Jon Gruden Really Never Saw That Whole 'You're Fired' Thing Coming
Posted Jan 20th 2009 1:45 AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed Under: Buccaneers, NFL Coaching, NFL Media Watch
Jon Gruden's firing as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers broke late on Friday, a seemingly shocking announcement, given not only the lack of rumors surrounding his job security, but the fact that the Bucs had been contending in the NFC South for almost his entire watch.
But he's gone now, and it turns out that he really, really never saw the firing squad lining up in front of him, according to Jay Glazer.
Sources told FOX Sports that Gruden had been interviewing prospective assistant coaches and actually hired former Bucs and Lions assistant Joe Barry about two hours before he was fired. Barry went as far as signing the deal then got on a plane only to land to the news that his new boss was now his new fired boss.
In addition, Gruden had told his assistants late in the week that he met with ownership and they had another year to right the Bucs' ship. That prediction obviously did not come to fruition.
Two hours. Two freaking hours! But while that all seems really spur-of-the-moment, it also appears that Gruden got, for lack of a better phrase, "told on" by many of his players. Reports seem to indicate that none of them could trust them (I can't possibly imagine Jeff Garcia and Brian Griese would disagree with that) based on him acting differently from what he would tell them.
Additionally, the Bucs absolutely floundered down the stretch in 2008 and, as we've seen, losing your locker room plus choking away a season won't do much for your job security.