How Raiders coach Rich Bisaccia rose from Connecticut to the NFL
Chip Salvestrini realizes it’s a cliché. But for the sake of this conversation, it’s appropriate.
Rich Bisaccia will run through a wall for his peers. Not literally, of course, but in mind and spirit. In fact, it’s been that way for decades, though only now is it being fully recognized.
“Rich,” Salvestrini said, “is a special cat.”
Bisaccia, 61, is the embodiment of determination and grit, a football lifer whose humble beginnings trace back to the gridiron in New Fairfield.
Does the name ring a bell? If not, maybe this will help: he’s the guy who replaced Jon Gruden, the embattled former head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
And naturally, he’s trying to make good on that long awaited — and unexpected — opportunity in the NFL.
“Rich has had an opportunity to do what not many people in the game have done,” said Salvestrini, whose connection with Bisaccia goes back to his days coaching high school football at New Milford. “Go up the ranks, do everything you can, and land an NFL job in his early 60s. That’s unbelievable.”
Unbelievable. Yet some will tell you it also felt inevitable.
Bisaccia has seemingly worked everywhere, starting in 1983 as the defensive backs and special teams coach at Wayne State. He also served stints as an assistant at South Carolina (1988-93), Clemson (1994-98) and Mississippi (1999-01), where he helped recruit Eli Manning.
In 2002, he landed his first gig in the NFL, coordinating special teams for the Buccaneers under Gruden. Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl later that season and Bisaccia remained with the franchise through 2010. He then worked with the San Diego Chargers (2011-12) and Dallas Cowboys (201317) before reuniting with Gruden in Oakland in 2018 as assistant head coach and special teams coordinator.
“There were a couple times where Rich and I spoke when he was at a point of his lifetime where he didn’t know whether or not he wanted to continue to coach,” Salvestrini said. “I’m not going to say I’m the guy who kept him to coach, but I remember telling him, ‘Stick with it and do the things you’re going to do. See where it takes you.’ Well, it took him on quite a long ride.
“We thought maybe years ago he should’ve been a head coach. He just needed a break.”
Bisaccia’s break, if you will, came Oct. 11 when he was tabbed the Raiders interim boss in wake of the email scandal surrounding Gruden.
Steve Golden, Bisaccia’s former high school coach at New Fairfield, called him a shining example of perseverance.
“I still believe that if you work hard and do things right all the time, you’re going to get the opportunity,” Golden said. “Some people call it luck. Well, my definition of luck is preparation meets opportunity.”
Bisaccia primarily lined up at safety for Golden in the 70s, though he also saw time at quarterback, wide receiver, linebacker and cornerback. He was revered for his bone-jarring hits.
“When he would hit you,” Golden said, “woo, he would hit you.”
Knowing this, Salvestrini helped recruit Bisaccia to his alma mater, Yankton College in South Dakota. The school wound up closing its doors in 1984.
“I was always looking for kids in the area who needed a shot,” said Salvestrini, who’s now the athletic director at Danbury High. “If the coach said, ‘Run through the wall,’ Rich would do that. That’s what Rich was all about. He was like a sponge. He wanted to learn everything, wanted to know everything.
“Watching Rich play — a hard-nosed, tough kid — nobody really recruited him. I said, ‘You know what? Maybe he can fit out there.’ He did.”
They have only grown closer since. Salvestrini will text him every now and then to check in, but because of his schedule, Bisaccia often takes a while to answer.
“He’s focused,” Salvestrini said. “He’s the type of guy, ‘Hey Rich, good luck and congratulations.’ You’ll get a text maybe three to four days later. But that’s him. He’s the purest of the pure football coach. ‘Stay out of my way, I’ve coach a game to coach
and that’s all that matters.’ ”
No hard feelings, of course.
“I understand completely,” Golden said with a laugh. “Us high school coaches are pretty low on the priority list.”
Salvestrini and Golden traveled with a group of six friends to MetLife Stadium last Sunday to watch the Raiders take on the Giants, whom Bisaccia rooted for while growing up in nearby Yonkers, N.Y.
“My dad was the head football coach of the New York Giants,” Bisaccia joked during his introductory press conference. “He just never told anybody.”
When asked last week about coaching against his childhood team, Bisaccia circled back to those comments.
“I don’t think anybody got that,” Bisaccia said. “I think they were googling to see if my dad was the head coach of the Giants. Fortunately for me, I’ve played against them a lot now. When we were in Dallas, we obviously played up there every year, and when I was in Tampa, I had a chance to play up there. For me, it’s always exciting to go home, but for us, it’s a huge challenge.”
Indeed it was. The Raiders fell 23-16 to New York, their first loss in three games under Bisaccia. At 5-3 overall, they remain tied for first with the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC West.
“I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am,” Golden said of Bisaccia’s rise in the organization. “It just reemphasizes how important it is to work hard, be true to your values, be persistent, be determined. That’s all the things that I believe in and coach Bisaccia lives by.
“It’s great to see it paid off for him as a head coach — one of 32 men on the planet. That’s incredible. Absolutely incredible. If anyone’s earned it, he has.”