Gruden denies becoming coach contingent on ownership.
Former coach coming back to Oakland appears to be just a formality
Jon Gruden strongly denied Wednesday that his return to the Raiders is contingent on owning part of the team.
He doesn’t need an ownership stake, he said on ESPN radio. The network had reported that Raiders owner Mark Davis was willing to give a piece of the team to lure Gruden to Oakland.
“There’s no truth to that at all,” Gruden said. “There’s no validity to that at all. No ownership. None. Zero.”
Asked if he’d accept an offer to be the Raiders’ next head coach, Gruden said, “I think there’s a good chance.”
“I’m excited about where I am in terms of studying the game and preparing to come back and coach,” Gruden said. “I just don’t want to sit here and speculate.”
Talk of Gruden as Jack Del Rio’s successor doesn’t seem to be as much speculation as it is a foregone conclusion at this point.
Davis fired Del Rio shortly after last Sunday’s season finale against the Chargers, but Gruden is staying committed to calling the Chiefs-Titans AFC wild-card game on Saturday for ESPN.
Common sense would point to the move becoming official shortly after that game concludes or, who knows, maybe Gruden officially announces his move on the broadcast.
“I know they’ve gone through their process of interviewing candidates. Until they’re done, I won’t know,” Gruden said. “But I did have a great meeting with Mark. I’ve known him a long time and got a lot of respect for the Raider football organization.”
Gruden hasn’t coached in an NFL game since 2008, his last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
After beginning his head-coaching career with the Raiders from 19982001, Gruden coached the Buccaneers for seven seasons.
He went 40-28 in Oakland before Al Davis traded him for four high draft picks and $8 million. Gruden then won a Super Bowl in his first season with the Buccaneers.
According to multiple reports, Gruden’s potential staff is also taking shape.
Bengals’ defensive coordinator Paul Guenther and Cowboys’ special-teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia seem to be the most likely additions at first. Guenther worked with Gruden’s younger brother and current Washington head coach, Jay, when the two coached with the Bengals from 2011-13.
Bisaccia was Gruden’s special-teams coordinator for all seven seasons in Tampa Bay.
The current, and soonto-be former Raiders staffers, began making moves on Wednesday.
The University of Florida announced Raiders linebackers coach Sal Sunseri has joined the program as an assistant coach to new head coach Dan Mullen.
Sunseri was instrumental in bringing NaVorro Bowman up to speed before the Raiders’ Week 7 Thursday night game against the Chiefs, just three days after Bowman came to Oakland.
All indications seems to be that Gruden will be Oakland’s head coach. This same process has unfolded in past years, but now the move back to the sideline seems all but signed on the dotted line.