It is November and the natural season where two main things begin to happen: 1) Narrowing of the field of teams making a playoff run and 2) Jon Gruden rumors. The Bucs are hardly ever in the discussion of the former, and that is why the latter always comes about seemingly every year. This year, though the Gruden rumors seem to have more weight behind them. Longtime Bucs insider Ira Kaufman even seems to think so saying, “I think (Dirk) Koetter’s got seven weeks to prove that this team is still buying what he’s selling,” Kaufman said. “The stands are half empty, and there’s a guy out there that has a lot of juice and can fill those stands. … I’m starting to believe it for the first time, that Gruden’s coming back.”
To Kaufman’s point Gruden would be great for nostalgia’s sake. It would excite a good portion (if not the majority) of the fan base. This would consequently fill the stands and be good for the Bucs bottom line… At first. Sooner or later, though the honeymoon will be over, and if the Gruden 2.0 career starts off with .500 mark (or less) fans & the Glazers will then remember why he was shown the door. They will be reminded that they’ve seen this before in his 6 fruitless seasons after the 2002 Super Bowl run. When you look at his overall tenure with the Bucs, he was a .500 coach, and it was that overall average culture that set in that led to his firing in the 2008 season. Yes he was the coach that won us a Super Bowl, but it was on the shoulders of a historically great Kiffin defense. With no thanks to an average offense… Gruden’s average offense.
If this franchise is looking to make a flashy move, Gruden is your man. If it looks to make the next step to vie for the chance at a championship, then the Glazers should squelch these rumors. History tells us though that they haven’t been the best at handling the head coaching department overall. So look for these rumors to rage on.
