Former NFL coach Jon Gruden has tried ever since founding the Fired Football Coaches Association to keep his name in circulation for big-time coaching jobs. From never saying anything bad about anyone (and in turn burning no bridges) to doing just enough from the Monday Night Football catbird seat to perpetuate the notion that he’s perpetually one year away from returning, Gruden has masterfully crafted the perception that: (1) he’ll eventually return; and (2) he’ll have his pick of teams when he does.
The process has begun earlier than usual this year, with Gruden musing on Thursday about returning to the sidelines.
During an appearance on ESPN’s The Paul Finebaum Show, Gruden talked about the job at the University of Tennessee that he supposedly came close to taking in 2012.
“I don’t know how close,” Gruden said, via NFL.com. “I love football. I’ll be the first to tell you, I miss coaching. But I do look at my job here as a lot like coaching. I get a chance to be around it 364 days a year and I feel like I’m improving, but I don’t have a team.”
He doesn’t have a team, which means he can’t get fired again. Which means he doesn’t have to worry about things he can’t control -- things that contribute to the kind of outcomes that can get him fired.
“Tennessee is a dream job for a lot of people, me included,” Gruden said of the job, even though few think he’d ever have the patience to coach 19-year-old quarterbacks. “Timing wasn’t right. I’ll say this about the Volunteers, they got the right guy. I think Butch Jones is going to put the Volunteers back on the map. It might happen this year.”
And so Gruden, who turns 52 on the 17th of August, remains in the conversation for a return that he has yet to seriously pursue despite last coaching in 2008. The buzz could be just enough to keep anyone from noticing that, in recent years, few teams have seriously pursued Gruden.
As time goes by and Gruden gets closer to double nickels and beyond, even fewer will.
