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Jon Gruden wants to return to coaching. Could he find spot in college football?

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3 months ago

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Jon Gruden wants to return to coaching. Could he find spot in college football?

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Three years after resigning as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders after the emergence of racist, misogynist and homophobic emails, Jon Gruden wants to return to coaching

Only — this time — he’s eyeing the college game.

Gruden, who has stayed mostly out of the public spotlight since his resignation and since he filed a lawsuit in Nevada against the NFL in November 2021, opened up about his future with CBS Sports.

“Yeah, I’m interested in coaching,” Gruden, 61, told CBS Sports. “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.”

Gruden has launched a YouTube channel called “Gruden Loves Football” in which he provides breakdowns, mostly about NFL teams and matchups, and interviews former and current players. Launched just two weeks ago, Gruden has already posted 18 videos, as of Wednesday evening. He has interviewed current Saints quarterback Derek Carr, whom he coached for three-and-a-half seasons with the Raiders, and former Saints and Chargers quarterback Drew Brees.

Gruden, who has worked out of a building in Tampa he refers to as the “Fired Football Coaches Association,” told CBS Sports that he continues to study the game from those offices.

“If there’s somebody out there that thinks they need a candidate, somebody to come in there, maybe lather it up a little bit, jazz it up a little bit, I’ll be down here in Tampa,” Gruden said. “I’ll be ready to go if needed.”

Gruden sued the NFL in November 2021, arguing that the league “selectively leaked Gruden’s private correspondence to The Wall Street Journal and New York Times in order to harm Gruden’s reputation and force him out of his job.”

Gruden resigned as head coach of the Raiders after emails he sent over the previous decade, while he was employed by ESPN as a “Monday Night Football” analyst, became public in October 2021. The emails were uncovered as part of the league’s investigation into the Washington team’s alleged toxic workplace culture, which concluded in the summer of 2021 and included no written report.

In 15 seasons in the NFL, Gruden compiled a 117-112 record, including a victory in Super Bowl 37. He most recently served as an advisor for the Milano Seamen, the five-time Italian Bowl champions in the European League of Football.

Though the bulk of his experience is in the NFL, Gruden served as the wide receivers coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers in 1991. He was also the receivers coach for Pacific in 1989, the passing game coordinator for Southeast Missouri State in 1988 and a graduate assistant for Tennessee in 1986-87.

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