The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced major news about Jon Gruden on Thursday.
The Buccaneers announced that they are reinstating Gruden to their Ring of Honor. The team acknowledged Gruden’s previous membership in the Ring of Honor in a statement and added that Gruden “remains a significant figure in the history of our franchise,” but gave no specific reason for their change in stance.
Gruden told Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times that it was “a great feeling and a great honor” to be reinstated to the Ring of Honor after being removed just over three years ago.
Gruden was originally removed from the Ring of Honor in October 2021 after numerous offensive emails he sent from 2011-2018 leaked. One of the emails featured a crude remark about Bryan Glazer, whose family owns the Buccaneers.
This had been reported as a possibility last November after Gruden attended a game at Raymond James Stadium in the Glazer family’s luxury box. On Thursday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter added that the reconciliation began when Lane Kiffin gave a speech at a memorial service for his father Monte about Monte’s belief in giving people second chances. Monte Kiffin was Gruden’s defensive coordinator throughout Gruden’s time in Tampa.
Gruden had originally been inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor in 2017.
There does appear to be a growing thaw between Gruden and the NFL just over three years after the email leak cost him his job with the Las Vegas Raiders. There were even reports that he could be a head coaching target, though that did not come to pass in this most recent hiring cycle.
Gruden remains the winningest coach in Buccaneers history, going 57-55 with the organization in seven seasons. He won his only career Super Bowl with the team in 2002.
