Despite suing the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell, former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden has spent a decent amount of time on an NFL sideline over the last two seasons.
He’s popped up at the New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs’ mini-camp and training camp, and it’s clear Gruden still wants to coach somewhere in the not-too-distant future.
But his next break may come sooner than expected, only it may be outside of the NFL.
In a recent interview with CBS Sports — his only interview since resigning from the Raiders in 2021 — Gruden admitted that he’s open to any head-coaching prospects that may come his way, including in the college ranks.
“Yeah, I’m interested in coaching,” Gruden said. “My dad was a college coach, I was a college coach at Pitt, my wife was a cheerleader at Tennessee when I met her. Hell yeah, I’m interested in coaching. I know I can help a team, I know I can help young players get better, and I know I can hire a good staff, and that’s the only thing I can guarantee. But yeah, I’m very interested in coaching at any level, period.”
CBS Sports spoke with a few athletic directors to gauge whether or not Gruden would be welcomed back as a coach. The consensus seemed to be that it might be — depending on the school and the situation.
One AD in the SEC labeled Gruden as “untouchable” while others at lower-level schools seemed to be more open to the idea of possibly hiring him.
“If I was in the market right now, would I interview Jon Gruden? Yeah, probably,” a Group of Five AD said. “There’d be no reason not to. Now, if I was at Florida, no, I’m not doing that. It’s not the right fit, right time. A lot of that depends on the right job. One of the things with a Group of Five [school] is you can take a more calculated risk.”
Gruden’s reputation in the coaching world was essentially given a death penalty after a series of leaked emails through the New York Times exposed him for using misogynistic, racist and anti-LGBTQ+ language between 2011-18 when he worked as an analyst for ESPN.