Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden hasn’t said much since resigning as the team’s head coach on Monday following an email scandal. But his brother, former Washington head coach Jay Gruden, happily weighed in on what happened.
Appearing on WTEM on Tuesday, Jay Gruden pledged to support his brother amid the controversy. He believes that Jon will “bounce back in a big way” as he “always has” and “always will.”
“It’s not anything we could have ever anticipated happening,” Jay Gruden said, via Audacy.com. “Unfortunately, what happened already happened. Jon’s already apologized… I’ll let him handle his business. I’m always there for his support. He’s always there for me at a time of crisis. He’ll bounce back in a big way. He always has. Always will.”
Jay acknowledged that the things his brother said in the leaked emails were not “commonplace” and believes that people talk to others differently when they think they’re talking privately. He suggested that people look past what his brother has said and at the things he’s done to help others.
“We understand what’s at stake when we take the job,” he continued. “Things aren’t private when you think they are private. At end of the day, he loves the NFL… He’s done so many great things for so many people… He’s been an incredible influence as far as football is concerned. To bring him down, so to speak, is unfortunate. I think, like I said, it’s brutal. From a brother’s standpoint he’s been nothing but supportive of me. … We’re going to stay together and get through this.
“I think people in personal circles talk their own personal way from their own groups they think are private,” he said. “You may say some stuff to a good buddy of yours you’ve known for a long time that you wouldn’t say to anybody else in the world. On the golf course, I might say a few things I would never say to anyone else. Just the way it is. [Jon’s] a great person, great human and great football coach but I wouldn’t say it’s commonplace. It just happened the way it happened.”
Jon Gruden resigns as head coach of the Raiders. pic.twitter.com/Npnoqd8YQD
— NFL (@NFL) October 12, 2021
Jon Gruden resigned following the release of numerous emails where he used wildly inappropriate language to a wide variety of groups and individuals.
In the fallout, he was removed from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Ring of Honor and lost sponsorships.
But if Jay Gruden is right, we haven’t seen the last of Jon Gruden.
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