Amid increasing talk that Jon Gruden will coach the Buccaneers next season, he’s taking the first steps toward compiling a staff.
Gruden has reached out to former assistants and friends in the coaching business to see if they’d be interested in joining his staff if he takes another head-coaching job, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.
That doesn’t mean Gruden is going to take another job, but it does mean he’s interested enough in the possibility that he is thinking about more than just what he’ll say if some owner offers him more money than ESPN is currently paying him.
The 54-year-old Gruden has been out of coaching for nine years, and it’s anyone’s guess how many of his past assistants would jump at the opportunity to work for him again. But he’s going to see what kind of staff he can build, even before he has a new job.