The scandal surrounding former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden is not as egregious as those involving the Briles, Meyer and former Mississippi and currently Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze as some examples.
Using homophobic, misogynistic and racist language over seven years was clearly not a one-off statement. In the era of me-too hiring a coach who routinely makes bigoted statements is a bad look for the program.
Gruden is a very successful and high-profile coach. After spending nearly 10 years as an analyst on Monday Night Football, fans every watched Gruden every week. His name might come up among fanbases as their next head coach.
Jon Gruden’s emails are further & final proof for the necessity of minority voices in positions of power.
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) October 12, 2021
In 2011, Gruden was a homophobic racially insensitive pervert. He was also the face of #MNF on ESPN, speaking to an audience of 13.3 million people weekly. pic.twitter.com/9rpZTVBPBj
In reality, Schiano is the perfect example of the importance of vetting a new head coach. Tennessee fans rebelled against hiring Schiano based on his past at Penn State. Schiano was able to return to Rutgers probably in part due to his past success there. Schiano was the Miami defensive coordinator from 1999-2000.
Gruden will be worth watching during the 2021-22 coaching hiring cycle. Will teams take a chance on him? Would Gruden be interested in coaching in college? Gruden last coached in college as the wide receivers coach at Pittsburgh under Paul Hackett in 1991. Gruden became the Offensive assistant/quality control coach in 1992.