Super Bowl winner Antonio Pierce will make his debut as a head coach in the NFL against former team New York Giants at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday.

The former Giants linebacker, who has Bermudian parentage, was appointed as interim head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders for the rest of the season following the firing of Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler shortly after the NFL trade deadline expired on Tuesday.

“After much thought about what the Raiders need to move forward, I have decided to part ways with Josh and Dave,” owner Mark Davis commented on the team’s website.

“I want to thank them both for their hard work and wish them and their families nothing but the best.”

The Raiders, who are committed to undergo a comprehensive search for a head coach once the season is complete, are third in the four-team AFC West Division with a 3-5 record and have suffered losses in their previous two outings against the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions.

Pierce, who won the Super Bowl with the Giants in 2008, is in his second season as linebackers coach with the Raiders and has seven years of coaching experience under his belt.

The 45-year-old served as linebackers coach at Arizona State University for five seasons before adding the roles of associate head coach and defensive co-ordinator to his résumé before joining the Raiders.

After grooming his skills playing college football for the University of Arizona, Pierce was signed by the Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent in 2001 and featured in all 16 games in his rookie campaign, which included eight starts.

His big breakthrough came during the 2004-05 season when he racked up 114 tackles, one sack, five passes defended and two interceptions, including one off San Francisco 49ers quarterback Ken Dorsey that he returned 76 yards for a touchdown.

Pierce signed with the Giants the next season, where his career really took flight as the captain of a future Super Bowl-winning defence.

He logged a career-high 139 tackles and made his first Pro Bowl during the 2006-07 campaign before crossing the 100-tackle mark for the fourth consecutive year the next season.

Pierce, whose father is Bermudian, played an integral part of the Giants’ championship-winning team having started every game during the 2007-08 campaign, which culminated with an upset over Tom Brady’s New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII despite being double-digit underdogs.

It was the Giants’ third Super Bowl triumph, a feat that also denied the Patriots a perfect season.

Pierce ended his NFL playing career in 2010 with 686 tackles, nine sacks and seven interceptions, and began his coaching career four years later at Long Beach Poly high school.