Raiders Antonio Pierce piece for The Players' Tribune is pure gold for Raider Nation

When Antonio Pierce took over as interim head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders last season, nobody really knew what to expect. The former New York Giants linebacker had been with the team as an assistant coach, but little was known about his ability to take on such a huge responsibility within the organization.

For Pierce, this was the job of a lifetime, and he not only took it in stride, but he thrived in the role last season. Pierce led the Raiders to a 5-4 record after taking over, and in the process, earned the respect of not only the players, but Raiders legends, and of course, Raider Nation.

In a piece called "Raider Nation, Stand Up!," Pierce goes into what the fan base, and rest of the NFL can expect now that he is officially the head coach. Pierce talks about his journey as a Raiders fan, what this job means to him, and even goes into depth about how few draft prospects he feels are out there that will play the game the "Raider Way."

This is a must-read for any Raiders fan, and the passion that Pierce coaches with is evident in the passion that he wrote this piece with. It is clear the Raiders have a man at head coach that not only loves his players, and this opportunity, but loves the franchise, and wants to go down as one of the best to ever coach the Silver and Black.

Raiders made the right move bringing back Pierce as HC

A few years ago, Rich Bisaccia took over the Raiders on an interim basis and led them to the playoffs. However, instead of bringing back Bisaccia as head coach, Mark Davis went with Josh McDaniels, and we all know how that played out.

This time around, Davis chose to keep the successful interim head coach in place, taking the interim label off of Pierce and naming him the head coach early on this offseason. That was the right move to make for Davis, as moving on from Pierce would have been met with anger from players, fans, and even some Raiders legends.

Pierce is the kind of leader you want at the front of your franchise, and I believe he is going to continue to bring in the right kind of players to put on the Silver and Black. There will be bumps along the way, but the amount of passion and dedication he will bring to this job on a daily basis will not be lost on the players, or the fans.