, she originally got involved in Texas in 2019, but a 12 months later she fell to Alabama. After he was sitting behind the Crimson Tide Starter Bryung for 2 seasons, Milroe took his reins in the 2023 season. He helped Alabama survive Sec (8-0) this 12 months, won by the conference rival and two-time defender Georgia in the SEC championship, which caused Crimson Tide to the play-off collection.
But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards for the test took third place in Sec in 2023), the pass was not his strong suit. For two seasons as a starter Milroe never achieved 3000 yards in one season, the first starter of Alabama, who did it because it … hurts.
Hurts, from Houston, led Crimson Tide to the National National Championships in 2016–17, but during these two seasons were lower than 5,000 yards. While Hurts was a singular Rusher (1,809 yards and 21 sticks) at the moment, his weakness as a passerby is known for led to the spare Tua Tavailoa during the break of the national championships in 2017.
In the mix, Milroe decided that despite his pedestrian passes, he was still worthy of being a start at NFL.
He is aware of his weaknesses and swore that he worked in the ass to enhance outside being “one dimension.” He could move when his legendary trainer, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but decided to not fall off. He traveled six miles a day to ensure that that something was left in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter. He studied progression and reads after I-SNAP to lift his IQ in football.
Unlike the forecast sorts of the first round, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw a mix on Saturday, hoping that he would show the bands that he has mechanics to do that to the playmaker NFL. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and a very good location of sail routes, curls and it while throwing exercises, but fought accuracy on intermediate and on the routes.
“That’s so many things that I can learn more where I am today and where I will be when it comes to day 1, starting with NFL,” said Milroe before Saturday exercises. “Always be a game student, at all times attempt to develop, because it would be so many opportunities in which I can look back and say that it was the moment after I grew up as a playmaker.
“That’s right now, I’m just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look for development.”
Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images
Milroe was asked that he was one other playmaker in Alabama to succeed in the mix, following in the footsteps of the role (who moved to Oklahoma in 2019), Tavailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the company of others, but he added that it’s difficult to check him with others.
“We had different bands, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.
But when he specifically asked what he could study the journey of Hurts-from the first manager of the game after the super Bowl-Milroe master said he inspired him his companion Alabam.
“The most important thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head (I) always continued to work,” said Milroe. “He at all times raised his game, he has never been self -deserved, and all the pieces you see is great progress from him.
“And I have to applaud him as a person, he as a man, because he is definitely inspiring for many playmakers of my image, as well as many playmakers throughout the country. He leads to all of us. “
The couple isn’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 kilos on Milroe when he was in college. Milroe has a stronger arm, while Hurts played more and not using a mistake of football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 bags for 2 seasons as a starter in comparison with 10 captures Hurts and 43 bags.
But they can each be changing the game when their teams need them. In a highly publicized match against Georgia at the starting of the last season, Milroe finished almost 82% of his passes on 374 yards and two appointments, adding 117 yards to the ground for the next two results.
Milroe can also match the wounds in the so -called “Jalen-ISMS. “
“Climbing upstairs is not easy, but when you reach the top of this mountain, you will learn so many things when it comes to adversity when it comes to difficulties, things along the way,” said Milroe in a mix.
Sports
Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos from 1968. Black Power Salute inspired me to find my goal

I’d say that I grew up within the household to be sure that that me and my siblings were aware of the black history. My parents invested in the gathering of black encyclopedias. On the duvet we had a version of the Bible with Black Jesus. Our house was stuffed with books of black novelists and thinkers, and if a black document appeared, we watched it. I watched all movies made on television about Dr. King, each “Roots” and “Alex Haley’s Queen” and I sat for all 14 hours “Eyes on the reward”-as a toddler. Bless my heart.
Having said this, there have been pockets of black history, and more likely that I had no opportunity to delve into once I was a toddler. The college was where all the will for information and understanding of the combined. I attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., One of a very powerful historically black universities within the country. It was there that I met people from around the globe whose knowledge about black history differed (often depending on the colleges and the communities by which we lived), but everyone had hunger to learn more.
One day, through the first yr, I remember one among my friends in a T -shirt by which I had definitely seen before, but I never paid attention to. There was a black and white screen printing on the shirt (what I do know now) the enduring moment on the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, where on the rostrum for 200-meter medals, Tommie Smith, John Carlos (races 1. And 3. Place Finaners) Everyone gathered a black fist in gloves while he played “Star Spangled Banner”. Peter Norman, the second place from Australia, wore a human rights badge, like Smith and Carlos.
Not only did they raise the fist of black power (although they each said it was for human rights), they received medals in black socks to represent poverty within the black community, and Smith wore a black scarf for black pride. Carlos showed solidarity with blue-wheeled employees, unpacking the jacket and wore a necklace from the beads for individuals who were lynched. Due to the state of Black America in 1968 and a continuing struggle for equality and civil rights, there have been calls to a boycott of the Games. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also killed in April this yr – and all three athletes were inspired enough to find a way to do it on the rostrum, which led to one of the crucial durable images of public protest.
I remember how I learned history and realized that on the most important scene these brave men used their moment of triumph and victory to quietly protest against the conditions of underrated communities in America. I felt strengthened; We often discuss standing on the arms of giants, however the more I got into the history of black in America, the more I spotted what number of giants there have been. In college I used to be very bad and for a while ready to burn every part that represented the establishment or any obstacle to black liberation. I felt like all those individuals who even saw their space on the planet in reference to individuals who could never give you the option to speak as heroes whose lives were to be modeled later. Especially since it was also fastidiously that putting people in front of him can often bring an enormous personal loss.
When Smith and Carlos took their position, they were booed on the stadium and ordered to be sent home by the International Olympic Committee. The athletes returned home, but they weren’t welcomed by the hero, but as a substitute of rough sleds, and even in some cases the specter of death. They were also not beloved by athletes. Two men, associated eternally in history, even have a good relationship –Carlos even claims that he let Smith go within the race Because “Tommie Smith would never put his fist in the sky if I won this race,” the claim that Smith denies.
History ultimately has a way of rights, but it surely took a few years and realizations on the front of social policy, in order that the actions of those persons are perceived as brave and needed, not only selfish and smug.
The lessons that I learned from College and continuous reading and education I gained (my head remained within the book about black history) were one among the best advantages in HBCU. The very variety of books I learned about about which I actually have never heard of – I actually have upheld me all my life.
That is why I remember sooner or later I used to be walking around Washington, the eastern Washington market and a street seller was selling different photos of moments in black history, and he had a 40 -inch photo within the Tommie Smith and John Carlos frame. I paid for it in money and spent it across the capital of the country until I returned home. I do know that it happened in 2005 (I finished Morehouse College in 2001) because I just moved to my first apartment with no roommate and it was the very first thing that I actually have ever suspended on the wall. This picture within the frame still hangs on the wall in my home in 2025 and I used it to teach my children about sacrifice and privilege and how you may have to discuss individuals who cannot.

The query that my youngest children often ask: “How do I know who can’t speak for herself?” Which is an incredible query. For this I answered an easy fact, pointing to the photo:
“These men have made a gesture that gave people whose most of us, including them, would never see or never know them, but on which life negatively affects the alternatives of the wealthy and the federal government. Sometimes you may have to take this chance to say something because you do not know in the event you’ll ever have such a big platform.
Son, there may be at all times someone who cannot speak for himself, and you may have to use it in a voice, because perhaps the thing you say or a stand that can help someone you understand, live a greater life. ”
I take advantage of words that may understand a little bit higher, but I can inform you that my children have a look at this photo on a regular basis, and once one among my sons said: “These guys are heroes, right?”
I say yes, they’re. They are the heroes of the Black History.
They will live eternally for speaking, and even quietly, in solidarity with those that couldn’t.

(Tagstranslate) @Ap
Sports
Main Treasury Official Morgan State University, Sterling Steward, died

Morgan State University announced that his older associate athletics director and tax director, Sterling Steward, died.
No reason for death was disclosed, but the college has confirmed his contribution since he was employed in December 2022.
Morgan State University Athletics mourns Sterling Steward’s departure https://t.co/avjzilxhja
– Grizzly Life (@grizzlylife22) February 26, 2025
Steward died on February 26. In Morgan State he was accountable for the event of university programs, supporting partnerships and strengthening the financial and operational success of the Faculty.
“Sterling was more than a colleague-he was a respected leader, mentor and friend,” said in a written statement by Den Freeman-Patton, vice chairman and director of inter-university athletes. “His passion for athletics and commitment to raising Morgan programs were visible in everything he did. He worked tirelessly to ensure that our sports students had resources and the possibilities of distinction, and its impact will be felt for many years. We expand our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his three sons and sister when we mourn this huge loss. “
While the steward worked in Morgan, strategic growth and cooperation occurred. His work with the institutional development department helped to offer more opportunities and created lasting relationships to support sports programs.
Steward earlier he worked At the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an assistant to the college athletics director for strategic income generation. He also made stays on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Oregon University and Xavier University in various roles, including for a senior consultant athletics director and sports director.
He was from New Orleans, who received the title of bachelor and master’s degree on the University of Southern Mississippi. He won a bachelor’s degree in the sphere of coaching and administration/history of sport and his master’s degree in the sphere of sport management.
(Tagstransate) Morgan State Universiry
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