Between his stints with the Buccaneers and the Raiders, Jon Gruden worked at ESPN, on Monday Night Football. On the heels of taking his latest job with Barstool Sports, Gruden said he nearly took another job, at the University of Tennessee.
“My wife cheered at Tennessee,” Gruden said on Pardon My Take, via On3.com. “I love Tennessee. I was a graduate coach there, and I did talk to the Athletic Director,” Jon Gruden said. “And I don’t look up to anybody more than I look up to Peyton Manning and Kenny Chesney. Those are two of my favorite Tennessee guys. And I was very interested in doing it.”
But he didn’t.
“At that time I was having so much fun on Monday Night Football with Mike Tirico, I couldn’t take any other job,” Gruden said.. “To be in the thought process is always exciting and hell, Tennessee was one that is really close to my heart. I almost did consider pulling the trigger there.”
He didn’t specify the year, but as noted by On3.com, Tirico and Gruden worked together from 2011 and 2014.
Here’s a PFT item from 2012, in which Gruden’s agent tried to shoot down rumors of Gruden going to Tennessee. That came between the Derek Dooley and Butch Jones regimes. So it all fits.
It’s now clear, 12 years later, that it was much more than rumors, much more than the Tennessee A.D. doing “due diligence” and finding out Gruden wasn’t interested.
He was. Despite what his agent said.
It’s no surprise. But it’s a reminder that, in this business, bullshit is everywhere. It’s never wise to take anything at face value — especially not a denial of interest in a new job.