Tennessee fans are ecstatic about the direction of the Vols’ football program with Josh Heupel at the helm.
Tennessee is 35-13 in his time in Knoxville and has the Vols on the cusp of a playoff berth the season. The Vols were also in the four-team playoff conversation late in the season during Hendon Hooker’s final year with Heupel in 2022.
But it wasn’t always that way.
Tennessee had four head coaches and two interim head coaches from the time Phillip Fulmer retired in 2008 to the time Josh Heupel was hired in 2021.
Lane Kiffin was in Knoxville for one season, Derek Dooley spent two years with Tennessee until Jim Chaney finished off the 2012 season, Butch Jones was at the helm from 2013 to 2017 until Brady Hoke coached the last two games, and Jeremy Pruitt was with Tennessee for two seasons.
One name that wasn’t on that list but seemingly could have been was former NFL head coach Jon Gruden.
The “Grumors,” as Knoxville sports radio aptly named them, circulated in Knoxville on a few occasions during the coaching carousel from 2008 to 2018.
On Friday’s episode of Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast, Gruden (the newest employee at Barstool) revealed just how close he was to actually taking the Tennessee job – and why he didn’t in the end.
“My wife cheered at Tennessee,” Gruden said. “I love Tennessee. I was a graduate coach there and I did talk to the athletic director. 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 at that time I was having so much fun with Mike Tirico (at Monday Night Football), I couldn’t take any other job.”
Gruden was then asked about what it felt to be in coaching projections year after year.
“Yeah, to be in the thought process is always exciting,” Gruden said. “Hell, Tennessee was one that is really close to my heart. I almost did consider pulling the trigger there.”
More from RTI: Georgia Star RB Out For Critical SEC Matchup Against Tennessee
There’s a lot to unpack from those few sentences.
It’s fairly common knowledge that Gruden has family ties back in Knoxville and spent time on the Vols’ coaching staff from 1986 to 1987. It was the first coaching job that Gruden ever held at the collegiate or pro level.
Gruden didn’t name the AD that he spoke to nor did he reveal which year he was considering taking the job. But he did say that the reason he didn’t take the Tennessee job was because of his enjoyment in the Monday Night Football booth.
Gruden worked in that booth from 2009 to 2018.
During that stretch, Gruden also signed an extension in 2014 that made him the highest-paid personality at ESPN. So clearly he was making good money for something that he was thoroughly enjoying, too.
Gruden most recently coached the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders from 2018 to 2021 before being fired due to controversy with the commissioner’s office. Gruden reportedly signed a multi-year deal as a Barstool Sports personality on Thursday after a one-year stint as a consultant with the Saints in 2023.
We’ll likely never know what a Jon Gruden-coached Tennessee program would look like. But perhaps we could’ve based on Gruden’s comments Friday morning.
Check out the clip from the show below:
Note: The segment will automatically start at the Tennessee conversation after pressing play.
