Interim head coach Bisaccia ready to guide Raiders
HENDERSON, NEV. » Derek Carr walked onto the practice field Wednesday waiting to hear one voice.
“I was waiting for him to click in the headset and start talking to me. Make a joke, make me laugh, get me going, fire me up.”
But there’s an abrupt new era in Las Vegas, where Jon Gruden is no longer making jokes about anything, and special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia is now the interim head coach of the Raiders.
“He’s got as much respect in the locker room — in our locker room — as any coach I’ve ever seen in my life,” Raiders general manager Mike Mayock said about Bisaccia at the team’s practice facility on Wednesday.
“Is he a great coach? Hell yeah. But he’s an even better man. And what I’ve always told people when I’ve endorsed him is that he’s the most natural leader of men that I’ve ever been around.”
Bisaccia, now in his 20th season as an NFL coach, steps in for Gruden, who resigned Monday after reports surfaced of emails he sent before being hired in 2018 that contained racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments.
Mayock said he’s endorsed Bissacia for head coaching positions in the past. And that Bissacia will be a natural fit for the Raiders because of the relationships he’s built in all three phases of the team, saying that since Bissacia has been the special teams coach he’s involved with more players on the team than any other coach.
“It’s easy to get emotional ... this is certainly an exciting moment,” said Bisaccia, whose first NFL job was under Gruden in 2002, when he was hired as special teams coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“No one wants to be a head coach in this particular situation, no one wants to be put in front of this under these particular circumstances. But it’s an incredible opportunity, not only for me, but for all the other coaches to see what we can do with this adversity, see what we can do with this challenge.”
Bisaccia’s resume includes 19 seasons of experience as an NFL special teams coordinator, with the Raiders (2018-20), Dallas Cowboys (2013-17), San Diego Chargers (2011-12) and Buccaneers (2002-10). Bisaccia was on Gruden’s staff when Tampa Bay won Super Bowl 37 in his first season as an NFL coach.