Jon Gruden resigned as Las Vegas Raiders head coach nearly two weeks ago and has now broken his silence on the situation. Andrea Kremer, who recently profiled Raiders owner Mark Davis for the HBO show Real Sports with Bryant Gumble, revealed on the Real Sports Podcast that a producer recently cold-called Gruden.
“Maggie Burbank, who produced the story that we just did on Mark Davis, she actually called Gruden and he picked up the phone, much to I think her surprise,” Kremer said, per Pro Football Talk. “And he’s still in Las Vegas. . . . He says he’s letting the dust settle. He said, ‘People who know me know what I stand for 58 years. I have a resume of 58 years.’ He said, ‘The truth will come out.’ It’s certainly cryptic.”
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Gruden resigned after emails that featured him using racist, misogynistic and anti-gay languages resurfaced during the NFL’s investigation on the Washington Football Team. “Mark Davis has been severely impacted,” Kremer said. “And I’m not defending Mark Davis. I’m just pointing out a fact here. Dan Snyder continues on. The Washington Football Team continues on.”
When Gruden resigned, he issued a statement to Raiders fans. “I have resigned as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders,” Gruden said. “I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.”
When Gruden, 58, resigned, the Raiders were 3-2 and just one game behind the Las Angeles Chargers for the AFC West lead. He was hired by the Raiders in 2018, signing a 10-year, $100 million contract. In his first three full seasons with the Raiders, Gruden won 19 games and lost 29. He returned to coaching in 2018 after spending nearly nine years with ESPN. From 2002-2008, Gruden was the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and led the team to a Super Bowl in his first season. Due to the controversy surrounding him, the Buccaneers decided to remove Gruden from the team’s Ring of Honor. Gruden got his NFL head coach career started in 1998 when he was hired by the Raiders. He was there for three seasons before being traded to the Buccaneers.
