Tennessee Can Do Better than Jon Gruden

Butch Jones had been a dead man walking in Knoxville for some time. Jones’ years of mediocrity followed tenures of Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley, both of whom did their part to set the Tennessee football program back years as well.

Vols fans have always had high expectations for the program, and rightfully so. Knoxville is a premier destination in college football, but the last decade or so have not been indicative of that. Tennessee fans have grown restless. They want a big splash hire. The leader in the clubhouse appears to be Super Bowl Champion and Spider 2Y Banana inventor Jon Gruden, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why.

There are a lot of red flags that should be waving right in your face when Jon Gruden becomes the topic of conversation. For one, Gruden was not actually that successful of a head coach. Gruden’s all-time head coaching record is 100-85 (.541). That is barely better than Jeff Fisher. It is not terrible for the NFL, where teams don’t play FCS teams for free wins, except for maybe the Browns. It definitely is not jumping off the page though; 54.1 percent equates to less than nine wins per season. That is downright average.

Gruden’s coaching resume reads much like the NFL version of Gene Chizik. He won a championship in year one and proceeded to do nothing noteworthy for the rest of his career as a head coach until he was eventually fired. After the Super Bowl season, the Buccaneers made the playoffs twice over the next and final six years of Gruden’s tenure, and won zero postseason games.

As far as Gruden’s college coaching resume goes, he has never been the head coach of a college football program. There is no evidence Gruden can succeed as a college head coach, because he has never been one. He has never even been a high-level coordinator, and hiring him knowing this is a huge gamble. It is simply not worth taking considering Tennessee really cannot afford to mess this up for a fourth time.

Finally and obviously, let us not forget Gruden has not actually coached a football game since 2009. If you strip the name and broadcasting reputation away, the coaching resume here reads like an NFL retread that has not won anything in 15 years. With a decent group of up-and-coming college head coaches out there right now, hiring Gruden seems like a move with a lot more bark than bite. Guys like Matt Campbell, Scott Frost and Dan Mullen would be infinitely safer and more promising investments for the future of the program.

Gruden might take the Tennessee job and win big. Who knows? It is impossible to predict these things correctly. But, there is certainly nothing to suggest he can come to Knoxville and be a consistent winner. Tennessee can do better.