Former Washington Football Team head coach Jay Gruden admitted he was not interviewed during the nearly year-long investigation into owner Dan Snyder and the organization’s toxic workplace culture.
Speaking to Chris Russell and Pete Medhurst of Team 980, Jay Gruden said he never crossed paths with lead investigator Beth Wilkinson.
“No, I haven’t been questioned,” Gruden acknowledged. “I don’t even know what the heck is really going on. Once I was let go out of there, I just was let go and I just kind of backed away quietly.”
Last year, owner Dan Snyder initiated an investigation into the Washington Football Team workplace practices following a Washington Post report that consisted of more than a dozen women’s accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct.
The NFL eventually oversaw the probe. But, it’s puzzling that Gruden was not questioned. He was the head coach of the franchise from 2014-2019. He was close to former team president Bruce Allen.
We know by know Allen’s emails are at very least part of the investigation. Over 650,000 emails are said to be part of Beth Wilkinson’s report. Those emails include racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments from Jay’s brother Jon Gruden to Allen.
Jon Gruden was an analyst for ESPN at the time of the emails that stemmed from 2011-2018. Yet, the leak of his emails led to his resignation as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday.
However, Jay Gruden insists he has no knowledge of what investigators were looking for.
“I don’t know what they’re looking for, to be honest with you,” Gruden said. “Like I said, I was just a football coach. Our staff I thought worked extremely hard. I thought our players worked extremely hard. We did the best we could to win football games.”
Gruden was fired five games into the 2019 season after Washington started with a 0-5 record.
“What went on as far as other issues are concerned, I wasn’t privy to a lot of that information,” Gruden told Russell and Medhurst. “That was between Dan [Snyder] and Bruce [Allen] and whoever else was privy to that. So that’s probably why I wasn’t called up or questioned. I had nothing to do with any of that stuff. I always tried to get the players out there to play, get some healthy players out there to play and compete.”
Coincidentally, his dismissal came three days after a videos surfaced of him with questionable behavior, involving what appeared to be marijuana and him with a woman that was not his wife.
Wilkinson’s report concluded in July. The Washington Football Team was fined $10 million. Snyder handed over day-to-day operations of the franchise to his wife and co-CEO Tanya Snyder.
Only emails from Jon Gruden and ESPN’s Adam Schefter to Bruce Allen have become public knowledge from the investigation. The NFLPA and attorneys for 40 former Washington employees have urged the league to reveal the remaining findings from Wilkinson.
More must-reads: