A 'very interested' Jon Gruden did 'consider pulling the trigger' and taking the Tennessee job
It turns out Jon Gruden actually did “consider pulling the trigger” and taking the job as Tennessee Football head coach at one point in his coaching career. Gruden, during an appearance on Barstool Sports’ ‘Pardon My Take’, detailed just how close he came.
“To be in the thought process is always exciting,” Gruden said during the appearance, confirming that he did talk to a Tennessee athletic director at one point. “And hell, Tennessee was one that is really close to my heart. I almost did consider pulling the trigger there.”
The Tennessee job was open 2012, after the firing of Derek Dooley, and again in 2017, after the firing Butch Jones.
Jon Gruden: ‘I was very interested in doing it’
Tennessee cleaned house in January 2021, firing Phillip Fulmer as athletic director and Jeremy Pruitt as head coach after the NCAA opened an investigation into recruiting violations committed by Pruitt and his staff.
Dooley went 15-21 in three seasons at Tennessee and Jones was 34-27 in five seasons. Pruitt had a 16-19 record when he was fired, but 11 of the 16 wins were later vacated.
Danny White was hired as athletic director from Central Florida in January 2021 to replace Fulmer and week later hired Josh Heupel as Tennessee’s new football coach.
Heupel is 35-13 in his fourth season at Tennessee and has the Vols at 8-1 and in the College Football Playoff race for the second time in two seasons. Tennessee finished 11-2 in 2022 after starting 8-0, ending the year with a win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
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Jon Gruden started coaching career as graduate assistant at Tennessee
Gruden started his coaching career at Tennessee as a graduate assistant in 1986 under Johnny Majors. From there he made stops at Southeast Missouri State and Pacific before joining the San Francisco 49ers as an offensive assistant in 1990.
He was wide receivers coach at Pitt in 1991, then went back to the NFL as an offensive assistant and quality control coach with the Green Bay Packers in 1992. He coached Packers wide receivers for two seasons before being hired as the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1995.
Gruden’s first head coaching opportunity came with the Oakland Raiders in 1995. He was later traded before the 2002 season to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he would win a Super Bowl.
He was hired again by the Raiders as head coach in 2018 and was fired in 2021.
Gruden has a 117-112 record as a head coach in the NFL, going 38-26 in his first stint with the Raiders, 57-55 in seven seasons with the Bucs and 22-31 in three seasons with the Raiders the second time around.
“My wife cheered at Tennessee,” Gruden said. “I love Tennessee. I was a graduate coach there, and I did talk to the Athletic Director. And I don’t look up to anybody more than I look up to Peyton Manning and Kenny Chesney. Those are two of my favorite Tennessee guys. And I was very interested in doing it.”
