Former New Mexico State Aggie and Canadian Football League star Buck Pierce will now shift his sights to the next step in his football career: coaching professionally.
Pierce, who announced his retirement from the CFL earlier this week, was named running backs coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Friday.
Pierce played nine seasons with Winnipeg and the B.C. Lions, finishing with 15,289 passing yards, 76 touchdowns and 1,200 completions in 130 games played. He won a Grey Cup championship with B.C. in 2006 and led Winnipeg to the 2011 CFL championship game.
Pierce spent five seasons in B.C., signed with Winnipeg as a free agent in 2010, before being traded back to the Lions in September, 2013. In a press release sent out by Winnipeg on Friday, the team called Pierce a "fan favorite" and "one of the most popular players to don a Bomber uniform over the past decade."
Prior to his CFL tenure Pierce was a popular player for New Mexico State, taking the field for the team from 2001-04. Pierce threw 30 touchdowns during that time (compared to 12 interceptions) while completing 66 percent of his passes (397 of 599) for 4,927 yards. He also ran for 734 yards and three touchdowns during his NMSU career.
Under head coach Tony Samuel, the Aggies held a 20-27 record during that four-year period, and put up a 7-5 mark in 2002.
In a message via his personal Twitter account, Pierce said he's owned a house in Las Cruces since 2007, and returns to the area during the CFL's offseason.
"Deciding not to play anymore was a difficult decision, but having the opportunity to re-join the Bombers in a coaching role was really a perfect fit," Pierce said in the team's press release. "I am thrilled they wanted me to be a part of what I believe will be a great thing here in Winnipeg. I said when I was traded that I hoped one day I would be back in some capacity, and today is a really special day for my family and me."
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1 comment:
Glad for Buck! One of the best era's of Aggie football, was him under center!
Hope he does well as a coach and maybe he'll be NMSU's head coach in the future!
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