In the middle of Monday Night Football they announced that Jon Gruden resigned as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday following the discovery of emails he sent between 2011-18 that contained racist, homophobic, and misogynistic language. These emails were ugly and surprising given that an openly gay player play on the Raiders and that they were in Oakland the least homophobic city in the country.
His departure ended arguably the worst NFL coaching investment in history. Owner Al Davis of the Raiders is not happy to say the least and Jerry Jones is double checking his outbox now.
Gruden was in the fourth year of a 10-year, $100 million contract signed in 2018 — at the time the richest head coaching deal in league history. He’s expected to forfeit the remaining $60 million. That equates to one expensive email service.
The decision to hire him was dubious from the start despite his Super Bowl history and great start this season with the Las Vegas Raiders.
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- Gruden notoriously won a Super Bowl with Tampa, but otherwise never won another playoff game in his career and left with an overwhelmingly average record (57-55).
- In his first stint coaching the Raiders (1998-2001), he went 38-30 with two playoff wins.
- The Raiders have not won a postseason game since winning the AFC before falling to Gruden’s Buccaneers in the 2003 Super Bowl.
Gruden went 22-31 in his second stint with the team — yet his $10M salary this season ranks third behind postseason fixtures Bill Belichick ($12.5M), with his 31 playoff wins and six Super Bowls, and Pete Carroll ($11M), who has 11 playoff wins and one ring.
Assistant Rich Bisaccia was named interim coach, making him the sixth head coach in the last decade for the dysfunctional franchise. So they can’t keep a coach and they can’t stay in a city for long. What a mess..