HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Antonio Pierce was nearing the end of his NFL playing career 16 years ago when he had the chance to intern for Howard Stern's wildly popular and often irreverent radio show.
Pierce enjoyed his time there so much, he initially pursued a post-football career in media.
“Putting on makeup and looking at a camera for eight years is pretty cool,” he said. “But I missed being in that locker room. I missed competing. I missed that fire burning in my stomach.”
So he returned to his first love, getting back into football through coaching.
Pierce began at the high school level and then worked his way up to this week, when he gets his first game as the Raiders' full-time head coach. Las Vegas opens its season Sunday at the Los Angeles Chargers.
His decision to enter coaching isn't all that common for former NFL players. He is one of eight former players — not counting Denver's Sean Payton, who suited up for three games as a replacement player during the 1987 strike — who are current head coaches, a fairly high number by historical standards.
“Coaching is very, very tough,” said Joe Horrigan, former executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “You have to be totally dedicated. Your time is living in the coaches' rooms. When you’re wealthy, you might find being in a broadcast booth a lot easier than trying to spend your waking hours in a profession (in which) that’s what’s demanded of you.”
That's especially true for elite players. Of the current head coaches, only four made the Pro Bowl, including Pierce. Among those four, only the Patriots' Jerod Mayo and the Texans' DeMeco Ryans received Associated Press All-Pro honors. Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh was fourth in the AP MVP voting in 1995.
Most coaches historically don't have such a robust athletic resume.
Of the top 20 winningest coaches in the Super Bowl era, only Tom Landry and Dan Reeves were All-Pros. Among the 14 coaches who have won multiple Super Bowls, only Landry with two was chosen All-Pro — in 1954.
Excepting Payton, the top seven coaches in wins since 2010 did not play in the league, instead working their way up to the pros.
“There’s only so many slots open every year in the NFL and there’s a lot of qualified coaches,” Horrigan said. “So the NFL can be picky in who they hire, but also the candidates have to be able to demonstrate that they can coach. It’s kind of a shared route of going through the collegiate ranks.
“It's kind of like a minor league system for coaches. The transition from player to coach is a tough one and it's not for everyone.”
Whether going directly into an NFL coaching staff or starting in college (or lower), former players had notable success last season.
Ryans took over a Texans team that went 3-13-1 the year before and led Houston to the playoffs. Todd Bowles with the Buccaneers and Dan Campbell with the Lions also made the postseason. All three won at least one playoff game, with Campbell taking Detroit to the NFC championship game.
The year before, Kevin O'Connell took the Vikings to the playoffs with a 13-4 record.
O'Connell said his experience as a quarterback helped him bring along rookie QB J.J. McCarthy before he injured his right knee in preseason, calling that “the former quarterback in me.”
Back in the NFL is another ex-quarterback in Harbaugh, who coached San Francisco to a Super Bowl appearance 12 years ago. He spent the previous nine years at his alma mater, Michigan, and last season coached the Wolverines to the national championship.
Now he's trying to take a Chargers franchise with a history of underachieving to similar heights.
“He just has that really unique sense of understanding what’s good for the team," Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. “But also he’s been in their shoes. They respect the fact that he’s been in their shoes. He respects that they’re going through what he went through.”
Harbaugh's team faces the Raiders this weekend.
Las Vegas cornerback Jack Jones has played for Pierce at Long Beach (California) Poly High School, Arizona State and now the Raiders.
“A guy that’s never played in between the white lines and he’s trying to tell you how to make a tackle, how to do anything ... it’s just harder to feel that, to understand," Jones said. "When you’re getting it from a former player, it’s almost like no question, like he did this before, so I don’t even have to question it.”
Pierce thought back to that 2008 internship with Stern and the opportunities the show gave him in front of and behind the camera. He wasn't ready, however, to divulge what happened behind the scenes with the self-professed “king of all media.”
“We've got to have a happy hour,” Pierce said.
Pierce had a sobering moment when he was named the Raiders' interim coach at midseason last year. He went 5-4, got the job on a full-time basis and now is preparing for his first season opener in charge.
“I’m approaching the exact same way,” Pierce said. “When I got the interim, I wasn’t trying to give it up. So, in my head, I was permanent.”
This story has been corrected. A previous version reported erroneously that Bill Walsh had been an All-Pro as a player. Walsh never played in the NFL.
AP Sports Writers Dave Campbell and Joe Reedy contributed to this report.
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Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell signals during the second half of an NFL preseason football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo watches from the sideline during the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the Washington Commanders, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans watches from the sideline during the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)
Now that the threat of Hurricanes Helene and Milton has receded, millions of homeowners and business-owners across Florida and the Southeastern U.S. are faced with traversing the often long and laborious process of using insurance to rebuild their lives.
“You’re just traumatized when you have these losses. At some point, you’re just glad you’re alive,” said Don Hornstein, an insurance law expert at the University of North Carolina. “And then you have to turn to the business side of this. It’s tough.”
Helene was a Category 4 storm that first struck Florida’s Gulf Coast on September 26, dumped trillions of gallons of rain and left a trail of destruction for hundreds of miles across several states. At least 246 people have died in what is now the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina, according to statistics from the National Hurricane Center.
Two weeks later, Hurricane Milton swept across Florida, killing at least 11 people. The Category 3 storm destroyed coastal communities, tore apart homes, filled streets with mud and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes.
The combined private insured losses from the two hurricanes could reach $55 billion, according to risk management firm Moody’s RMS.
Immediately after disasters like these, property insurance is likely not top of mind as people secure their safety and basic needs, but insurance claims are part of the process of resetting. Many buy the policies in hope they can help protect them when disaster strikes. But oftentimes insurance doesn’t cover what the policy holder thinks it does — or thinks it should.
Rhoda Moehring, who turns 86 this month, says she doesn’t have a lot of faith that insurance companies will help her salvage the flooded rental homes she owns in the river town of Steinhatchee in Florida’s Big Bend.
“I usually get zip with these things,” Moehring said. ”‘Was I insured for that?’ ‘No, sorry, you weren’t.’ And it goes on and on. So I don’t put a whole lot of confidence in it.”
Moehring said she wasn’t sure about the details of her insurance policies and she’ll be relying on her son to help her navigate the claims process.
Here are some steps home and business owners should keep in mind when filing an insurance claim after a natural disaster.
After the immediate emergency response, the first thing a homeowner or business owner should do is call their insurance agent or broker. The deadline to file a claim is generally about 60 days from the date of loss.
There are different types of policies that insure against damage. In the initial call, first focus on thoroughly understanding your policy, including coverage limits, deductibles and exclusions, so that you can do a rough calculation of what is covered and what deductibles are at play to decide if you should file a claim, experts said.
Many policies have payouts in complicated percentage formulas. For example, if your roof is damaged, your policy may spell out different deductibles depending on the roofing material, the age of the roof and even the wind speed from the damage event, and the percentage paid out may be based on the insured value versus the cost of replacement, said Amy Bach, executive director of the consumer advocacy group United Policyholders.
Homeowners should weigh their options, as a minor payout may not be worth the long-term ding on your claims history. That’s especially true if you don’t have flood insurance, as the average home insurance policy covers wind damage but generally doesn’t cover flood damage.
While Helene was primarily a flood event, there may be disputes over what is or isn’t “wind-driven rain” from Milton. Hornstein said the line between wind and water is a thin but very clear line that technical experts can determine. Should there be a proverbial tie, the law favors the insurance company.
“If the house was simultaneously destroyed by flood and, concurrently (by) wind, it’s not covered by private insurance,” Hornstein said.
Business owners should also check to see if they have business income or business interruption insurance, which covers the loss of income and other costs like expenses, salaries, or rent when a business is forced to close.
To file a claim, keep track of and document everything. Before and after photos and videos are ideal to jog your memory of what's been lost and for proof to help bolster settlement claims. For business owners, keeping a record of costs that are incurred after the hurricane is important too.
“You may have evacuation costs, you may have business shut down interruption costs, you may have housing costs, you may have additional expenses that are unusual to your business," said Steve Powell, executive vice president of property and catastrophe for claims management firm Sedgwick.
Once a claim is filed, the insurance company’s adjuster will come to survey the damage, typically within a few days if conditions allow. Be responsive to adjusters and make sure they see (and document) the damage that you see.
While it’s easy to get frustrated, adjusters are likely stressed too, said Lawrence White, an economics professor at the NYU Stern School of Business.
“To the maximum extent possible, try not come across as angry. Try to come across as reasonable,” White said.
If there’s disagreement or concern about the accuracy or fairness of the adjuster’s report from the insurance company, property owners can consider hiring a public adjuster for a second opinion. Their own adjuster can then lead the negotiations with the insurance company. First, however, owners should be aware of the fees the public adjuster charges and check their references.
“The insurance companies have totally the upper hand and when there’s a public adjuster, it does level the playing field a lot for the consumer having someone who speaks insurance and speaks damage," Bach said.
Be aware of the deadlines for accepting a payment offer or filing an appeal with the insurance company.
Once you agree to an insurance payout, know that you can update the claim if more damage is discovered during the repairs though there may be deadlines for how long a homeowner has to reopen a claim.
If the back-and-forth with the insurance company drags on, you may consider hiring an attorney to reach a settlement as a last resort. A dispute that ends up in arbitration could stretch out for a year or more.
About 90% of all insurance claims are settled without escalating into a court fight, said Charles Nyce, a professor of risk management and insurance at Florida State University’s College of Business.
For those with little or no insurance, there are government programs that can assist. The application process is similar to insurance claims: Contact the agency, determine eligibility and file an application.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency offers grants for home repair or replacement for applicants who meet certain conditions. The Department of Housing and Urban Development also offers certain grants that are available for hurricane survivors. And the Small Business Administration offers low-interest loans to renters, homeowners, business owners, and non-profits that suffered losses due to disasters. However, the government has warned that the SBA is running out of money to fund these loans unless its coffers are replenished by Congress.
For more details about these programs visit https://www.disasterassistance.gov.
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Associated Press reporter Kate Payne contributed from Tallahassee, Fla.
Property owners who preferred not to be named assess damage to their home and business, which bears orange notices calling for demolition, after the passage of Hurricane Milton, on Manasota Key in Englewood, Fla., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
