Jon Gruden wants to coach again, but maybe not with the New York Jets.
The former Raiders and Buccaneers head coach has been out of the NFL since resigning in Las Vegas when his years-old racist and homophobic emails surfaced in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times in 2021. He has since sued the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell, claiming the league pressured the team to fire him by leaking those emails to the Times.
Gruden has also stated his intention to return to the sideline, either as an NFL or college coach.
Such an opportunity reportedly came his way from embattled Jets first-year coach Aaron Glenn, as reported by The Athletic.
Problem was, Gruden wasn’t interested in the job, sources told The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt.
For Jets fans coming off a 3-14 campaign as the team’s playoff drought hit 15 seasons, Gruden’s reported disinterest in joining Glenn’s staff was hard to take.
Jon Gruden wants to coach again, but maybe not with the New York Jets according to a report
‘If this was a serious football opportunity, his lack of interest says a lot about how the league views the Jets internally,’ one fan wrote on X.
‘Gruden knows a sinking ship when he sees one and wisely chooses to avoid the chaos of the Jets,’ another added.
Many others simply asked: ‘Who can blame him?’
Gruden was asked about his coaching future in July, telling reporters at Lions training camp: ‘Hopefully I’m not done. I’m about to make a comeback. I’m working hard to maybe get one more shot.’
The exact role Gruden was reportedly offered by Glenn is unclear, but Glenn is looking for a new offensive coordinator.
Of course, Gruden came up on the offensive side of the ball before taking the Oakland Raiders’ head-coaching job in 1998. Gruden would go on to beat the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII as head coach of the Buccaneers.
He ultimately returned to the Raiders in 2018 and remained with the team as it relocated to Las Vegas in 2020, but things did not go well the second time around.
Not only did Gruden fail to reach the postseason, but he ultimately found himself at the center of the league’s hostile workplace investigation into what was then known as the Washington Football Team (now the Commanders).
That NFL investigation is said to have uncovered Gruden’s olde emails, containing racist and homophobic language about the now-former union chief DeMaurice Smith, who is black, and Goodell. In one email, Gruden said Smith had ‘lips the size of Michelin tires’ and later referred to him as ‘Dumboriss Smith.’ Additionally, Gruden also used a homophobic term, ‘f*****,’ to describe Goodell in another message.
The messages, which were revealed by The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, were sent by Gruden between 2011 to 2018, while Gruden was an NFL analyst at ESPN. Recipients included former Redskins executive Bruce Allen, who’d worked with Gruden’s brother in Washington.
But while Gruden has accused the league of leaking the emails, ESPN reported in 2023 it may have been then-Washington owner Dan Snyder who did so in an attempt to deflect criticism over a sexual harassment scandal.
Through a league spokesman, Goodell has steadfastly denied leaking the Gruden emails. The NFL has sought to push the dispute out of public court and into private arbitration.
