Report: Gruden Contacting Potential Assistants; Tennessee and Arkansas Interested

Hide your kids, Chucky may be coming to an SEC sideline near you. 

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports is reporting that both Arkansas and Tennessee have ex-Bucs coach and current ESPN analyst Jon Gruden at the top of their wish lists for their pending head coaching vacancies.  We have heard Gruden’s name come up frequently in connection with coaching vacancies at both the NFL and college level in recent years, but La Canfora is reporting that Gruden has actually had exploratory conversations with potential assistant coaches this time around.

Regardless of how much money Arkansas may offer, I don’t know how attractive that job is once QB Tyler Wilson leaves for the NFL.  As for Tennessee, given that Gruden is currently in the enviable position of being handsomely compensated for providing ESPN with commentary on what other coaches are doing, Vols fans shouldn’t get too excited until they see Gruden sporting an orange blazer behind a podium with AD Dave Hart’s arm around his shoulder (and even then you may want to wait until the season starts).   

Who knows though.  Derek Dooley didn’t win much on the field, but he had some pretty decent recruiting classes and Tennessee has enough talent coming through the pipeline to return to relevancy pretty quickly.  If Gruden does take the job and win, we all know it wouldn’t be the first time that Gruden swooped in and reaped the profits of another coach’s labor.

Robert Littal

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