'No better time than now': Justin Fargas embraces coaching opportunity with the Silver and Black

Oct 24, 2025 at 11:00 AM

Levi Edwards

Digital Team Reporter

All of the stars have aligned for Justin Fargas in a quiet, yet productive return to the Silver and Black.

The Southern California native who grew up a Raiders fan was drafted by the franchise in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft. In his seven seasons playing for the Silver and Black, he started 32 games at running back, with an impressive 2007 campaign in which he rushed for 1,009 yards and four touchdowns.

"Marcus Allen, seeing him play as a Raider, Bo Jackson, I had his poster on the wall. I was definitely in tune with the legacy of the great Raiders running backs that played the game and it was a honor to have played the position, wear the colors and got the opportunity to contribute," Fargas told Raiders.com.

In 2021, Fargas and his family moved to Las Vegas as his wife, Nikki, was named president of the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces. In her current role, Nikki is coming off her third championship in four seasons with the team.

Now residing in the city his former team relocated to, Fargas is vying to help bring the success his wife has enjoyed with the Aces next door to the Raiders facility.

In 1987, the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship was established to give men such as Fargas an opportunity to get into coaching in their post-playing career. The fellowship's objective is to increase the number of full-time NFL minority coaches across the league.

The only requirements is that each applicant is either a former NFL player or has previous coaching experience at either the high school, college, and/or other football leagues level (i.e. CFL, UFL).

This seemed like a grand opportunity for Fargas to become reconnected with the Raiders – and a staff he's already quite familiar with.

Fargas played two seasons in college at Michigan, where he was teammates with general manager John Spytek. He then transferred to USC as the program was being taken over by Pete Carroll. In Fargas' one season under Carroll, he rushed for 715 yards and seven touchdowns as the team went 11-2 and won the Orange Bowl.

According to Fargas, it was his former college coach who suggested he apply for the coaching fellowship.

"I've been wanting to contribute, wanting to help, but just waiting for the right circumstance and the right time," Fargas said. "Sometimes you just can't fight the universe, you have to go with it and I've looked at it like that. It's been a dream of mine, a goal of mine as far as helping and contributing to this organization and helping us get the success we've been yearning for.

"I looked at it as if there's no time better than now. If I'm going to do it, now is the time. I couldn't hesitate, had to put my foot down and just jump into it."

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Having started with the Raiders in training camp, he's been working with his former position group and trying to absorb everything he can under Deland McCullough, another former NFL running back turned coach with nearly 15 years of experience at the collegiate and professional level.

"A person who has played here and can give them some background into what it is to be a Raider," McCullough said of what Fargas adds to the coaching staff. "Obviously he's never coached before so that expertise is something that you acquire over time. ... But definitely gives the guys some perspective. He has history with the organization and that's been really good. He's learning the nuances that he can as it relates to being a coach."

In the same vein, his playing experience has been helpful for a young group headlined by No. 6 overall pick Ashton Jeanty and veteran Raheem Mostert.

"He's done it for a long time back then and he's bringing knowledge to the game," Mostert said. "He's given us tools that we can work with and utilize out there on the field. It's always good to hear from somebody who played the game."

In this full circle reality Fargas is living in, he attributes many of his learned experiences playing for Carroll and for the Raiders to how he's approaching coaching in this new chapter.

"Team's got a lot of talent. But [Coach Carroll] is always coaching the mental side, being strong-minded," Fargas said. "And he personifies it every day with the energy that he brings and the motivation he's able to instill into guys to get the best out of themselves and never settle for less.

"I think when you're a strong-minded individual, and you have passion and you have grit, there's nothing you can't achieve."

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