(Henderson) The Las Vegas Raiders have decided to clean up their organization.
They fired head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler last night, the team announced.
“After careful consideration of what is necessary for the Raiders to be successful in the future, I have decided to terminate Josh and Dave,” owner Mark Davis said in a statement.
When he was hired in January 2022, McDaniel said he learned from his first experience as a head coach.
His record, in his second stay at the helm of an NFL team, however, was much less stellar than when he led the Denver Broncos, in 2009 and 2010.
McDaniels became the first head coach in the modern era to be fired by two franchises before the end of his second campaign at the helm.
The Raiders said linebackers coach Antonio Pierce will serve as interim head coach. He will lead the Nevada team on Sunday, during a home game against the New York Giants. Pierce played for the Giants from 2005 to 2009.
The Raiders also announced that assistant general manager Champ Kelly will be their interim general manager.
The team will begin a hiring process to find replacements for McDaniels and Ziegler at the end of the campaign.
McDaniels was calling plays for the Raiders, a task that may now fall to offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi.
Despite McDaniels taking over a team that was coming off a playoff appearance in 2021, before losing to the Cincinnati Bengals in the draft game, the success Davis hoped for never materialized.
Under McDaniels, the Raiders have gone 6-11 in 2022 and 3-5 so far this season, with a .360 winning percentage. His record with the Broncos was 11-17 (.393).
Despite this, Davis had given McDaniels his vote of confidence, which makes his dismissal even more surprising. McDaniels met with members of the media Tuesday afternoon and was scheduled to participate in another press conference Wednesday morning to discuss the upcoming game against the Giants.
McDaniels instead concluded his time in Las Vegas with the third-worst record in Raiders history for a head coach with at least 25 games of experience with them.