As the Buffalo Bills commence the search for the teams’ next head coach, owner Ralph Willson apparently was trying to line up the team’s next head coach even before the most recent head coach was fired.
According to WIVB-TV, the Bills “went after [Jon Gruden] hard.” The efforts reportedly included a face-to-face meeting.
Given that Dick Jauron was fired on Tuesday and Gruden signed a supposedly “exclusive” contract extension on Monday, it’s possible that the face-to-face meeting occurred before Jauron was fired.
It’s also possible that Gruden met with the Bills regarding their coaching vacancy after Jauron was fired -- and thus after Gruden signed his supposedly “exclusive” deal.
If the report of the team’s effort to land Gruden is accurate, the Bills would have at a minimum violated the spirit of the Rooney Rule, since any interview of a minority candidate that would have occurred if Gruden had tentatively accepted the offer would have been a sham aimed merely at complying with the letter of the mandate.
