For the last few years, Jon Gruden has been one of the most popular names to come up whenever a team fired its coach or was thinking about firing its coach.
It’s Black Monday, which means Gruden’s name has popped once again despite reports last month that the former Bucs and Raiders coach was “not expected” to pursue coaching jobs this offseason. Gruden backed up those reports on Monday when he said he was focused on his job at ESPN while talking about the vacancies around the league.
“I don’t want to be considered for any of these jobs,” Gruden said, via the Pioneer Press. “I don’t want to be considered for anything. There are plenty of good candidates out there. I’m just sick for the guys who can no longer coach their teams. … I’m hoping to do the best I can to hang on to my job.”
Men have said such things in the past before being behind a podium with a team logo on it and there was a lot of talk about Gruden and the Raiders last month, so never say never isn’t a bad approach in these instances. That said, it looks like “this guy” and “that guy” will continue to be the most talked about players on Monday nights next year.