LUTZ, Fla. — Jon Gruden has been out of the spotlight, seeking purpose and studying football in a large office building filled with game film since the unveiling of racist, anti-gay and misogynistic emails led to his 2021 ouster from the NFL. Nearly three years after he resigned from the Las Vegas Raiders, the Super Bowl-winning coach believes he’s ready to roam the sidelines again at a different level of the sport: college football.
Gruden opened the doors of his personal coaching headquarters to CBS Sports last week for the first interview he has granted since resigning under pressure from the fallout of those emails. The 61-year-old discussed football, his past and present, and how he believes his future could unfold in a college town. The question is whether his messy NFL exit makes him untouchable as a candidate.
When asked whether he has any remorse about what he wrote in the emails — and pressed on the subject — Gruden responded: “I’m not even, you don’t even … I’m not even going to get into whether or not. The due process will take care of itself. I haven’t even had my due process yet, so for me to sit here and say, ‘Who said what?’ You know, we’ll just go through the process and leave it at that.”
Gruden resigned in October 2021 amid his fourth season with the Raiders after The Wall Street Journal and New York Times uncovered explosive emails dating back to his time as an ESPN analyst between 2011-18. Gruden’s emails were among more than 650,000 reviewed by the NFL as it investigated workplace misconduct within Washington’s NFL franchise. In the emails, Gruden used anti-gay language and derogatory language to describe NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. He also accused Goodell of pressuring the Rams to draft Michael Sam, an openly…
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