It’s officially official. The Raiders have announced that Jon Gruden is their new head coach. They’ll (re) introduce Gruden to Oakland media in a Tuesday press conference.
Recently, Gruden admitted there is a “good chance” that he’ll become the next coach of the Raiders. However, he denied reports indicating that he will wind up with a piece of team ownership as part of the deal. Even without minority ownership, this is a colossal deal for Gruden. It’s a ten-year contract likely to be worth about $100MM, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
The sum of Gruden’s contract is jaw-dropping, but he provides a great deal of value to the Raiders outside of football. His presence will keep the fanbase in Oakland engaged for the next two years before the move to Las Vegas. Once they arrive in Nevada, Gruden’s popularity could boost ticket sales and the value of local media rights packages.
From a football perspective, Gruden offers familiarity with team ownership and a winning pedigree. It’s also an opportunity for the Raiders to rewrite history. Under Gruden, the Raiders reached the playoffs twice, ascending to the AFC Championship game in the 2000 season before their heartbreaking loss to the Patriots in the following year. In 2002, the Raiders traded Gruden to the Buccaneers for a whopping package that included two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and $8MM in cash. That season, of course, gave us the Gruden Bowl. Gruden’s Bucs blew the doors off of the Raiders and won by a score of 48-21.
One can’t help but wonder how the late Al Davis would feel about all of this. The Raiders owner always had a pension for defying popular thought, but his reluctance to dole out exorbitant salaries to coaches is what led to Gruden’s departure in the first place. Fifteen years later, Gruden is back in Oakland with a record-breaking contract.
Unlike the Cardinals, Bears, Lions, Colts, and Giants, the Raiders did not cast a wide net in their coaching search. This week, the team interviewed incumbent tight ends coach Bobby Johnson and met with one other unknown candidate to fulfill the Rooney Rule. With that obligation out of the way, the Raiders are set to announce the signing of the only coach they were ever interested in hiring.
Already, Gruden’s staff is taking shape. The Raiders will hire Rams quarterbacks coach Greg Olson as their offensive coordinator and former Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther as their new DC, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). And, as previously reported, special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia will be moving from Dallas to Oakland.
The deals for each coordinator will be four years in length, giving them two years in Oakland and two years in Las Vegas, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The deals will also be backloaded in order to capitalize on the absence of state income taxes in Nevada, Michael Gehlken of the Journal-Review tweets.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The money is fine. The years is a little crazy. 10 years is a long time to commit to someone
I agree, especially with how many NFL teams are moving on from coaches every 2-3 years. 10 years might not be bad once you know what you have, but Gruden hasn’t been on a football field calling the shots in a while. Seems like an incredibly long commitment to someone who doesn’t have a body of work to show in the last decade.
It depends on how the contract is written.
I would be surprised if Gruden received 10 *guaranteed* years. Unless otherwise indicated in a given contract, the default rule is that if fired for cause, the fired person no longer receives the benefit of the bargain —meaning, whatever compensation was promised in the contract.
Maybe his agent was shrewd enough to negotiate 10 guaranteed years, regardless of any potential cause of termination. But that seems unlikely, especially in the NFL.
Baseball contracts (player, but also managerial) tend to have much more in the way of guaranteed money. In the NFL, people are much more like chattel… “We promise to provide you with $xxxxx.xx for your services; however, if you don’t perform your duties in a way that perfectly conforms to our expectations, we can terminate you, at our sole discretion, and owe nothing more to you (in terms of consideration (payment) in exchange for services (playing/coaching/etc)).”
When he doesn’t produce they’ll just kick him upstairs.
Too long to be away from the day to day operation.
Glad he’s leaving, he’s horrible on MNF.
It’s like getting married you know it’s not gonna work for 10 years
I’ll admit I said he wasn’t coming. Here to eat crow. Dunno if he’s worth 100 mil for 10 years but it’ll be interesting to find out.
Afsooner you are a stand up guy!
Don’t let this distract you from the fact that in 1966, Al Bundy scored four touchdowns in a single game while playing for the Polk High School Panthers in the 1966 city championship game versus Andrew Johnson High School, including the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds against his old nemesis, Bubba “Spare Tire” Dixon.
In multiple threads!!! You’re having a good Saturday night. I salute you.
Me 2! With 1 middle finger! Stupid fn posts! Such a waste of space!
At 10/100M, I wonder what this is going to do to the coaching landscape going forward.
Good. Now, I don’t have to listen to him on tv anymore. Thank you, Raiders!
10 years means nothing…they can fire him or promote him to another position with the team anytime they want. If there’s one thing I’ve learned with the NFL is owner and or GMs are not afraid to get out of a contract no matter what the contract looks like if they’ve decided it was time to.
I like the hire of Gruden, big fan of his as coach and as a analyst. I was a fan of Del Rio but with the opportunity to hire Gruden I can see why they moved. Not only is this a smart football move but a smart business move with keeping the fans interested until they move out of Oakland to Vegas. Very excited to see what he can do with that roster that is very talented. The only real concern I have is how he will work the GM there, not concerned with him being away from coaching for so long.
But Raiders can’t pay for their own stadium… smh (Nevada resident)
No Ma’am!
Makes one wonder if this means a return for Tony Romo?????