Well, that was quite an anticlimactic way to get out of his contract...
The Raiders and Jon Gruden parted ways after some emails from 10 years ago surfaced where Gruden made some racist remarks. And now, it was discovered that he had more messages where he made homphobic and misogynistic comments. Jon Gruden has officially resigned as head coach. The Raiders released a statement today from Mark Davis reading:
"I have accepted Jon Gruden's resignation as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders."
I should feel happy, but at the same time I don't. You all should know by now, I was never sold on Gruden being the guy to take the Raiders to the next level. All of his personnel and roster decisions, coaching decisions, drafting, and gameplanning were abhorrent and archaic. We're talking about the Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper trades, the Antonio Brown saga, the reaches and misses in the draft, and the 2nd half collapses in the most important period of the NFL season. This 2nd tenure of Gruden literally drove me to the point of insanity and with a coach getting paid $10 million for 10 years, he was getting this team nowhere.
I wanted Gruden out on the basis of those terrible decisions in his 2nd tenure with this team. But, we should know by now, we live in a highly sensitive world where anything can be taken out of context. And anything you say in the past can come back to bite you in the present. The things on race, gender, sexual orientation, diversity, and equality are all magnified in this day and age. And if you say something subtly offensive on those topics, it's literally the point of no return for you. Even if you apologize, the goal post will be moved farther away. And Gruden did that. He apologized. But, sorry is never good enough.
If anything, I'm not mad, just disappointed. Gruden has nobody to blame but himself for making those slurs and remarks in the first place. He might've not considered getting another head coaching job then. But, the NFL is a revolving door. Coaches come and go and come back. Rinse and repeat. Nobody in their right mind would consider making derogatory comments to a professional email. Especially if you're a former head coach in the league.
This is yet another black mark in Silver and Black infamy. Things like this is why most Raider fans have zero tolerance with this franchise and why my outlook on this team has been negative. They give you a false sense of hope and optimism and unravel who they truly are as the season progresses: a team that has mediocrity as it's ceiling. And it was showing that way so far this season yet again. The Raiders started 3-0. Then they lose 2 straight, one against a team they should've beaten yesterday in the Chicago Bears. Now, this team finds itself soul-searching yet again. And the last time they involved themselves in controversy, it didn't bode well the rest of the way.
In closing, a majority of us wanted Gruden gone. We got him gone, just not in a way that we would've possibly imagined. He's certainly never coaching in the NFL again.
