The Downfall Of Jon Gruden
The National Football League (NFL) is one of the largest sporting organizations in the world. With 32 teams and, on average, 3,739 employees/players per team, the NFL has many responsibilities. Employing some of the most prominent stars globally, the league has to maintain its reputation to par.
Coaching for 15 seasons and winning a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002, Jon Gruden was known as one of the most respected and likable coaches in league history. After retiring from coaching the NFL, he became a commentator for Monday Night Football, hosted Gruden's QB Camp and Monday Night Countdown. However, it is all now worthless after Gruden resigned from his latest head coaching job with the Las Vegas Raiders on October 11, 2021. mails have surfaced throughout his tenure with the NFL that revealed his use of misogynistic and homophobic language to disparage people. His departure from the NFL was an unexpected one for a coach who had won a Super Bowl, worked as a top ESPN analyst, and returned to coaching in 2018 for the resurgent Raiders, whom he had led years before.
Through further research, it was found that other executives in the NFL have been participating in the same heinous acts. According to league authorities, the emails were discovered as a workplace misconduct investigation into former Washington Football Team President, Bruce Allen. They weren't focusing on Gruden, because he wasn't in the league at the time. In a 2011 email to Allen, he had already drawn flak for allegedly using racial terms against NFL Players Association Executive Director, DeMaurice Smith.
Gruden was working as a color analyst for Monday Night Football at the time. Later, Gruden attempted to backtrack on his remarks, claiming that he used "rubber lips" to refer to a liar. He apologized for such comments on Sunday the 12th, less than 24 hours before the release of more derogatory emails. Gruden used racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic language in the emails, that stretched from 2010 to 2018, just before the Raiders hired him for his second stint with the organization. Gruden frequently referred to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as a "f—t" and a "clueless anti-football p—y." He also made homophobic remarks against NFL owners, coaches, and reporters covering the league. Gruden had also sent Allen and others emails with photographs of women wearing only bikini bottoms.
Two Washington Football Team cheerleaders were told to be in one of the photos. Gruden and Allen also included Ed Droste, the co-founder of Hooters, Jim McVay, a former Outback Bowl executive, and Nick Reader, the founder of PDQ Restaurants, in their communications.
In addition, Commissioner Roger Godell was also using this language. Goodell pressured former St. Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher to draft "q—rs.” Michael Sam, who came out as gay before the 2014 NFL Draft and was picked by the Rams' second-to-last choice in the seventh round, was the subject of the joke. He spent the 2014 season on the practice squads of the Rams and the Dallas Cowboys, then later played in the CFL with the Montreal Alouettes. Before Jon Gruden’s departure, he coached Carl Nassib, the NFL's first openly homosexual active player, who announced his sexual orientation before the 2021 season.
All of these acts committed by Gruden are disgusting, but I also blame the NFL for not taking the time to look into the emails with them knowing. This generation is the time of change. For instance, Nassib is the first openly gay player to play for Gruden; there should be no reason to make such claims about their own player. These emails prove that because you are in a high position and have power, does not mean you are invincible. Gruden will continue to receive repercussions for the acts he has committed and for disrespecting many different groups of people and the NFL.