ESPN’s Adam Schefter: Jon Gruden is going to be next Oakland Raiders coach

Jon Gruden is going to be the next head coach of the Oakland Raiders, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

That seems significant considering he’s been the fantasy hire for dozens of college and NFL teams throughout coaching searches in the past decade.

Tennessee fans certainly know something about that.

Oakland fired head coach Jack Del Rio on Sunday.

“It’s simple. You don’t make that move with Jack Del Rio unless you know you can get Jon Gruden,” Schefter told SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt. “Jon Gruden is going to be the next coach of the Oakland Raiders. The only question is when it happens.

“Jon has always had an affinity for Oakland and the owner has had an affinity for him,” Schefter added. “The owner has made other runs at him in the past. This is not the first time that he’s pursued Jon Gruden. But the more you spoke to people, the more they were convinced that Jon would re-enter coaching this year, that he was preparing to get back into it at some point and it was getting closer and closer.

“In this particular case, Mark Davis made a run and is preparing to put together an offer that he can’t turn down — period.”

As of now, it is unknown what all the seemingly-historic offer will consist of, but on Saturday ESPN reported that it could include an ownership stake.

Gruden coached the Raiders from 1998 to 2001 before serving as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ coach from 2002 to 2008.

He has been in the Monday Night Football booth since then.

Check out Schefter’s full comments below, courtesy of a video posted to Twitter by SportsCenter:

“Jon Gruden is going to be the next coach of the Oakland Raiders.” – @AdamSchefter pic.twitter.com/S4RiYzHXTq

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 1, 2018

Cody McClure

Cody McClure is an SEC Football Writer for Saturday Down South. He lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he also co-hosts a midday sports radio show for FOX Sports. Cody previously worked for Athlon Sports.