Super Bowl winning coach Jon Gruden joining Milano Seamen

| American Football | 03/13/2024

Former Super Bowl winning head coach Jon Gruden is joining the  staff of the Milano Seamen in an advisory capacity ahead of the 2024 European League of Football season.

Gruden was head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002 when they won their first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXVII.

The signing of the 61 year old Gruden comes after he served as an advisor to the New Orleans Saints in 2023, and three years removed from his departure from the Raiders. Gruden resigned as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021 amid considerable controversy related to emails he had sent.

He held his first head coaching position with the Raiders franchise during their Oakland tenure from 1998 to 2001, where he won two consecutive division titles and made an AFC Championship Game appearance. Gruden was traded to the Buccaneers in 2002 and led them to the Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXVII the same season. At age 39, he was the then-youngest head coach to win the Super Bowl. He served as Tampa Bay’s head coach through 2008, setting the franchise record for wins, but made only two further playoff runs.

Gruden entered the NFL coaching ranks in 1992 at the age of 28 when Mike Holmgren, his former boss at the San Francisco 49ers, hired him to be the special offensive assistant/wide receivers coach with the Green Bay Packers. After three seasons in Green Bay, Gruden became the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles under former Packers assistant coach Ray Rhodes. Gruden was chosen by the owner and general manager of the Oakland Raiders, Al Davis, to be the Raiders’ new head coach for the 1998 season.

The Seamen finished the 2023 European League of Football season, their first in the league, with a 2-10 record and last in the ELF Central division.

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