Jon Gruden Reveals He 'Almost' Took Major College Football Coaching Job

In a conversation on 'Pardon My Take' the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Las Vegas Raiders coach admitted he nearly accepted a job to become the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers.

“My wife cheered at Tennessee. I love Tennessee. I was a graduate coach there, and I did talk to the Athletic Director,” Gruden said, via On3Sports. “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.”

“At that time I was having so much fun on Monday Night Football with Mike Tirico I couldn’t take any other job,” he 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.”

Gruden did not specify which year the Volunteers were looking at him as their next head coach, but he had been rumored as a potential candidate a number of times in the early 2010's. It had to have happened between 2011-14 when Gruden was working alongside Tirico, though.

In the end, he accepted a position as the Raiders head coach in 2018 until 2021 when he unceremoniously stepped down amid allegations of racist and misogynistic language used in emails.