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Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce has moved on from his days coaching college football at Arizona State, but those years may be coming back to bite him now. On Thursday, Pierce was given a show-cause order for recruiting violations that he allegedly committed and organized while he was an assistant coach at Arizona State.
When asked about the news on Friday, Pierce didn't have much to say, according to Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.
“No comment. I'm employed by the Raiders,” Pierce said, per Gutierrez.
The show-cause order lasts for eight years and means that, if Pierce is hired by an NCAA program before the order expires, that he will be suspended for one season and will not be allowed to have contact with players or staff in that program during the suspension, according to Kyle Bonagura of ESPN.
“Most of the violations were related to what the NCAA referred to as a ‘scheme' orchestrated by Pierce to circumvent restrictions in place during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Bonagura wrote. “Pierce facilitated impermissible recruiting contact with 35 prospects, including ‘tryouts, football facility tours and entertainment.' It was also determined he directed an assistant to engage in tampering with a player enrolled at another school and traveled out of state to observe and meet with prospects during a recruiting dead period.”
Pierce was named as the “ringleader” of the violations.
Does show-cause order affect Antonio Pierce as an NFL coach?
The short answer is no, it doesn't appear that way. Now, it remains to be seen if it affects his ability to prepare or coach the Raiders, but his alleged role in Arizona State's recruiting violations should have no impact on his ability to be the Raiders coach.
Should he stop coaching the Raiders for one reason or another, it will affect his ability to be hired back at the college ranks. The one year suspension with no contact is a big deal, and it's hard to see a program at a high level just overlooking that to bring Pierce on board. So, if Pierce had interest in going back down to college after his time with the Raiders is up, this certainly complicates things.
Understandably, none of this is at the top of Pierce's mind at the moment as his Raiders sit at 2-2 amid the Davante Adams drama. They are preparing for a massive AFC West showdown with the 2-2 Denver Broncos this weekend in the Mile High City. The winner may not be able to catch the Chiefs in the division, but they will establish themselves as a real Wild Card contender in the AFC.
