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Rich Bisaccia went 7-5 as interim coach of the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021. Bisaccia won games and won over the locker room, but that wasn’t good enough for owner Mark Davis.
Davis hired Josh McDaniels, who failed to make it through two seasons with the Denver Broncos a decade earlier. McDaniels failed to get through two seasons in Las Vegas, as well. After going 9-16, McDaniels was fired after Monday night’s dismal loss at the Detroit Lions.
When the Raiders’ season ends on Jan. 7, would he welcome a call from them on Jan. 8?
“I’ll let you know in January,” Bisaccia said with a smile on Thursday.
Bisaccia, who’s in his second season as the Green Bay Packers’ special teams coordinator, wasn’t about to gloat over the middle-of-the-night firing of McDaniels.
“I’m trying to dominate the controllables in my life,” Bisaccia said. “I think it’s kind of a thing we all try to do. We try to teach our kids that. I don’t wish anybody any ill. To be honest with you, I’d walked away from that situation a long time ago. Probably the first time I stood at this podium, I really distanced myself from what happened there.
“I certainly feel for the players that were there when we were there, the guys I have intimate relationships with, that they have to go through this process again. All that being said, I don’t like when anybody gets fired in our profession. It’s become commonplace so we’re all used to it. We don’t really think about it that it changes lives and changes families, similar to the same thing we went through when it happened there.”
Bisaccia, standing at the podium in the Lambeau Field media auditorium to answer questions about Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams, knew he was going to be asked about the Raiders.
After all, Bisaccia in 2021 replaced Jon Gruden after five games and coached the Raiders to their first and only winning record and playoff berth since 2016.
This past offseason, Bisaccia got a second interview to become head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, a job that went to former Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen. On multiple occasions, the man who hired Bisaccia in Green Bay, coach Matt LaFleur, has said Bisaccia deserves to be a head coach.
The 63-year-old wants a shot to run a team.
“I think everybody that becomes a coach – the longer you stay in it, regardless of the sport, wants to become a head coach,” Bisaccia said. “It’s just part of the alpha mentality.”
To make a point about how age is just a number, he referenced the 2022 Philadelphia Phillies. In June, the Phillies fired manager Joe Girardi and replaced him with 58-year-old Rob Thompson, who led the team to the World Series.
“Regardless of the age, you’d like to think that maybe with age experience comes wisdom,” he continued. “Maybe that’s a factor for some people. If it’s not, it’s not.
“So, I think we all think about it. I don’t think we dwell on it or else it costs you the task at hand. That hasn’t been my personal mentality. Most of us in coaching get the next job by the job that we do. We’ve never really had to give out resumes. Usually, we get jobs by the job we do at the place we’re at. I’ve tried to keep that mantra as long as I possibly can.”
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