Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden once again didn’t get any interest this offseason in head coaching jobs. As long as he’s in the middle of a lawsuit with the NFL, it’s going to be difficult to convince a team to give him a shot.
Gruden previously had to resign from his job with the Raiders due to a number of emails containing racist, homophobic and misogynistic language being leaked to the media. He has been working with Barstool Sports in recent years, hosting an online show.
However, his real passion is to be close to football. That either in coaching or in the broadcast booth.
It’s hard to imagine ESPN is going to hire him right now, especially since they have a relationship with the NFL they’d like to maintain, but that won’t stop local stations from giving him a chance. Ira Kaufman of WDAE in Tampa revealed that Gruden is going to handle play-by-play duties for an NFL preseason game this year.
“I want to be play-by-play,” Gruden said on “The Ira Kaufman Podcast.” “You know, Frank Gifford, he transitioned into the play-by-play role. I would like to transition. I had nine years of watching these guys — [Mike] Tirico. And I’d like to give that a shot, man.”
Could This Be Good Step for Gruden?
Kaufman didn’t give many details. It remains to be seen which game he’ll call, which teams he’ll be covering or if he’ll be covering the whole game. If Gruden wants to get back into the broadcast game, this makes some sense.
He was always a fan favorite in the booth, so giving fans a chance to remember how good he is in the role could help his chances. Gruden’s problem is that no big studio is going to touch him while he’s actively involved in a lawsuit against the NFL.
Gruden doing a preseason game likely won’t ruffle many feathers, but he still has a lot of work to do before he’s going to get a more defined role either in the NFL or covering the NFL.
Is Gruden Done Coaching?
Every year that passes, Gruden’s dream of coaching in the NFL again becomes more difficult. He’s already 62, and teams typically prefer to hire younger head coaches these days.
Plus, Gruden wasn’t good in his second stint with the Raiders. This isn’t a situation where he was having a ton of success before a scandal caused him to resign.
Gruden’s best hope of coaching again might be in the college ranks. His style might fit better with younger players. He has said that he’d be willing to coach in college, but it’s unclear how true that is. Deep down, he’s an NFL coach. He hasn’t coached in the college ranks since 1991.
Now, coaching is coaching, and if he truly wants to coach, he may just have to take a job at a small college to build his brand back up. He may also simply be happy working in the media again. It’s difficult to know anything conclusive about the coach.
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