Gruden’s Monday Night Football Partner Weighs in on Grumors

The longer Tennessee’s coaching search goes on, the less likely it appears many Vol fans will see their wildest dreams come true of Jon Gruden leading the Vols on Saturdays. And now Gruden’s Monday Night football partner has weighed in on all the “Grumors” surrounding the Vols as well.

Sean McDonough has been in the booth for Monday Night Football since 2016, which means he’s in the middle of his second year working with Gruden at ESPN on a weekly basis. McDonough sat down for an interview on 710 ESPN in Seattle ahead of the Monday Night Football game in Seattle this week, and he was asked about Gruden potentially going to Tennessee.

And according to McDonough, Gruden leaving Monday Night Football for the Vols would be stunning to him.

“He’s not going to Tennessee,” McDonough replied. “I would be shocked if he did. I think he’s very happy doing what he’s doing. I think, in my opinion, he hasn’t said this to me, but just being around him I would think if he was going to go back to coaching, it would probably be in the NFL.”

McDonough would go on to say that Gruden still has a soft spot in his heart for Tennessee because that’s where he began coaching and the fact that his wife is from there. But all that isn’t enough to make him want to go coach in college. Even if it’s at Tennessee.

“He loves Tennessee. He started his coaching career there, his wife’s from there, they have a son who’s there now,” McDonough added. “I know he feels very passionately about the place, but I would be very, very surprised.”

Gruden was a graduate assistant for Tennessee under Johnny Majors from 1986 to 1987. His son is currently an undergraduate at the University of Tennessee, and Gruden was in town earlier this season to visit him and take in a UT game as well.

It remains to be seen who Tennessee hires as their next head football coach. But the “Grumors” are quickly beginning to fade, and it appears Jon Gruden may remain Tennessee’s white whale after all.