GRUDEN DOESN’T RULE OUT COLLEGE COACHING

In a February interview with Chris Harry of the Orlando Sentinel, Gruden declined to say that his new interest in college football generally and the spread offense specifically means that he’s interested in becoming a college coach.Later in the month, on the heels of his first stint as a talking head with NFL Network, Gruden declined to rule out coaching at the college level.The comments came in a February 26 interview with Howard Eskin of WIP, which we missed at the time because we were focused on free agency -- and likewise were focused on keeping the site from exploding in the face of unprecedented traffic."I don’t think anything’s out of the question,” Gruden said in response to questions from Eskin that seemed to assume that Gruden would reject any opportunities at the college level."Yeah, I’d go back to college,” Gruden said. “I love football."Gruden mentioned that his father coached at Notre Dame but then said he didn’t want to speculate about that specific position.Another possibility, in our view, is Tennessee. If Lane Kiffin flames out in his first year, the powers-that-be could make a hard run at Gruden.