GRUDEN???
(Suddenly, it's a thing.)
(Suddenly, it's a thing.)
Gentlemen, we have been through this enough times to know that as long as Florida is cycling through coaches every 3-4 years that we are going to hear every rumor imaginable. In 2022 it was James Franklin, Lane Kiffin, or Kalen DeBoer but we got Billy Napier (ref: https://www.gatorenvy.com/threads/re-evaluating-the-coaching-search-2022.21398/). In 2018 it was Chip Kelly and Scott Frost but we got Dan Mullen (ref: https://www.gatorenvy.com/threads/2018-coaching-search-retrospective.21272/#post-92184). In 2014 it was Mark Hudspeth (Billy Napier's predecessor who was fired for NCAA violations) and Chip Kelly (ref: https://www.gatorenvy.com/threads/a-look-back-at-the-2014-coaching-search.19668/). Amongst all those coaching searches there was always a mention of Urban Meyer, Steve Spurrier, Bill Belichik, et cetera.
I am actually fascinated by the idea of bringing in Jon Gruden as a general manager of football operations.
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but just about any younger Baby Boomer, any Gen X or older Millennial coach says these kind of things in a football environment or an office environment and they are not racists. They are products of their environment and it takes at least a generation to fully change culture. The only difference between Gruden and others is that his comments were shared in public. Name for me one "nice" and "DEI friendly" coach who has won at a high level and I will show you oceanfront property in Arizona. Florida has been fortunate that coaches like Urban Meyer did not coach here while the Internet was at its peak like it is now. You can find reports on Nick Saban saying these kind of things in the locker room, and now that he is in the public eye as a media member in the peak of the Internet age he has to change his tone. Lucky for Saban, he has Jon Gruden as an example of what not to do.Not against it but with the state legislature removing DEI programs which is bad enough trying to recruit students-athletes especially for football, does the Gators want to hire a guy who said some racist stuff among other things?