Oakland Raiders: Breaking down Jon Gruden’s coaching career

The Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden is one of the bigger faces in football, and we take a look at his coaching career thus far.

Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden has no doubt had success in his NFL career, winning a Super Bowl title in 2002, and making five playoff appearances in his career. Some would say that winning a Super Bowl title would be enough to consider you a great NFL coach, but not everybody agrees with that statement.

When Jon Gruden first became a head coach in 1998, he took a team that was 4-12 in the previous season to a 8-8 record. Gruden once again went 8-8 in 1999, and finally broke through in 2000, where his Raiders lost in the AFC Championship to the Baltimore Ravens.

In 2001, the Raiders continued to look like a great team behind Coach Gruden, finishing 10-6, and losing in the second round of the playoffs in one of the most controversial games of all time. The Raiders lost to the Patriots in the Tuck Rule Game, where if this never happened, Gruden and the Raiders would be going to their second consecutive AFC Championship game.

After this season, the Raiders traded Jon Gruden to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he would win his first Super Bowl against his former team. Some argue that this team was handed to him, discrediting his achievement, but one of the greatest coaches of all time, Tony Dungy, was the head coach for the Bucs in previous years, and could not find a way to get it done.

By no means should we consider Jon Gruden a better coach than Tony Dungy, but if Dungy could not win with the Bucs and Gruden could, it is unfair to act like Gruden did nothing to win the Super Bowl.

After this game, the Buccaneers started to fall off, finishing 7-9 and 5-11 in their next two seasons. Not only did Gruden’s Bucs start to fall off, but his former team, the Raiders, started to fall off without him.

The difference between the Raiders and Buccaneers in this situation is that the Buccaneers bounced back with Gruden, something the Raiders were not able to do without him.

The Buccaneers had a winning record behind Gruden in three out of four years from 2005 to 2008, while the Raiders only won 15 games in that span. The team that Gruden built in Oakland was diminished without him, as he was starting to successfully rebuild a team in Tampa.

After back to back 9-7 seasons, the Bucs fired Gruden, where he would not return to coaching for a decade.

Gruden’s return to Oakland in 2018 was far from successful, but most people could have expected that with the roster he was given. Gruden traded away key players to attempt to build for the future, and comparing rosters from 2018 to 2019, it looks like the crazy moves he made last season may actually pay off.

Many people will hate on Gruden no matter what he does, and there is no denying that he has had some bad seasons and moments in his past. Gruden has had four losing seasons in his twelve year career, but he also has won a Super Bowl, made it to the AFC Championship (should have made it twice), and has a total of five playoff appearances.

Gruden has went 8-8 two times, and one season of finishing 9-7 without making the playoffs. Gruden has had a roller coaster of a career, being at the highest of highs and lowest of lows.

If Gruden can turn this Raiders team around and make the playoffs, there would be no arguing that Gruden is a great coach. If Gruden is unable to turn the team around in the next couple of years, the arguments about Coach Gruden will look even stronger.

These next four to five years with the Raiders will have a big part in Coach Gruden’s legacy, and the team he has built in one year looks like it could be promising. Gruden will be in the spotlight either way, and the media will have fun with it whether he wins or loses.