Jon Gruden reportedly has interest in college head coaching job
If you're a Tennessee Vols fan, you're very familiar with former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and the rumors, AKA "Grumors", that linked him to UT during various head coaching searches. In 2012 and 2017, the Grumors were absolutely wild. During each of those Tennessee coaching searches, there were rumors that Gruden was flying on […]
If you're a Tennessee Vols fan, you're very familiar with former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and the rumors, AKA "Grumors", that linked him to UT during various head coaching searches.
In 2012 and 2017, the Grumors were absolutely wild. During each of those Tennessee coaching searches, there were rumors that Gruden was flying on planes owned by UT boosters, assembling a potential coaching staff, and meeting in secret with Tennessee leaders to work out a deal to become the Vols' head coach.
None of this, of course, ever came to fruition. The Grumors mostly served as a distraction while Tennessee's athletic directors at the time — Dave Hart in 2012 and John Currie in 2017 (until he was fired) — conducted the actual search.
Gruden eventually returned to the NFL with the Raiders.
And that was probably for the best. Gruden resigned from the Raiders in 2021 amid an investigation that revealed emails that he sent which included racist and homophobic slurs. He was in fourth season with the Raiders and he had yet to lead the team to a winning record during his second stint as the franchise's head coach.
The main reason there was some intrigue with Gruden was because of his fiery personality, his status as a commentator on Monday Night Football (2009-2017), and the fact that he was a graduate assistant at Tennessee in 1986 and 1987. (Gruden often talked fondly of his time at UT.)
Grumors are back
Six years after the last round of Grumors, they're reportedly starting up again.
According to The Athletic's Bruce Feldman, Gruden is a wild card option for Indiana, which recently fired Tom Allen.
Feldman reported that Gruden has some interest in the Indiana job.
From The Athletic: The 60-year old Gruden, who won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 39, does have some support with a few key people high up at the school, I've been told. Gruden has connections to the school, too; he visits Bloomington fairly often. His father, Jim, was a coach at Indiana on Lee Corso's staff in the 1970s. Word is that Gruden does have some interest in the job. Whether the Indiana administration would have the appetite for a move like this, though, remains to be seen.
Gruden is probably desperate to get back into the coaching world, so it doesn't seem like this is a ploy by him to keep his name in headlines (which is what it felt like he was doing each time the Vols had an opening).
But it's hard to see Indiana hiring a controversial head coach who hasn't coached in college since 1989. Indiana needs someone that knows how to manage NIL and the NCAA transfer portal. Those are the most important parts of leading a college football team right now and Gruden has zero experience in those areas. College head coaches have to essentially be a general manager as much as they have to worry about X's and O's. I'm not sure Gruden would thrive in that role.
But hey, you never know when it comes to college football. Indiana might just decide to get wild and crazy and give Gruden a legitimate shot.
Either way, Grumors are officially back.
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