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The Grumors were true: Jon Gruden says he had 'serious talks' with Tennessee Football

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•04/06/25•

GrantRamey

Jon Gruden
(© Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images)

Yes, Jon Gruden has heard the term “Grumors.” And, yes, there was a time when he was once considering being Tennessee Football’s next head coach. 

Gruden, during an appearance last week on The Mike Keith Show, was asked if there was ever a time where his return to the Vols ever got real. 

“Yeah, it did,” Gruden told Keith. “I think when I was doing Monday Night Football, there were some serious talks. I just wasn’t ready to do college football.”

Gruden served as the analyst in the Monday Night Football booth through the end of the 2017 season. Tennessee had a job opening in 2017, after the firing of Butch Jones.

Jon Gruden started coaching career at Tennessee in 1986

The possibility was real, but so was Gruden’s reservations about the job after he had made a name for himself in the NFL.

“I was broadcasting Monday Night Football,” Gruden said, “and I really felt if I’d become the head coach here at Tennessee, I probably would’ve got in all kind of trouble with recruiting because I want to get all the best players. I wasn’t ready for it. But I had talked to Peyton (Manning) and Kenny Chesney, some of my favorite Volunteers.”

He had some staff members ready to join his coaching staff, too. That’s how far down the road Gruden went.

“I had people ready to go,” Gruden said, “yeah, I did. I had people ready to go and I was eager, honestly to be a college coach.”

Gruden, who started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Tennessee under Johnny Majors, went 117-112 as a head coach in the NFL, going 38-26 in his first stint with the Oakland Raiders, 57-55 in seven seasons with the Bucs and 22-31 in three seasons with the Raiders the second time around. 

‘I was preparing to be a college coach’

He won a Super Bowl with the Bucs in 2002, but was fired by Tampa after a nine-win season in 2008. That’s when Gruden said he had something to prove, even if it meant being a college coach. 

“I was really ticked off, as you can imagine,” Gruden said.

He spent time with Chip Kelly at Oregon studying spread, no-huddle offenses in the college game. And with Nick Saban at Alabama to “see how it worked on two different polar opposite ends.” 

“I was preparing to be a college coach,” Gruden said. 

But he never put that prep work to use. 

“I just didn’t feel like doing the grind of recruiting,” Gruden said. “I didn’t see that as me. I just like to sit in a lab and scheme football and coach football. I wanted to stay closer to my wheelhouse. And some days I’ll wonder what could have been.”

What he wouldn’t mind these days — Gruden joined Barstool Sports as a football analyst in November — is returning to Tennessee a graduate assistant, just like he was in 1986. 

“I got to visit with Coach Heupel and meet his wife,” Gruden told Keith, “… and maybe I can come back here and be a GA all over again. That’s the job I want.”

Really, Keith asked?

“Oh hell yeah,” Gruden said. “I’ll just go up to my barn and I’ll come down here and break down tapes and live happily ever after.” 

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