Tennessee Vols: I’m A Little More Intrigued By Jon Gruden

If the Tennessee Vols fire Butch Jones, will they go after Jon Gruden?

I have a confession for you.

In 2012, I was all in on Jon Gruden coaching the Tennessee Vols. I kept up with the rumors every day, dug for information, made calls, and did everything I could to find out whether or not there was a legitimate chance he might come to Knoxville.

Obviously Gruden declined to pursue the Tennessee job (stories range from he immediately declined to he was putting a staff together).

After the Volunteers failed to secure Gruden’s services in 2012, I left the #Grumors behind, assuming it would never ever happen (even if the job opened again relatively soon).

In 2015, Gruden called Tennessee his “dream job”. But at that point, most folks believed Butch Jones was the right man for Tennessee. But deep down, the comment still made me giddy (I think #Grumors reside deep down inside all of us).

However, Gruden seemed to preemptively squall any potential #Grumors this past summer when he told a reporter that he wouldn’t be a good college coach.

"I was very determined to be a college coach. Then I realized that if I became a college coach I would probably have you on probation within four or five weeks.“Too many rules, man. I mean I like to work. I don’t like to be working 15 hours a week with players. The recruiting, Facebook, texting, e-mails – all that stuff. Yeah, I’d probably have you in real deep, deep trouble if I was your college coach.”"

(That same report suggested that Gruden’s salary, if he were to take a coaching job, would be in the $10 million range.)

Of course, when Gruden made that quote, a lot of folks still believed Jones was the guy at Tennessee. While there was some hot seat chatter surrounding Jones, no one predicted this type of train wreck in 2017 for the Volunteers.

Jones’ days as Tennessee’s head coach are numbered right now. He almost certainly won’t be the head coach in 2018, which means the Vols will be searching for a new head coach. And that’s where Gruden’s came comes into play….once again.

Gruden absolutely loves developing young players. He loves Tennessee. And he loves coaching.

Does that mean he’ll entertain the idea of coaching in Knoxville?

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to know, because of how guarded he is about these types of things.

I put the chance that Gruden comes to Tennessee at less than five percent.

But I’d be lying if I didn’t sit up straight when I saw that Gruden is now the favorite in Vegas to become the Vols’ next coach. Chances are that this change in betting lines is due to the amount of money that’s being bet on Gruden. But it’s still something that’s worth keeping an eye on.

Next: Lane Kiffin Can't Stop Trolling Tennessee

I’m not ready to go all in on this Gruden stuff, but I’m not writing him off as an option quite as quickly as I was a few days ago.

You just never know in the crazy world of college football.

A few thoughts about random Gruden rumors: 

I do have a few thoughts about some of the insane Gruden rumors.

• There’s no way Gruden has already signed a contract or even talked about a contract with anyone at Tennessee. Butch Jones is still under contract and Gruden respects the game of football and the coaching fraternity way too much to do something like that.
• We still have no idea when Butch Jones will be fired, or how this whole thing will play out. If the Vols beat Kentucky, Jones will coach next week against Southern Mississippi. If Tennessee loses to Kentucky, there’s a strong chance Jones is fired by Sunday morning, but that’s not a certainty.