Back to the future is not the answer
The lines in Chucky’s face would be a little deeper, a little more pronounced. He’d still squint when a particular matter upset him, and good luck to anyone in his general vicinity not becoming enveloped by his considerable shadow.
Around Tampa, the name Jon Gruden still evokes memories of Tampa Bay Buc teams without accompanying punch lines and laugh tracks. He delivered what six head coaches before him, and four after, were unable to.
The Vince Lombardi Trophy to a display case at One Buc Place.
Gruden departed after the 2008 season, but his presence never really left the Tampa Bay area. After the Bucs fired Greg Schiano following the 2013 campaign, they spoke to Gruden before settling on Lovie Smith.
That hire flopped, and not two years into the disintegrating Dirk Koetter regime, Gruden’s name is being bandied about once again.
Right now it’s just baseless radio talk, stoked by Gruden’s pending appearance Monday night at Raymond James Stadium for his induction into the team’s Ring of Honor. There’s been no indication given by the 54-year-old that he’s in any hurry to surrender his cushy gig as analyst on Monday Night Football.
The belief is if Gruden ever committed himself to returning to an NFL sideline, he’d have his pick of any available. Worth noting is his maintaining of a home in the Tampa area and a strong relationship with the Glazer brothers.
The list of men who walked away from the game and into a TV booth before returning to coach successfully is a short one. After Bill Parcells left the Giants after the 1990 season, he worked two years analyzing football for NBC Sports. In 1993 he took over the New England Patriots and eventually led them to a Super Bowl.
That by itself isn’t the reason the Bucs should stay clear of Jon Gruden 2.0. It’s awfully easy to get blinded by the glare of 2002 Super Bowl hardware and forget everything else.
Because if you detach that year from Gruden’s other six in Tampa Bay, you find a career with a lot more valleys than peaks.
We all know the narrative of that 2002 season. Gruden inherited the players of Tony Dungy who the year before had reached the NFC title game, added his own distinctive Chucky seasoning, and the combination spawned history.
Lightning was snared in a pewter bottle. Gruden relied on veteran quarterback Brad Johnson to manage games. He counted on a defense with historical significance to wrap up opposing offenses into neat little packages.
The Bucs made their deal with the devil. They got their Super Bowl. They’ve been paying for it ever since.
Subtract Tampa Bay’s 12-4 record in ’02 and Gruden’s career mark in Tampa is an unremarkable 45-51. The two seasons following the title, his Bucs finished 7-9 and 5-11.
He never planned for the future, always preferring to focus on the present, and that was reflected in his inability to develop a quarterback after Johnson left.
He went through a collection that included Shaun King, Brian Griese, Chris Simms, Bruce Gradkowski, Tim Rattay and Jeff Garcia. And he couldn’t plan for the future because his drafts produced little.
Giving up first-round picks in ’02 and ’03 to the Raiders to get Gruden set the franchise back. Then, using top picks on players who didn’t form the nucleus of future teams set it back even further. The Bucs continue paying for those mistakes.
Then there’s the matter of Jameis Winston. From Rich Gannon through Johnson and Garcia, Gruden preferred veteran quarterbacks, ostensibly because they made fewer mistakes.
Now in his third year, Winston has made far more than Gruden would deem acceptable. Any head coach wants his own quarterback. Would that be Winston? Could it?
It’s premature even to speculate. Maybe even silly. Jon Gruden returns Monday night to Ray Jay to get his name hanged high.
If the Bucs are smart, that’s the only place it’ll be.
Back to the Future was just a movie.