By Trips to a strip club, gun shooting range, and free airfare were some of the perks offered as part of an elaborate scheme by current Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce to woo potential Arizona State University (ASU) football players and their parents while the former NFL player served as a Sun Devils assistant coach, according to an NCAA infractions decision report released Thursday.
Pierce, who served multiple roles, including associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, at ASU from 2017 to 2022, was sanctioned by the governing body for an alleged roughly year-long prohibited recruiting scheme.
Pierce is currently coaching in the NFL, so the punishments, which include an eight-year show-cause order and a one-season suspension should he return to the college ranks, would not cause the coach to miss time with the Raiders.
CNN has reached out to Pierce, the Raiders and ASU for comment.
Pierce “consistently denied planning or arranging any portion of the visits, providing recruiting inducements, or participating in the out-of-state contacts and evaluations,” according to a NCAA press release.
In the 67-page report, the NCAA provided what it described as multiple examples of the former Super Bowl Champion knowingly and repeatedly conducting forbidden recruiting violations.
Pierce, former ASU football defensive analyst Anthony Garnett, other ASU-related staff, and then-booster Regina Jackson, mother of former ASU quarterback Jayden Daniels, who now leads the Washington Commanders as QB, organized unofficial visits within the NCAA’s recruiting “dead period” in 2020 and 2021 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the report said.
CNN has reached out to Garnett and Jackson for comment.
The NCAA said the former NFL linebacker “participated in an interview with enforcement staff and acknowledged some facts surrounding the unofficial visits” but failed to cooperate during the investigation and denied arranging the unofficial visits, in Arizona and out of state with potential new players.
In the report, the NCAA accused Pierce of being the “ringleader” who pressured his staff to offer impermissible perks such as free airfare, lodging, meals, and entertainment expenses to 35 prospects and their families on about 20 separate occasions.
The report states: “In his own words, Pierce ‘[k]new about the rules, tried to keep up with the Jones[es]” and ‘broke the rules to do it.’ As the “quarterback” of the scheme, Pierce pressured younger and/or less experienced staff members to engage in violations.”
“Multiple staff members reported that they feared they would lose their jobs if they did not follow Pierce’s directives to bring prospects to campus during the dead period. Pierce’s conduct not only exemplifies a blatant disregard for NCAA bylaws, but a total indifference to the wellbeing of the staff members who reported to him,” the NCAA infractions decision report states.
The NCAA described occasions when Pierce allegedly met with recruits and families at an off-campus residence and arranged a trip to a gun shooting range and to a local “gentlemen’s club.”
The NCAA report stated eight prospects who participated in unauthorized visits ultimately attended the university and played in 19 football games while ineligible.
Pierce and the Raiders face the Broncos in Denver on Sunday.
