Mark Davis hopeful new coach Pete Carroll and GM John Spytek can turn Raiders around
By Tashan Reed
Jan 28, 2025
HENDERSON, Nev. — Mark Davis went uncharacteristically silent at the end of the Las Vegas Raiders’ 2024 season. The owner has always talked to reporters after firing a general manager and/or head coach, but this time he didn’t say a word after letting go of Tom Telesco and Antonio Pierce outside of several statements issued by the team.
It was an intentional effort to button things up as the Raiders revamped how they handle business. Davis narrowed the GM and head coach hiring panel to minority owners Tom Brady, Michael Meldman, Tom Wagner and Egon Durban, who all bought into the franchise last year. They hired search firm Korn Ferry to assist with identifying and reaching out to candidates. They also included team president Sandra Douglass Morgan, board of directors member Larry Delsen and senior vice president and director of football administration Tom Delaney.
Davis keeping quiet was part of the team playing things as close to the vest as possible. After Monday’s press conference to introduce GM John Spytek and head coach Pete Carroll, however, Davis opened up.
“The one thing I know is what I don’t know,” Davis said Monday, “and I’m going to surround myself with people who do know those things. And I’m going to give them the opportunity to do their job. I give them a vision and goals, and we talk about those things, but results are what speak. …
“I’ve been around some great, great football people in my lifetime. You talk about my (late) father (Al Davis). You talk about John Madden. You talk about Tom Flores. You talk about Ron Wolf. All of these people have helped me along the way. So I know what it takes. I think we’ve got the infrastructure now in this organization to move into the future.”
When asked how the Raiders landed on Spytek and Carroll, he looked to the past. As Davis relocated the Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas in 2020, he thought he had a regime in place for the foreseeable future with head coach Jon Gruden and GM Mike Mayock. Gruden was in Year 3 of a historic 10-year contract. And, while the results at that point were disappointing, Davis was committed to sticking with him.
But once racist, homophobic and misogynistic emails that Gruden sent while he was an ESPN analyst leaked in 2021, the feeling in the building changed.
Gruden resigned shortly thereafter.
“He was somebody that I brought in and really expected to be that person on the football side that would bring stability to the organization,” Davis said. “He had a 10-year contract and all that, and his head was chopped off. We were put in a really bad position as an organization.”
Mayock and interim coach Rich Bisaccia went on to lead the Raiders to an unexpected playoff berth but didn’t do enough to be retained. That offseason, Davis hired Dave Ziegler and Josh McDaniels, but they lasted just 25 games before getting fired. He then turned to Telesco and Pierce, but they lasted only 17 games before losing their jobs, too. Davis is hopeful Carroll and Spytek are in place for much longer.
Brady, in particular, played a major role in the decisions to fire Pierce and Telesco and the searches that followed. He’ll be someone Spytek and Carroll lean on heavily when it comes to football operations. For Davis, who remains the controlling owner, Brady is filling a void in terms of football knowledge that he feels the organization has lacked since his father, former owner/GM Al Davis, died in 2011.
Davis said he doesn’t regret hiring Pierce and credited him for the team’s consistent level of effort in 2024. But the Raiders finishing 4-13 while the other three teams in the AFC West made the playoffs was too much for him to bear.
“We just felt it was time for a change,” Davis said.
As for Telesco, Davis credited him for putting together a strong 2024 draft class headlined by tight end Brock Bowers. But he noted that drafting well isn’t the only responsibility of a GM. That seemed to indicate a level of dissatisfaction with Telesco’s veteran acquisitions in 2024.
The Raiders interviewed six head coach candidates in total. Former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was their top candidate, but he took the Chicago Bears’ job before the Raiders even made him a formal offer.
So Las Vegas pivoted to Carroll. Davis was already impressed with Carroll from his time as head coach at USC and with the Seattle Seahawks, so their interview was more of a confirmation of preconceived notions.
“His energy was amazing,” Davis said. “I was impressed with Pete’s competitiveness, and I think that’s shown up throughout his career. He’s a football guy. He loves football. And he wanted to be a Raider.”
Carroll’s leadership skills and ability to create a positive vibe are similar to the characteristics Davis liked about Pierce.
“Pete is somebody who is a winner on and off the field. He builds a culture,” Davis said. “I think Antonio Pierce was building a culture there with the players. That was important, and I think we’ve got to continue to build upon that.”
The Raiders interviewed six general manager candidates before hiring Spytek. Davis wasn’t as familiar with Spytek’s background, but Brady, who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when Spytek was an executive there and was a teammate of Spytek’s at the University of Michigan, went to bat for him. Spytek won Super Bowl 50 with the Denver Broncos and Super Bowl LV with those Brady-led Bucs.
“I’m hoping he can do it here,” Davis said. “He brought Tom Brady in with the group there (in Tampa Bay) to my chagrin, and they won a Super Bowl. But from everything I’ve heard about him from other people outside the organization, he’s a home run.”
Carroll boldly stated that the Raiders plan on making a run “immediately.” Davis poured a little water on that notion, but the point was that he intends to give Carroll and Spytek the time to turn the franchise around. Including interims, the Raiders have had five head coaches and five GMs since moving to Las Vegas, and that’s a dysfunctional cycle that Davis wants to end.
“We want to build something here,” Davis said. “That’s been the mindset all along. Like I said, it got blown up when Jon Gruden was sent away. So, we’ve been trying to get it right since then. We’ll see, but I’ve got patience to get it right. And I think we’ve got the people now. …
“Hopefully, this won’t be an annual thing.”
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