Packers Officially Hire Bisaccia as Special Teams Coordinator
GREEN BAY, Wis. – After an epic special teams meltdown doomed his team in the divisional playoffs, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur said fixing that phase of the game would be a “main priority” during the offseason.
Turning words into action, LaFleur hired Bisaccia as his latest coordinator, the team making that official on Tuesday afternoon. Bisaccia has been a coordinator for 20 seasons, including the last four years with the Raiders. Last year, he replaced Jon Gruden as interim head coach and rallied Las Vegas through adversity and into the playoffs.
Bisaccia’s units have finished in the top 10 of Rick Gosselin’s special teams rankings nine times. He failed to crack the top 10 in any of his four seasons with the Raiders—topping out at No. 11 in 2021—but his units finished higher than the Packers in 14 of the past 16 seasons and usually by an enormous margin.
During his four-year run with the Raiders, Bisaccia led special teams that ranked 11th in 2021, 16th in 2020, 25th in 2019 and 19th in 2018. That’s an average ranking of 17.8. LaFleur would welcome that type of mediocrity. With last-place finishes in 2021 and 2018, the Packers’ average finish the past four seasons was 29.8.
Getting a quick fix will require more than a change in coordinators, which LaFleur made clear after the season. It will require better personnel almost across the board. A source said the 61-year-old Bisaccia would not have taken the job without assurances there would be more of an organizational focus on special teams.
Nonetheless, Bisaccia has some history in that regard. When he joined the Chargers in 2011, they improved from 32nd in 2010 to 25th in 2011. When he was hired by the Cowboys in 2013, Dallas improved from 17th in 2012 to fourth in 2013.
However, the Raiders’ special teams back-tracked from seventh in 2017 to 19th in 2018, though some of that was because of changes at returner (losing Cordarrelle Patterson in free agency) and punter (rookie Johnny Townsend struggled).
Bisaccia will bring a personal touch to the job, as well. He was beloved by his players in Las Vegas. Rookie cornerback Nate Hobbs said Bisaccia “loved me like a brother. A feeling I hadn’t felt in so long.” Key members of the Raiders, including defensive end Maxx Crosby and quarterback Derek Carr, publicly lobbied for the Raiders to remove the “interim” tag and name him coach.
“Rich is one of a kind,” star defensive end Maxx Crosby said on The Rich Eisen Show last month. “Everybody’s been asking, ‘What’s going to happen?’ Everybody knows my vote. I made that very clear. I love Rich. I think he's the best man for the job. He's come in and done such an amazing job. We won 10 games with a team that's had tragedy, loss, everything you could imagine. And he's found a way to get a group of guys to come together and win football games in January and December, which is rare. Rich is the real deal. He’s a leader of men.”
