Though there's no specific evidence (yet) that former Raiders and Bucs coach Jon Gruden will be leaving the Monday Night Football booth and returning to the sidelines, there's a growing sense among league and industry insiders that Gruden will be returning to work as a head coach in 2010.
Already, rumors are linking him (again) to the Notre Dame job. The fact that Gruden and Irish coach Charlie Weis are both represented by Bob LaMonte could make the swap a little delicate, to say the least. Besides, few believe that Gruden has the desire (or the patience) to work with college-level quarterbacks.
The pro game, then, is likely where he'll land. And the fact that he has been saying nothing remotely negative or critical regarding the players, coaches, General Managers, or owners of the teams playing in the games he's working is sparking a growing belief that Gruden wants back in, and that he is being careful not to intentionally or accidentally burn any of the bridges across which he soon could be treading.
As we concluded early in the year, the thing that makes him good on television -- his passion for the game -- will draw him back to it. Now that he's apparently trying to position himself for a job, however, his over-the-top effusive praise has been at times even worse than the worst stuff we can recall from Joe Theismann a/k/a Joey Sunshine.
Get ready for Gruden's return
Posted by Mike Florio on November 11, 2009 11:12 PM ET
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71 Comments 
Latest stories in: Latest News and Rumors, Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Top Stories
Latest stories in: Latest News and Rumors, Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Top Stories
Beth Stern will get Grudens seat in the booth as soon as he returns to the NFL.
If Lerner has any brains/balls: he will dump ManTeleTubby, hire Holmgren as GM and Gruden to coach.
This is the most stimulated I have ever been reading a PFT article. Mike Florio is one of the top contributors on PFT right now, and his Office clips are top notch.
No one is worse than Kornheiser and Theismann. Gruden has passion, its great for MNF. Get off his jock.
Would the UFL be an option? The UFL should get more franchises into the mix in the coming year and he could be a want for a Head Coaching gig. And for a little humor with that, maybe he could be the coach for the Flint Ultraists (Abbv. 'FU').
Notre Dame : From Chunky to Chucky
Anytime someone does something remotely positive Chucky is praising the guy like he's a hall of famer. Think Madden-Favre love affraid, except with any given player that has a good game on any given sunday.
I hope to god he comes to Cleveland!!! Lerner WAKE THE F UP AND HIRE THIS GUY!!!!!!!!!
you have to have your comments approved?????
Would love to see him back in Philly. He would be a HUGE improvement and let Reid do his thing somewhere else. Maybe he could even get McNabb back in a trade.
He is a legitimate star in the booth, I hope he stays right there, I can't tell you the last time I've enjoyed MNF this much
The 4yr Mike McCarthy experiment has failed miserably. 2007 was an anomaly and the Green Bay Packers are headed for medicority or worse. I for one would love to see Gruden bring some fire and passion to the Packers sideline and see what he can do with a real QB.
I also wouldn't mind seeing TT being escorted out of 1265 Lombardi Ave also, but really don't know who should be the next GM. I know a lot of people are saying Mike Holmgren, but I'm not sure if I really like that idea. He wasn't so great at it in Seattle.
OH, is there ANYYYYYYYYYYYY chance he comes back??? I've heard that Al Davis has publicly ackowledged that he made a mistake getting rid of Gruden in the first place. Please come back. Al im T-I-R-E-D of this. T-I-R-E-D!!!!!!!
WTF? comparing Gruden to Theismann, Gruden is amazing in the booth and the closest thing we will ever have to having another john Madden!!!
Theisman belongs just a bit above Kornheiser the worst ever,
I for one hope he stays on MNF because he saved the freaking show! Sunday nighters were way better the last few years and last year I had to watch the Monday games on mute because I did not want to hear kornturd-heiser talk about what would be in the papers the next day.
Stay in the booth Gruden is a stand all fans must take to becuase if kornturds returns, I might just tie a noose in some spare rope
Every time I watch Monday Night Football, I pray to God that someone, anyone, will hire John Gruden (and the rest of the MNF team while their at it!)
Please please please come to the EAGLES
Oh, thank God! In my many years of watching football, I have never muted the volume because of a commentator - except for Gruden. He is always gushing about someone or something. Seriously, is this a football game or a lovefest?
GRUDEN IS AN F'N IDIOT, AND UNLISTENABLE IN THE BOOTH. HAVE TO TURN THE SOUND DOWN TO WATCH THE GAME, HOW SAD. HE IS SO SWEET IN THE BOOTH, HE SHOULD BE A WOMAN, THE LITTLE F'N MIDGET....
Oh Jeez I kept waiting for him to tell me how much he felt a tingle down his leg talking about Breez and NO. Get him out of the booth, please!
Thank God!!! in all the years of watching Monday Night Football i think Gruden is hands down the worst announcer ever...he is so bad that i literally cannot watch the game. between him & Jaws the man love spewing from the booth for any player wearing a sweaty jock is enough to make me vomit
Forget Theisman. He makes Frank Gifford sound like Simon Cowell. Jesus, he's a joke.
PACKERS!
I actually think Brian Griese would make a fine starting quarterback for Notre Dame.
Joking aside, I think Gruden will make an impact anywhere he goes. However, I don't think he will ever have a sustained impact in one place. He got out of Oakland while his stock was high, and then pushed Tampa over the Dungy-hump, but it was steadily downhill from there with a few high spots.
I actually think he's similar to Parcells in that sense. He can turn around a young, rough team, get the most out of them in the short term, and then bail when he peaks (which will, unless he comes into a ready-built situation again which is unlikely, probably end with early playoff exits....also like Parcells).
Unfortunately it seemed inevitable that Gruden's triumphant stint in the broadcast booth would be a short one with the long list of potential openings. As a diehard fan of both the golden domers and packers, I hope and wish daily that this will be the last season that both legendary programs wallow in mediocrity at the hands of those tubs of lard, Weis and McCarthy. The next few games will tell whether I'm cheering for a Packers wild card berth or them to tank the rest of the season to ensure McCarthy does not return hopefully paving the way for Gruden(and our saviour in the form of our offensive lineman picked in the first round) to return Green Bay to glory.
Gruden wants and will coach again in the NFL. There's a suprise!
We also landed on the moon.
Good day!!
Oh geez Florio....Damned if he does, Damned if he doesn't. Yes, we all know Chucky curses like a sailor on the sidelines, but that's an unfortunate part of football culture. Gruden is great in the booth and I can't wait to see his next move in the NFL. Thanks for the Ring John!!!!
p.s.
I'm still happy he's not coaching in Tampa anymore...to any owner out there, let Gruden coach your team, but keep him out of personnel decisions.
I'd love to see him back in Green Bay!! You can bet he'd demand some discipline and accountability and get some real production out of all the talent.
"Though there's no specific evidence (yet) that former Raiders and Bucs coach Jon Gruden will be leaving the Monday Night Football booth and returning to the sidelines, there's a growing sense among league and industry insiders that Gruden will be returning to work as a head coach in 2010."
Oh... It's speculation then... your specialty!
There is little doubt that a coach with a Super Bowl ring regardless of how he got it will find work again if he wants to badly enough. Where and When are the important questions to answer.
"Though there's no specific evidence (yet) that former Raiders and Bucs coach Jon Gruden will be leaving the Monday Night Football booth and returning to the sidelines, there's a growing sense among league and industry insiders that Gruden will be returning to work as a head coach in 2010."
Oh... It's speculation then... your specialty!
There is little doubt that a coach with a Super Bowl ring regardless of how he got it will find work again if he wants to badly enough. Where and When are the important questions to answer.
College is the easy way out.....Got questions?
INVAIDUH @Yahoo..Bring it..
As John Gruden would say, "That Florio is one HECK of a writer!"
Chicago please!
Unfortunately he gets to finish out this year and we have to sit through his current man love fascination of the star qb/coach that is on the field.
"few believe that Gruden has the desire (or the patience) to work with college-level quarterbacks."
Well that rules out the Raiders because there is no way Gruden or any real NFL coach would start JaMarcus at QB ... not even a CFL coach.
Dear Gruden,
Chuckie, we miss you out in Oakland :'( Please come back, we will give you all of that money that our so called "quarterback" makes. It would be apreciated :)
Sincerely, Raider Nation!
Gruden is the worst color commentator in the NFL, and the bar isn't set quite high by guys like Phil Simms. But Chucky is horrible. I like Jaws (and Tirico) on MNF, but Gruden should be gone asap.
Well today Matt Millen has the chance to push Chucky to second place, but I doubt he'll be that crappy.
Bring Chucky back to Oakland
Unless Gruden and Weis are good friends, I highly doubt/would find it hard to believe that Gruden would care about Weis, simply because they share the same agent. If he wanted the Notre Dame job, he would jump on it the second it opened.
The agent wouldn't try to deter Gruden from taking the job either. He already got paid by Weis when he got hired. Then he'd get paid when Gruden got hired and when Weis found a new job. And it's not like Weis would fire the agent if Gruden took the Notre Dame job. Why would he fire the agent who got him the ridiculous extension(in his 1st year) from Notre Dame for losing close to USC? The agent must be a miracle-worker for getting that done.
Mr. Florio:
This is not a comment... But a Question?
(I hope you still read the comments here.)
Is walking the sidelines of "The Frozen Tundra" something he would be attracted to?
Gruden to Jags, Captain Jack to Irish. Bob's Big Boy to Lions as OC.
Given Gruden's propensity for NOT wanting to groom young NFL QB's, I doubt he is going to coach college ball.
gruden will be green bays next coach
Great rumor, Florio......you are the best at making them up!
You're right about Gruden's booth behavior. Watching the games I sometimes forget who it is I'm listening to. I'm often doing mental double-takes, wondering if that's really the Chuckie we all came to know on the Raiders and Bucs sideline.
Let's see what he says about the disaster in Cleveland this Monday. He may be taking notes for an interview more than analyzing the game.
Green Bay Jon, let it be Green Bay.
There's been rumors going around for weeks that he's going back to Oaktown, along with Bruce Allen.
God, I hope it comes true.
So Gruden in the Paula Abdul of ESPN?
He's a very good coach and is better than half the current NFL coaches. Maybe the L.A. Vikings will hire him. Actually, that's premature of me. It could very well be the London Vikings.
Why can't ESPN just have a two man booth? Every 3rd person that seem to toss in there just doesn't work. Why do they constantly feel they need to jump at available "talent" and overpay for them? Tirico and Jaws would be fine as just a two-man team.
Thnak you for making the comparison of Gruden to Theisman. I've been saying for weeks Gruden is the new Joey Sunshine. But maybe he's just trying to avoid burning bridges. Either way it gets annoying after a while. And poor Jaws, for some one who likes to talk he can't get a word in with Gruden in the booth. Overall espn doesn't do a great job with the broadcast IMO. Too many talkiing heads.
GRUDEN IN JACKSONVILLE!!!!!!!! Makes perfect sense. Offensive-minded coach matched with a team that needs a major offensive spark with the weapons already in place, match made in heaven. AUTOMATIC INCREASE IN TICKET SALES. Make some offseason defensive moves to get this team back in the top 5 defense in the league again and BAM!
The only problem Wayne Weaver dosen't want to open the check book and buy out Del Rio and then pay Gruden top salary. WW, you're a business man, sometimes you got to gamble, but this is a sure bet. Give the fans something to get excited about again, IT'S YOUR MOVE!!!!!!
Gruden isn't terrible in the booth, but as I said four weeks ago, it's obvious as hell that his commentary is one long constant interview for his next job. Hell, you can't blame the guy you would do the same damn thing in his shoes.
I like the idea of him going to Green Bay but I'm not sure A-Rod has the balls to man-up with Gruden. He needs a partner like he had with Gannon who only takes so much of his crap and works just as hard. It would be interesting to see.
Of course he could go to Washington instantly taking the pressure off of Snyder and his obvioius short man complex.
Dan Snyder will hire him today. All Gruden needs to do is :
1. Check his wobblies in w/ Snyder's secretary when he arrives at Redskin Park (which he can have back when he gets fired next year).
2. Get down on one knee, kiss "Mr. Snyder's" hand.
3. Proclaim in his first press conference that "Mr. Snyder" and Vinny actually have "very good" football minds. And he looks forward to a long successful career in Washington, working with "Mr. Snyder"& Vinny.
4. Put on a pair of Redskin Panties. (These he can get from Jim Zorn's office)
5. Turn his playbook over to Mrs. Beverly Watterman for editing. (Mrs. Watterman is the head Bingo caller at the Sunshine Hills Retirement Home in Clearwater, FL)
6. Agree to park cars at every event at "Mr. Snyder's" home.
7. Oversee dry cleaning duties for Vinny Cerrato. (Vinny will still handle "Mr. Snyder's" dry cleaning duties)
Do it Jon, Do it!
Snyder should get him in DC. He is exactly what Snyder thought Zorn was going to be.
And Chucky should take the offer because Snyder will pay more than anyone else. He always does.
Hopefully he'll also draft some linemen who can play, and maybe get a qb. Not sign Kerry Collins or Byron Leftwich to propel them to their next championship, but actually get a real NFL QB. And like I said, some linemen under age 55, maybe some 1st rounders, not undrafted free agents. F#@$!%^& idiots Snyder and Cerrato.
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest
"And the fact that he has been saying nothing remotely negative or critical regarding the players, coaches, General Managers, or owners of the teams playing in the games he's working is sparking a growing belief that Gruden wants back in.. "
Of course he wants back him numb nuts.
How about enlightening us with some news items on the most likley destinations... backed up with some innuendo...
Why not Carolina or Buffalo?
He sure was polishing Charger's balls. He said ''you don't want to mess with Merriman he eats nails for lunch". This was when Merriman hadn't had a sack in years.
Gruden is entertaining and knowledgeable in the booth and I love to listen to him. But the Browns need him! PLEASE go to the BROWNS! I want to root for my boys again...Please!!
I'm getting used to watching MNF with the "mute" button on. Every play is terrific and every players is a hall-of-famer.
The guy reminds me of that cheerleader coach from "Porky's".
Jon "Lassie" Gruden - has a good ring to it.
Besides, few believe that Gruden has the desire (or the patience) to work with college-level quarterbacks.
----------------
He never had anything better than a college level QB in the NFL, wouldn't count college level out so quickly.
His hellfire and brimstone act will only get him 3-5 years with an NFL team before the players get tired of it. His career shows that and coaches with a similar style usually last just as long or less.
Just makes him a better fit at college.
The way to assess Gruden would be to compare him to what Cris Collinsworth would say about the exact same play:
Collinsworth: Reggie Wayne runs an out and up, but on an obvious blitz he HAS to know to break off his route! See, the corner reads it, Wayne doesn’t, which causes the easy interception of Manning. Wayne is a veteran receiver, and I really don’t know what he was thinking!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gruden: Wayne is a BEAST. He’s just a football player, man. Look at that cut, and that acceleration as he goes downfield. I tell you what, I hated having to play against him. He’s another of the University of Miami guys that–
Jaworski: Yeah, but it looks like he really should have broke off his route there. That interception was returned for a touchdown, for Christ’s sake.
Gruden: Don’t interrupt me! Anyway, I have a new nickname for Wayne; I’m going to call him “Flash”, because he’s fast and…
I don't get it...with all the crap that has sat in that booth lately (Kornheiser..Miller) you find a way to dump on Jon Gruden who is clearly having fun with it and is REAL....That is how he talks football in everything he does if you have ever watched the guy. I have seen you on TV Florio, and you don't have 1/10 of this guy's charisma or personality. You are great behind a keyboard...but that is the extent of it!
Dream on Packer fans! He don't want that mess in Green Bay knowing how stacked in talent the Vikings are sitting.
the person who will be most happy about Gruden leaving MNF will be Jaw's. Is is me or is there some unspoken tension between Gruden and Jaw's. They both do the same job on MNF and Jaws seems to act threatened by him, and always has to one up him. Greatest Maddenism ever this week by Gruden "Ty Law is a football player"....thats it honestly...
Cleveland=Holmgren+Gruden
..good luck with THAT....been there done THAT the guy is WAAAYYYY over rated. The Bucs has scored more points with their current pathetic team per game than ever with Gruden.....just like the Raiders and the Bucs eventually whatever team he lands with will have had enough of his excuses, lies and out right poor leadership 3 years into his next failure....
I would love to see Gruden back in Green Bay, where he was a successful and well-liked quarterbacks coach in the '90s. As others have already written, we need someone like Chucky to hold players accountable instead of McCarthy's "these problems are correctable; we'll clean them up" comments week after week.
I for one love Gruden on MNF. Yes, he might be over the top with his praise, but he knows his football and points out details that you'll never get from Tirico or Jaworski (or Kornheiser or Theismann or most of the jokers they've had on that show).
Easily, Gruden is the best commentator in NFL broadcasting today and he's the most entertaining.
The worst ever happens to be Tony Kornheiser.
Hopefully, Gruden decides never to coach again. Gruden could end up as the next John Madden, a Super Bowl winning coach with an illustrious NFL broadcasting career as a commentator.
ESPN should triple Chucky's salary.
Who tops Chucky? Phil Simms? Troy Aikman? Chris Collinsworth? Matt Millen?
Those guys are the majors.
IF Amy has any say, this is the one time she needs to grow some balls, and demand this from Al.
Raiders have the least amount of season tickets holders in the NFL, and the few that they do have, there is a good % of those that will not renew thier tickets next year, after having to bear to watch this product the past few years.
Just by hiring Gruden, will increase ticket sales, and reunite the nation. That Amy is your job, and is about the only option you have. Besides Chucky misses the black hole, living in Pleasanton, and according to my wife looks hot in Black.
We also need to bring Bruce Allen back as well to help out with the books. This way Al does not go on a crazy shopping spree dishing out over 100 million for guys like Javon Walker, DeAngelo Hall, Gabril Wilson, Terdell Sands, Tommie Kelly etc...
Then the last thing they need is somebody that knows how to evaulate talent, and not 40's time. Raiders need big time help in the war room. We need to draft O-line man this year after taking a DT with the first pick.