Jon Gruden is the most high-profile name linked to the Oakland Raiders in the wake of the team’s decision to fire head coach Dennis Allen. If Gruden has any interest in the vacancy, he is keeping it to himself.
During a chat with “Mike and Mike in the Morning” on Wednesday, Gruden joked that he appreciates sports bloggers always linking his name to head coaching jobs but is only focused on his career as an ESPN broadcaster at the moment.
“I appreciate those seven or eight bloggers who bring my name up every year when there’s a coaching job,” Gruden said. “I’m just trying to hang onto my job. It’s four weeks into the season. Some of these teams haven’t even played (four) games yet, so I’m not really thinking about coaching. I’m thinking about heading to Washington next week to watch the world champions (Seattle Seahawks) and my brother coach.”
That’s the exact type of non-answer we would expect him to give, but it should be noted that sports bloggers aren’t the only ones linking Gruden’s name to Oakland. Raiders owner Mark Davis even admitted on Tuesday that Gruden is in the mix for the job and that the team could be in contact with him in the future.
While it’s only natural to link Gruden to Oakland because he had success there in his first stint with the Raiders, he would be a candidate for any vacant job in the league if he chose to return to coaching. Some teams would probably open up a vacancy for Gruden if they were convinced he was going to return. Despite what Rich Gannon said last year about the Raiders being in the mix, there are probably plenty of other opportunities out there that would be more enticing.
