In the past few years, nearly every coaching rumor in college football and the NFL has started with one name: Jon Gruden.
The current ESPN Monday Night Football broadcaster left coaching and turned to television in 2009, but according to CBSChicago.com senior columnist and WSCR radio host Dan Bernstein, Gruden is currently in talks with the Oakland Raiders to return as head coach.
Bernstein reported on Tuesday "that Hub Arkush of Pro Football Weekly had mentioned on air that Gruden is in talks with the Oakland Raiders to return as their head coach, " according to the LA Times.
Gruden was previously the Raiders coach from 1998-2001 and went 38-26 in the regular season with one AFC championship appearance in four seasons.
Over the past few years, Gruden has been mentioned in numerous head coaching vacancies, including at USC, Arkansas and UCLA in the college ranks, and for the previous open jobs with the Miami Dolphins and St. Louis Rams in the NFL.
Gruden was also linked to the Tennessee job opening last week, but shot down any reports that he was taking an offer.
"I don't have time to get into all that stuff. I'm just excited about Monday Night Football. I like what I'm doing and I'm just trying to hang on to the job I have. Let's leave it at that," Gruden said according to ESPN.com.
According to report from CBSSports.com, Gruden was offered a stake in the Cleveland Browns as an owner as part of the head-coaching job at Tennessee.
Following the report, the Browns released a statement, saying: "(Browns owner) Jimmy Haslam has no involvement in the University of Tennessee head coaching search, and the report that Jon Gruden would potentially have an ownership stake in the Browns is completely erroneous," a Browns spokesman said.
After coaching the Raiders, Gruden left the team to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He led the team to a super Bowl championship in his first season in 2002 and stayed with the team until 2008 when he was fired. He became the youngest head coach to win the Super Bowl at 39 years and five months old.
Gruden coached the Buccaneers to 12 wins in 2002, but only reached double-digit wins in one other season (11 in 2005). He took the Buccaneers to the playoffs three times, including in 2007 when they lost to the New York Giants on their way to the Super Bowl in the NFC Wild Card round.
After two consecutive 9-7 seasons, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers dismissed Gruden. He won three division titled while in Tampa Bay, but finished in the bottom half of the NFC South four times in seven years.
Following the 2008 season, Gruden started the Fired Football Coaches Association out of an office in Tampa and was hired in 2009 as an ESPN analyst.
He has called numerous games for the network over the past two years and is known for his "Gruden QB Camps" that he holds with the top rookie quarterback before the NFL draft, such as Andrew Luck and Cam Newton.
The Raiders recently brought in coach Dennis Allen to lead the team, but owner Mark Davis said last week that team's 3-8 record wasn't "good enough," according to CBSSports.com.
"He just wanted [Allen] to know, from the owner, that we have to get better,'' general manager Reggie McKenzie said at the time.
Gruden as quickly become one of the most popular broadcasters on television and the most knowledgeable on ESPN. He recently was the subject of an interesting profile in the New Yorker titled: "Monday Night Lights: How Jon Gruden became America's football coach."
Before coaching with the Raiders Gruden served as an offensive coach with the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles. He was part of an all-star staff in Green Bay under coach Mike Holmgren that included current Eagles head coach Andy Reid and former 49ers head coach Steve Mariucci.
There was no comment about the rumors from Gruden, but he has consistently rebuffed every offer and coaching connection that has been made in the past few years.
