Former Oakland Raider and Tampa Bay Buccaneer head coach Jon Gruden is famous -- or infamous, depending on the depth of your religious beliefs -- for his “colorful” use of some words in the the English language.
As it turns out, Gruden had the opportunity this past offseason to join a college program whose nickname rhymes with one of his most favorite words.
A couple of months after being fired by the Bucs, Gruden met with Oregon Ducks head coach Chip Kelly. The two sat and discussed the spread offense, going over the system for hours on a blackboard.
Shortly after that meeting, Kelly called Gruden and asked him if he wanted a job. Specifically, whether he wanted to try his hand as the Ducks’ offensive coordinator in 2009.
“A couple weeks later,” Gruden said, “he called me up and said, ‘Look, how ‘bout you come out here and spend a year with us learning the spread.’ I almost did it.”
Gruden passed on the opportunity, in part, he says, because the sting of being fired from the Bucs was still fresh in his mind.