(Photo: Reuters/Pierre DuCharme)Tampa Bay Buccaneers former Head Coach Jon Gruden talks with his quarterbacks during a timeout in the second half of their NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on November 16, 2008.Jon Gruden rumors, which state that he is considering an offer to be head coach of the University of Tennessee Volunteers and part owner of the Browns, are not true, according to the man himself in reports out on Thursday.
Gruden, currently an analyst on Monday Night Football, spoke with ESPN yesterday and told "Mike and Mike in the Morning" that there was absolutely "no truth" to the rumors.
The Browns have also confirmed that the rumors are false. Browns' spokesman Neal Gulkis has added, "Jimmy Haslam has no involvement in the University of Tennessee head coaching search. And the report that Jon Gruden would potentially have an ownership stake in the Browns is completely erroneous."
Gruden is a former head coach of the Raiders and Buccaneers, and his last coaching post was in fact at Tampa Bay in 2008. He successfully led the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl championship in 2002, in probably the greatest achievement in his years in coaching. In that year he won Super Bowl XXXVII, defeating the Oakland Raiders, whom he had left at the end of the previous season. That win also made Gruden the youngest head coach ever to win a Super Bowl, aged 39 years, 5 months and 9 days.
In May 2009, Gruden was hired by ESPN to serve as a color analyst on its Monday Night Football telecasts, replacing Tony Kornheiser. He has also served as an analyst for ESPN's coverage of postseason college football games, helping to call the 2010 Rose Bowl and 2010 BCS National Championship Game on ESPN Radio and the 2011 Outback Bowl and 2011 Orange Bowl on ESPN television.
According to reports earlier this year he recently signed a contract extension with ESPN, beginning in September 2012, which lengthened his tenure with the broadcasting company for another five years.
Here is a video of John Gruden in an interview with David Letterman:
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