Ranking Las Vegas Raiders Coaches From Best to Worst
Who's been the best Las Vegas Raiders coach so far? Who's been the worst during the team's stint in Sin City? These questions get answered now as we rank the last four coaches from best to worst.
It takes a strong man to rally a team endlessly hunted by a sports media circus. In 2020 Rich Bissaccia served that role and led the Las Vegas Raiders to an 8-5 record. He accomplished this by really focusing on teamwork and playing to the team's strengths. Despite a player getting involved in a fatal DUI incident and a bizarre gun incident with another player, Bisaccia kept things going.
He even helped the team to an overtime win against the Dallas Cowboys late in the season to keep them in the playoff hunt. They ended up making the playoffs and losing a first-round matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. Although he didn’t manage to get the team past the wild card stage, Bisacia did rally the Raiders in a way no other coach on this list could.
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What would have happened if Jon Gruden kept his job?[/caption]
The biggest what-if on this list is probably Jon Gruden. Unlike other Las Vegas Raiders coaches, he didn’t get a chance to prove himself in Las Vegas before his ousting. In fact, he was forced to resign after emails were leaked of him using racist, homophobic, and sexist remarks over 20 years ago. Despite these character flaws, Gruden helped the team to 3-2 before he resigned and at least had them on track.
Of course, he was 0-2 in his last two games and made some bad defensive calls, but he is much better than others on this list. If it wasn't for the media circus, he could have taken the team to a wild card spot that year. The only downside the man had was his reliance on Derek Carr, who just was never going to be the guy. Gruden may never get to coach again and that’s probably the saddest part of this.
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Antonio Peirce is the second worst coach on this list and probably the most overhyped one. He initially received a lot of credit for helping the Las Vegas Raiders to a 5-4 finish in 2024 after the team got a horrible start with Josh McDaniels. This was enough for the team to make him the next head coach. A decision they would regret because he was all hype and couldn’t lead a team. Remember how he promised fans the greatest show on turf? That never formulated, and the Raiders had their playoff chances end relatively early after a 10-game losing streak.
Pierce finished the 2025 season with wins against the Ravens, Browns, Saints, and Jaguars, ruining their chances of a top-three draft pick. His biggest problem was his defense strategy. This resulted in a 4-13 season that had Raiders fans banging their heads against the wall.
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Josh McDaniels never deserved to be coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.[/caption]
There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that Josh McDaniels is going down as one of the biggest failures in Las Vegas Raiders' history. He sold Mark Davis on the idea that he knew the Patriot Way, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Instead, McDaniels kept an inconsistent Derek Carr in 2022 and the results were horrible.
McDaniels started by signing Carr to a $121.5 million deal to keep him in Vegas. The result was one of the worst seasons in Raiders' memory. This is where you would think the Raiders would have given McDaniels the axe, but you’d be wrong.
McDaniels then led an injury-prone Jimmy Garoppolo under center, which yielded worse results than Carr. McDaniels also couldn’t manage a defense to save his life, allowing 856 points during his tenure. His offense is even worse, totaling 772 points and proving he is one of the biggest frauds in Las Vegas history.
#1 Rich Bisaccia
It takes a strong man to rally a team endlessly hunted by a sports media circus. In 2020 Rich Bissaccia served that role and led the Las Vegas Raiders to an 8-5 record. He accomplished this by really focusing on teamwork and playing to the team's strengths. Despite a player getting involved in a fatal DUI incident and a bizarre gun incident with another player, Bisaccia kept things going.
He even helped the team to an overtime win against the Dallas Cowboys late in the season to keep them in the playoff hunt. They ended up making the playoffs and losing a first-round matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. Although he didn’t manage to get the team past the wild card stage, Bisacia did rally the Raiders in a way no other coach on this list could.
#2 Jon Gruden
[caption id="attachment_73476" align="alignnone" width="1024"]
What would have happened if Jon Gruden kept his job?[/caption]The biggest what-if on this list is probably Jon Gruden. Unlike other Las Vegas Raiders coaches, he didn’t get a chance to prove himself in Las Vegas before his ousting. In fact, he was forced to resign after emails were leaked of him using racist, homophobic, and sexist remarks over 20 years ago. Despite these character flaws, Gruden helped the team to 3-2 before he resigned and at least had them on track.
Of course, he was 0-2 in his last two games and made some bad defensive calls, but he is much better than others on this list. If it wasn't for the media circus, he could have taken the team to a wild card spot that year. The only downside the man had was his reliance on Derek Carr, who just was never going to be the guy. Gruden may never get to coach again and that’s probably the saddest part of this.
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#3 Antonio Pierce
Antonio Peirce is the second worst coach on this list and probably the most overhyped one. He initially received a lot of credit for helping the Las Vegas Raiders to a 5-4 finish in 2024 after the team got a horrible start with Josh McDaniels. This was enough for the team to make him the next head coach. A decision they would regret because he was all hype and couldn’t lead a team. Remember how he promised fans the greatest show on turf? That never formulated, and the Raiders had their playoff chances end relatively early after a 10-game losing streak.
Pierce finished the 2025 season with wins against the Ravens, Browns, Saints, and Jaguars, ruining their chances of a top-three draft pick. His biggest problem was his defense strategy. This resulted in a 4-13 season that had Raiders fans banging their heads against the wall.
#4 Josh McDaniels
[caption id="attachment_73474" align="alignnone" width="1024"]
Josh McDaniels never deserved to be coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.[/caption]There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that Josh McDaniels is going down as one of the biggest failures in Las Vegas Raiders' history. He sold Mark Davis on the idea that he knew the Patriot Way, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Instead, McDaniels kept an inconsistent Derek Carr in 2022 and the results were horrible.
McDaniels started by signing Carr to a $121.5 million deal to keep him in Vegas. The result was one of the worst seasons in Raiders' memory. This is where you would think the Raiders would have given McDaniels the axe, but you’d be wrong.
McDaniels then led an injury-prone Jimmy Garoppolo under center, which yielded worse results than Carr. McDaniels also couldn’t manage a defense to save his life, allowing 856 points during his tenure. His offense is even worse, totaling 772 points and proving he is one of the biggest frauds in Las Vegas history.