Toccando ferro if you’re with me.
Two-time NFL head coach Jon Gruden will need to learn that phrase and others, as he heads to Italy to continue his coaching career. Via Ben Axelrod of AwfulAnnouncing.com, the former Monday Night Football lead analyst will serve as an advisor to the Milano Seamen of the European League of Football.
Gruden resigned under duress from the Raiders in October 2021, after inappropriate emails he had sent a decade earlier to former Washington executive Bruce Allen were leaked to the media. He then sued the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell for weaponizing the supposedly confidential documents that were harvested as part of the league’s investigation of Daniel Snyder and the franchise he owned.
The Gruden case is still pending, caught in the lingering question of whether it will be resolved in arbitration or in open court. During the 2023 offseason, Gruden served as a consultant with the Saints. There was talk of Gruden possibly becoming the team’s new offensive coordinator.
That didn’t happen, and other American opportunities aren’t arising. So it’s off to Italy for Gruden, who simply wants to coach and who has found a place to do it.
