The Florida Gators need a new football coach after Urban Meyer resigned, and everyone thinks Jon Gruden wants to be a football coach again. Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley and Meyer were seen talking to Gruden at some Outback Bowl deal in Tampa on Thursday, meaning Gruden will become the next Gators coach. No, it doesn’t mean that.
Last week Gruden was attached to the open Miami Hurricanes job, meeting with the Canes and opting to stick with ESPN. If Gruden really is interested in taking a college job and isn’t just hanging around all these college events for fun*, he very well could be on the Gators Christmas list.
And if money is a concern, Florida has it. We all went back and forth about what Miami would have to do to drum up money for Gruden, but the Gators program can afford to pay whoever it wants whatever it wants.
Still — they were only seen talking, not sliding paperwork back and forth across a large oak desk and deferring to their attorneys and answering a big red phone and flying away on Jet skis. As you can tell, I’ve never been involved in a coach-hiring meeting at a major university.
- If you’re going to the Outback Bowl three weeks early, you really, really like college football.