COSTA MESA, Calif. — The Las Vegas Raiders players showed up for the first day of the offseason program this spring and could not believe what they were seeing in the film room.
Their assistant coaches stretching … and then grinding through the same conditioning test the players go through.
“The players laughed a lot,” coach Antonio Pierce said last week about the video clip shared with the players. “We had Rob (Ryan) go out there with his shirt off and belly out. We had Marvin Lewis, 65 years old, and Joe Philbin on the bike.
“And then you had a couple of guys who played in the league thinking that they were sprinters still, and they came up lame on a couple of the runs.”
Pierce gave his 28 coaches a heads-up early in the offseason that they would be tested in April. Ryan was speechless.
“Whew …” Ryan, the Raiders’ 61-year-old senior defensive assistant coach, said. “It was shocking.”
Pierce simply wanted his coaches to be healthier and to come together as the players have. And he thought his players would get a message underneath all the laughter.
“When you look at coaches in the National Football League, health is probably the No. 1 concern,” Pierce said. “Stress level, being overweight, not having a chance to work out. … I wanted to challenge our coaches, and also I thought it would be good for our players to see the commitment that even our coaches were making in the offseason.”
It was a scaled-down version of the players’ conditioning test, with interval runs, on-field drills and weight-room bars to hit.
“It’s my 16th year in the league and I have never been a part of a coaching staff conditioning test,” said tight end coach Luke Steckel, who coached with the Chicago Bears last season and spent the previous 10 seasons with the Tennessee Titans. “But it was pretty cool. I like the message that it sends to our team: If we’re going to hold our players accountable for being in elite physical condition, then we at least better be in shape ourselves.
“And it was fun to see all competitive juices flowing between all of us. I was having flashbacks to my college playing days.”
The older coaches trained just like the younger ones did, though they weren’t asked to do as much in the test.
“It was great,” assistant head coach Marvin Lewis said. “I have two replacement knees and two replacement hips, so I got to be on the bike. The coaches had a lot of fun. There was a lot of camaraderie, watching everybody train every morning for it. It was great.”
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Ryan actually lost eight pounds over two months of training.
“The man’s making me do it, so I started working out a little bit each day a couple of months in advance,” Ryan said. “They let me go on the bike rather than face injury. It was cool, and I actually lost weight out of the deal. When it was over it was a proud moment.
“(Strength and conditioning coach) A.J. (Neibel) and his crew were always keeping a close eye in case someone had a heart attack, but it was good.”
Rob Ryan said he lost eight pounds training for the conditioning test Antonio Pierce had all the Raiders coaches go through. (Kirby Lee / USA Today)
Players like tackle Thayer Munford Jr. are just thankful for the pure entertainment value.
“I was dying, seeing those old people run,” he said. “Other old people on the bikes and stuff thinking they’re really running but they’re not. Big Rob was the funniest. But apparently they all passed with flying colors.”
Pierce said the coaches were nervous beforehand.
“Their heart rates were up,” Pierce said, smiling. “And it wasn’t because of their conditioning, it was because of their nerves and anxiety. I thought it was good for them to feel what the players feel. Most of the athletes are in top-tier shape but whenever there is testing, everything raises up a little bit.
“The No. 1 thing we’re trying to teach them is to slow down their heart rate and their mind and play faster and looser. And this was a good opportunity and example to show the same.”
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Just like teams want a roster that cares for and plays for one another, Pierce thinks he has a unified staff that is ready to help lead the Raiders forward from last year’s 8-9 record (5-4 finish under Pierce). Things like the conditioning test and group outings to Vegas Golden Knights hockey games only tighten that bond.
“I see a tight cohesiveness amongst our staff,” Pierce said. “They hang out together, they do stuff in the offseason, they go out to dinners together here at camp. We’re going to have some heated moments where we disagree, but when you have that bond — no different than the players — it’s easy to get over it and understand that you’re not being disrespected and that’s just the way it is if it’s coming from Luke (Getsy), Patrick (Graham), Tom (McMahon) or myself. It’s nothing malicious, it’s just the way that it needs to be done.”
It was quick work with 14 new assistants on the staff this season.
“AP’s always looking for ways to bring the staff together,” Ryan said. “He’s big on people and he’s a natural leader, so getting our coaches on both sides of the ball together, working out together and putting us head-to-head against each other when the staff meets, he really develops a camaraderie. We’re a close-knit unit.”
The last regime obviously had problems in that area, and individuality is encouraged now as long as the hard work is put in. Former coach Josh McDaniels was a micro-manager who had trouble connecting with players, and Pierce is practically the complete opposite. The coaches’ fitness test immediately broke the ice with the new assistants and new players this season.
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“It gave us that jell with the coaches that we didn’t have the last couple of years,” Munford said. “This staff has a lot more energy. For me, not only than last year’s coaches, but my college coaches. They are very passionate about what they do, and they don’t really blink an eye over anything at all.
“We all love them for that. We can see that they care about us.”
And some of the coaches also really cared about the results.
“I just remember winning every rep,” said Steckel, who was a linebacker and team captain for an Ivy League-winning Princeton team in 2006. “You have to ask the other guys what the back of my head looks like. I was blazing. To go out there and be able to compete with your co-workers was a lot of fun.”
Tight ends coach Luke Steckel, right, working with rookie Brock Bowers, claims to have dominated during the coaches’ conditioning test. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
So … did every coach really pass the conditioning test?
“Uhhhhhhh … yes,” Pierce said. “One coach finished, but he limped in. He limped the last 10 yards but he made it.”
Every coach also finished the test with a big grin.
“When AP says bring a smile with you when you walk into the building, he means it,” Ryan said. “Be focused on ball, but love it, and he makes it a fun environment and I know that it’s going to be successful.”
Will things like a coaches’ conditioning test, a fun environment and a roster and coaching staff that fully buy in lead to the Raiders’ third playoff appearance in 22 years?
That’s the next test.
“The culture that AP has established — not only on the roster, but on the coaching staff — is pretty special,” Steckel said. “We talk about the brotherhood and the camaraderie all the time. It’s a message that I know, offensively, Luke Getsy will echo all the time. And when it’s important to the guys who lead the organization, it starts to be important to you. It just trickles down.
“You build a great culture, and a lot of times great results follow. And I can tell you that we are building a great culture right now.”
(Top photo of Antonio Pierce: Ric Tapia / Getty Images)
