Jon Gruden has been back in the spotlight as of late, thanks to the revitalization of his career with Barstool Sports. Although Gruden hasn’t coached football since 2021, when he resigned amid a scandal involving racist and misogynistic emails he’d sent to members of the Washington Football Team staff, he recently revealed that he’d love to return to the sidelines.
“I want to coach again. I’d die to coach in the SEC. I would love it. I would f*cking love it,” Gruden said recently.
However, one prominent college football insider is pumping the brakes on the idea.
“My hunch on Gruden is that, look, there’s 136 of these Division I FBS jobs,” ESPN’s Pete Thamel, according to Awful Announcing. “It’s a Star Wars bar right… you go from Miami to Seattle from Phoenix to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. There’s a lot in between with the Marshalls and the Western Kentuckys and Arkansas States.
“I think Jon Gruden could land somewhere amid that, so I would not project him to go to the SEC. There are just better college coaches available than Jon Gruden. I just think that the university hiring process for Gruden, who is amid ongoing litigation, could add some complexities to that.”
Fans reacted to Thamel’s take on social media.
“Why would any university or NFL team even think about bringing in Gruden and the baggage that comes with him?” oenne person wrote on Twitter.
“Better coaches? Than a guy who literally dissects entire games, play by play, and keeps binders full of plays going back decades. Yeah, what does he know about football?” someone else added.
It’ll be interesting to see if Gruden gets another shot.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.