ESPN analyst Jon Gruden — along with Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh — is known for getting linked to a number of NFL and college football jobs once coaching vacancies begin to open up late in the season.
This year has been no different, with Gruden rumored to have had interest from Tennessee regarding their head coaching job (a position that was filled by Jeremy Pruitt on Thursday). Furthermore, after former head coach Ben McAdoo was relieved of his duties, Gruden didn’t rule out coaching the Giants in discussing the open position during Monday night’s Steelers-Bengals broadcast, if Eli Manning were to remain with the team. And with more head coaches set to be fired in the coming weeks, those jobs likely won’t be the only ones Gruden will be linked to.
But Gruden’s “Monday Night Football” partner, Sean McDonough, expects him to stay put, and believes he’ll return to the booth next season. McDonough appeared on “Mad Dog Unleashed” earlier in the week and told Chris “Mad Dog” Russo why he doesn’t think Gruden will go back to coaching football in 2018.
“I know Jon loves what he is doing,” he said. “I think that is obvious to anybody who is around and watches [“Monday Night Football”]. Obviously he is very well compensated, so I don’t think he would go back to coaching because, ‘Oh, the money is so different. I can’t afford not to do that.’ But he is a coach. I think he enjoys that role getting on there every Monday night and teaching America football.”
McDonough then spoke about how Gruden goes about deciding whether he wants to potentially pursue a head coaching position if a team is interested in him.
“It is always going to be there for him because he doesn’t totally have the coaching bug out of his system,” he said. “So I think whenever these [job openings] come up, he has to weigh the positives and the negatives.”
Most importantly, McDonough weighed in about what he believes Gruden will do next season.
“I think I would be surprised if he went back [to coaching] next year,” he said. “Would I would be completely shocked? No. But my full expectation is that he will be back with us again next season.”
If interested, you can listen to the full interview in the clip below.
The @MadDogUnleashed & Sean McDonough of @espn talked about @TeamJuJu being suspended & future of Jon Gruden with #MNF https://t.co/srwLhf2a0X
— Mad Dog Sports Radio (@MadDogRadio) December 6, 2017
It’s unlikely that McDonough’s opinion will prevent teams from reaching out to Gruden’s camp about potentially coaching their team in the future, but he is close to the former Bucs head coach, and knows him well. Still, nothing is set in stone until Gruden himself weighs in with a definitive statement, and it could be awhile until that takes place.
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