Rich Bisaccia helped stabilize the Raiders after Jon Gruden’s abrupt resignation in October when he was named Las Vegas’ interim head coach.
Though the Raiders advanced to the postseason for the first time since 2016 with Bisaccia at the helm, team owner Mark Davis elected to move on to a completely new regime, hiring Josh McDaniels as head coach and Dave Ziegler as G.M.
So Bisaccia moved on, too, joining the Packers as the team’s special teams coordinator. Green Bay needed to vastly improve its special teams after lapses with that unit plagued the club throughout 2021, particularly in the postseason loss to San Francisco.
In a Tuesday press conference, Bisaccia said the Packers’ reputation and success under head coach Matt LaFleur were significant factors in his decision to come to the franchise.
“Why come here to the Green Bay Packers? Yeah, it’s the Green Bay Packers,” Bisaccia said. “For me personally, [it’s] the opportunity to be at one of the marquee National Football League teams that sets a standard, that has an expectation to play to that standard every day, along with my excitement and my new energy after meeting and visiting with coach LaFleur. What he’s done here in a short period of time is unprecedented. He’s all football.
“And to be back with [defensive coordinator] Joe Barry, who I was with before — we won a lot of games together at two different places. And just to be a part of a franchise that expects to win and the standard is winning it all. To be a part of something like that, to me, is energizing.”
Bisaccia’s already exhibited some influence in personnel, as the Packers signed Pat O’Donnell to be the team’s punter in 2022. Bisaccia noted he had tried to get the Raiders to sign O’Donnell years ago, but the punter ended up sticking with the Bears for the first eight years of his career.