Antonio Pierce Receives Eight-Year Show-Cause Penalty From NCAA Stemming From Arizona State Violations

Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce better hope this NFL thing works out, because going back to the college ranks is going to be a massive problem. The NCAA handed down punishment today to the former Arizona State assistant coach. 

Pierce was given an eight-year show-cause penalty on Thursday, along with a one-year suspension if he were to ever try and rejoin the college football ranks. 

All of this stems from his time as a Sun Devil assistant and transpired during the Covid dead period that sent college athletics into a frenzy. 

During the dead period, prospects were not allowed to interact with coaches if they came to campus, which led to some schools getting pretty creative in how they would engage with coaches if they came to campus on their own. 

For some schools, they went a bit overboard in trying to get these prospects to campus, which included a number of Arizona State coaches. According to the NCAA investigation, several Arizona State coaches indicated that Antonio Pierce was the ringleader behind getting these prospects to campus, and setting up their travel with the help of a booster.

This also included non-coaching staff member Anthony Garnett, who was also named in the NCAA release. After everything Pierce did to try and land recruits, only 8 of the 35 prospects involved actually attended Arizona State. 

Antonio Pierce Violated NCAA Rules At Arizona State 

The NCAA said on Thursday that Pierce was involved in a scheme that would pay for the travel to get prospects to campus, along with taking a prospect's parents to a stip-club. 

"The majority of the violations in this case stemmed from a scheme in which Pierce, other members of the football staff and a booster arranged unofficial visits to the school for roughly one year during the COVID-19 dead period. During those visits, which occurred over 15 weekends, staff members had impermissible recruiting contacts — including tryouts, football facility tours and entertainment — with 35 prospects and their families. Pierce arranged for or personally provided free meals, apparel, airfare and/or lodging for 27 prospects, often in collaboration with the booster, who was the parent of a then-football student-athlete in the program. 

"In addition to violating the dead period rules, the meals, entertainment — which included taking a prospect's parents to a gentlemen's club — and travel expenses associated with the unofficial visits also constituted impermissible recruiting inducements. As a result of the impermissible benefits received by the prospects, eight who eventually enrolled at Arizona State went on to compete in 19 contests while ineligible."

LAS VEGAS, NV - DECEMBER 30: Arizona State Sun Devils defensive coordinator antonio pierce during the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Arizona State Sun Devils on December 30, 2021 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV. (Photo by Jordon Kelly/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

That's a pretty big scheme that the current Las Vegas Raiders coach helped organize, including the transportation to Arizona State. It's pretty obvious as to why the NCAA has decided to come down so hard on the former assistant. 

The NCAA also claims that Pierce failed to fully cooperate with the investigation into the actions that occurred while he was at Arizona State. 

"Although he participated in an interview with enforcement staff and acknowledged some facts surrounding the unofficial visits, he consistently denied planning or arranging any portion of the visits, providing recruiting inducements, or participating in the out-of-state contacts and evaluations. Additionally, Pierce failed to provide pertinent financial documentation requested by the enforcement staff."

I think it's fair to say that we won't see Antonio Pierce back in the college game anytime soon, and he will be an NFL lifer from this day forward. 

The NCAA decided to come down very hard on Pierce, and judging by the evidence they had, it seems warranted.