One year ago today, Jon Gruden abruptly resigned as the head coach of the Raiders.
The move came three days after someone leaked to the Wall Street Journal emails harvested by the league’s investigation of the Washington Commanders. Gruden had sent various inappropriate emails to former team president Bruce Allen.
After the initial leak, more emails emerged, with additional emails given to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Gruden presumably walked away before even more emails were leaked.
Gruden and the Raiders reached a settlement as to the balance of his contract. Gruden thereafter sued the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell for leaking the emails with the goal of affecting Gruden’s business relationships.
The litigation continues to focus on the league’s position that it should be pursued via in-house arbitration process, which promotes secrecy and makes an outcome favorable to the league’s interests far more likely. The league likely will pursue appeals to every court possible. If unsuccessful, the actual litigation will commence.
Someday.
The chances of Gruden someday coaching again in the NFL remain slim. Beyond suing the league and the Commissioner, Gruden wasn’t very good during his return to the NFL after nearly a decade. A college coaching job is more likely for Gruden, if he has the patience to tailor his offense to young players whose time for studying the playbook and watching film is limited.
