Where is Jon Gruden now: In the NFL, Jon David Gruden was the head coach for 15 seasons. He is an American football legend. The Raiders, during their time in Oakland from 1998 to 2001, gave him his first head coaching opportunity, and he won two consecutive division titles and reached the AFC Championship Game in his first season.
After being dealt to the Buccaneers in 2002, Gruden guided them to victory in Super Bowl XXXVII. He won the Super Bowl at the ripe old age of 39, making him the youngest head coach to ever do it. Though he led Tampa Bay to a franchise-record number of victories as head coach and two postseason appearances, he was fired in 2008. After being let go from the Buccaneers, Gruden spent the next decade as an analyst for ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcasts (2009–2017).
As of the 2018 season, Gruden is back in charge of the Raiders. After it came to light that he had written and sent numerous racially charged, sexist, and homophobic letters between 2011 and 2018, he resigned as a team leader during the 2021 season. When this happened, the Buccaneers franchise in Tampa Bay took him out of the team’s hallowed Ring of Honor.
Jon Gruden Early Life
Gruden was born to parents of Slovene heritage on August 17, 1963, in Sandusky, Ohio. Jim Sr. went on to work in professional football as a scout, quarterbacks coach, and VP of player personnel with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jay is the brother of Jay Gruden, the head coach of the Washington Redskins and a former Arena Football League player and coach for the Tampa Bay Storm and Orlando Predators. James, his other sibling, is a radiologist at UNC Medical Center.
Growing up, Gruden attended mass regularly and cheered for the Cleveland Browns while practicing his Catholic faith. When he was 15 years old, he moved to South Bend, Indiana, to attend Clay High School, where his father worked as an assistant to Notre Dame football coach Dan Devine. After finishing high school in 1982, Gruden enrolled in Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio.
The following year, he changed schools and enrolled at the University of Dayton. He was the backup quarterback for the Dayton Flyers for three years and earned three varsity letters while playing under head coach Mike Kelly. Despite Gruden’s lack of playing time, the University of Dayton Flyers went 24–7 over his three years there. In 1986, he completed his bachelor’s degree in communications.
Where is Jon Gruden now?
Gruden departed the Raiders for personal reasons, just like Ruggs and Arnette. After “emails in which he had used homophobic and misogynistic slurs” were published by The New York Times in October 2021, he resigned as head coach of the Raiders. I had no intention of hurting anyone, he claimed in a statement at the time.
Jon Gruden at the Little Rock Touchdown club commenting on the emails that ended his NFL coaching career. pic.twitter.com/1ClcWtdTRn
— Steve Sullivan (@sully7777) August 30, 2022
On Tuesday, Gruden addressed the incident and his career in general at a meeting of the Little Rock Touchdown Club, a social club in Little Rock, Arkansas. The former head coach apologized for his comments in the emails, calling himself “ashamed,” but maintaining his belief that he is a “decent person,” as seen in a video that was posted on Twitter.
“I regularly attend religious services. I’m proud to say that my marriage has lasted 31 years. My three wonderful sons are growing up to be fine men. Yes, football is still a passion of mine. I’ve messed up, but I don’t think anyone here hasn’t, so I’m just hoping for forgiveness and a second chance,” he admitted.
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A representative for Gruden has recently told Sports Illustrated that the coach is qualified for another NFL position.
Which Raiders’ first-round picks are no longer with the team?
For 2021, Leatherwood was the first player selected by the Raiders. Experts on the NFL draught expected trouble for the team.
It was expected that the Raiders would choose Alabama right tackle, Leatherwood. The NFL draught media, as reported by Yahoo! Sports, “was taken aback by the news,” as they “nearly generally” did not project Leatherwood as a first-rounder.
Pro Football Focus placed Leatherwood at #80 out of 82 guards in the NFL in his first season.
The other two former first-round picks who are no longer with the Raiders, like Leatherwood, were let go for reasons unrelated to football. Henry Ruggs, a wide receiver, was killed in a car crash, and Damon Arnette, a cornerback, was caught on camera making a death threat.
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Jon Gruden Career
After earning his degree from Dayton, Gruden worked as a graduate assistant coach with the Volunteers in the 1985–1986 season. Following his career with the Volunteers, he coached quarterbacks at Southeast Missouri State for two years. Soon after, in 1989, Gruden took a position as an offensive assistant and tight ends coach at the University of the Pacific.
While in Tennessee, Gruden worked as a graduate assistant coach under Walt Harris, who later hired him as the head coach at Pacific. Gruden worked as a special assistant for the San Francisco 49ers in 1990 for quarterbacks coach Mike Holmgren. Under Paul Hackett’s leadership at the University of Pittsburgh, Gruden took over the position of wide receivers coach in March 1991.
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