Its been done before; John Madden was a Super Bowl winning coach with the Oakland Raiders. After leaving, he ended up on the CBS staff, and within a few years teamed up with Pat Summerall to create the iconic NFL Broadcasting team of not one but two decades.
Madden/Summerall eventually split up, and Madden would take over Monday Night football. The similarities are weird enough. Jon Gruden coached with the Raiders, wins a Superbowl, and now he is a hot comodity on Monday Night Football.
Who knows, maybe your kids will play Gruden 2032 on their XBoxVirtual.
Any way you look at it, emotions will be high when Gruden returns to Tampa Bay to cover the Bucs as an announcer.
There were those who did not like him. He didn’t care.
He just wanted to win.
The debate continues still to this day within Bucland- Who won our Super Bowl trophy for us? Was it Gruden? Was it Tony Dungy? How about Sam Wyche: he drafted Sapp, Brooks, Lynch.
Whenever I’m asked, I always say “The Bucs won the Superbowl with Jon Gruden, but it couldn’t have worked without Tony Dungy, or Rich McKay”. The son of former HC John McKay was instrumental in bringing in the young talent that blossomed into what we had in the Superbowl.
The effect these guys had on the current team cannot be discounted in any way. Tony Dungy had a tough job when he came here;
Eliminate the dark cloud over the franchise, Get the Bucs to buy into what Dungy was selling. It worked, for the defense. but the offense was held to a lower standard. When Jon Gruden came along, he instilled a sense of responsibility in players who may have lacked it.
Years later, Mark Dominik, current GM, worked for Rich McKay AND Bruce Allen and took the best from both. Raheem Morris worked under Gruden, and still calls him “Boss”.
Jon Gruden is coming back Tampa Bay, You may like him, or you may loathe him. But you cannot deny his effect, and the proof is that Lombardi Trophy on a shelf at One Buccaneers Place.
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