The Morning According to Us

Jon Gruden doesn't want the Tennessee job. But the others?

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Knoxville? Why not Pacific?

Yesterday, Jon Gruden, the Tampa Bay head coach, had to do what all successful coaches who've succeeded must do at some point—shoot down whispers of their certain departure.

This time, the team was Tennessee—and not the Titans. It's the messy situation where you have the former (and still somewhat) glory with wins this year over the likes of UAB, Northern Illinois and Mississippi State looking for a fresh face. And why was Gruden in the mix?

It's all because he passed through Knoxville over 20 years ago as a graduate assistant. That's right: From 1986-87, the great Coach Gruden was right there in Tennessee's sights, doing everything from licking recruiting envelopes to rewinding tapes, and they never even knew it. Of course, we're being somewhat facetious here. That's because to link Gruden to Tennessee purely on his brief time there is preposterous in this game, because by the time a coach has reached the NFL as a head coach, he may have stopped over in 15 towns. Gruden's isn't even a rare path. Check it out.

1986-1987 - University of Tennessee (graduate assistant)
1988 - Southwest Missouri State (QBs coach)
1989 - University of Pacific (WRs coach)
1990 - San Francisco 49ers (offensive quality control coach)
1991 - University of Pittsburgh (WRs coach)
1992 - Green Bay Packers (offensive assistant)
1993-1994 - Green Bay Packers (WRs coach)
1995-1997 - Philadelphia Eagles (Off. coord.)
1998-2001 - Oakland Raiders (head coach)
2002-present - Tampa Bay (head coach)

Gruden has had 10 stops, and he's still young by NFL coaching standards. But don't forget other potential rumors. Before Knoxville, he played for a year at Muskingum College in Ohio—We hear that job may come open!—before transferring to Dayton, where he was a backup QB for three years. So that's 12 stops in a little over 20 years.

Which begs the question: Once you get him, Volunteers, how long did you plan on keeping him, anyway?

And how will you keep Notre Dame away if all these Charlie Weis rumors never disappear? After all, Jon's father, Jim Gruden, was once an assistant to former Notre Dame head coach Dan Devine.

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