Jon Gruden had to go.
At a time when messages such as 鈥淚t Takes All of Us鈥� and 鈥淓nd Racism鈥� are stenciled into every end zone in the league, when women have joined the ranks of front offices, coaching staffs and officiating crews and a player on his own team came out as gay, Gruden鈥檚 emails revealing racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments were antithetical to the modern NFL.
Gruden resigned as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night, releasing a statement that said, 鈥淚 love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I鈥檓 sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.鈥�
His departure was the only acceptable resolution to this quagmire of his own creation because the NFL has made too much progress of late for Gruden to keep his job and roll back that evolution, suggested ESPN football analyst Booger McFarland.
鈥淭his is something that had to happen,鈥� McFarland said. 鈥淭his is something he couldn鈥檛 deny. This is in emails where you鈥檙e going against what the NFL is trying to do. The players have stickers on their helmets and they have phrases in the end zone: 鈥楨nd Racism. Stop Hate. It Takes All of Us. Inspire Change.鈥� So, we鈥檙e trying to get rid of the very things that Jon Gruden is promoting through his personal emails.鈥�
Gruden鈥檚 rapid downfall began Friday when The Wall Street Journal reported that Gruden used a racist term to describe NFL union chief DeMaurice Smith, who鈥檚 Black, in a 2011 email to former Washington executive Bruce Allen.
If it had ended there, Gruden might have survived.
Following the Raiders鈥� 20-9 loss to Chicago on Sunday, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said he was among many players who were shocked to hear about Gruden鈥檚 racist remark but made clear his coach had his support.
Carr said Gruden addressed the issue and gave his side of the story in a team meeting the morning before that story broke: 鈥淗e was honest. He was up-front with it, and us as a team were like, 鈥榊eah, coach, it was 10 years ago. We love you, man. We鈥檝e got your back.鈥欌��
Gruden insisted Sunday that he wasn鈥檛 racist, revealed he was sickened by the controversy he鈥檇 created and again apologized to Smith.
鈥淏ut I feel good about who I am and what I鈥檝e done my entire life,鈥� Gruden stressed, adding he hadn鈥檛 been contacted by the NFL about his racist remark but 鈥渨e鈥檒l see what happens here in the next few days.鈥�
What happened was another bombshell: The New York Times reported late Monday that Gruden鈥檚 transgressions weren鈥檛 limited to a single racist comment but that he frequently used misogynistic and homophobic language directed at Commissioner Roger Goodell and others in the league.
A league source confirmed the accuracy of the emails and said they were sent to the Raiders last week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the league hasn鈥檛 made the emails public.
The report, which came out during the 鈥淢onday Night Football鈥� telecast where Gruden burnished his chops as an NFL icon between coaching stints, showed Gruden denouncing the drafting of a gay player and the tolerance of players protesting racial injustice and police misconduct during the playing of the national anthem.
The emails also reveal him using a gay slur to insult Goodell and saying the commissioner shouldn鈥檛 have pressured the Rams to draft 鈥渜ueers,鈥� a reference to Michael Sam, who was the first openly gay player drafted by an NFL team.
Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out as gay in June and is the first openly gay player to appear in an NFL game.
In a 2017 email, the Times said Gruden responded to a sexist meme of a female official by saying: 鈥淣ice job roger.鈥� The paper also said Gruden criticized Goodell and the NFL for trying to reduce concussions, said that Eric Reid, a player who had demonstrated during the playing of the national anthem, should be fired, and mocked an article in 2017 about players calling on Goodell to support their efforts promoting racial equality and criminal justice reform.
It鈥檚 long been part of the job description for NFL head coaches to manage the fallout when a player says or does something stupid. Inevitably, a boneheaded decision off the field will create waves, headlines and maybe even the dreaded distraction for a team.
That makes crisis management as much a part of the head coach鈥檚 duties as creating game plans for the upcoming opponent.
Thanks to Gruden and Urban Meyer, those roles have been reversed in 2021.
The winless Jacksonville Jaguars had to come to Meyer鈥檚 defense after their gaffe-prone rookie head coach skipped their flight home from Cincinnati earlier this month and was captured on camera partying like a college kid with embarrassing video clips quickly spreading on social media.
That led Meyer to apologize on three consecutive days for his 鈥渋nexcusable鈥� behavior at an Ohio bar two weekends ago. He said several veteran players expressed their support as he tries to make amends: 鈥淚 had at least eight to 10 phone calls where they called me and they were over-the-top supportive and said, 鈥榃e got you, man. Move forward.鈥� A common thing was, 鈥楥oach, we all did stupid things.鈥欌��
Meyer鈥檚 mess pales in comparison to Gruden鈥檚 imbroglio, which erupted into a split with the Raiders 24 hours after his players vouched for their head coach.
While Meyer, an NFL newcomer, hasn鈥檛 received much in the way of public support from former pro players and coaches, several people lined up in support of Gruden with endorsements that came well before the the scope of his misdeeds was revealed.
NBC analyst Tony Dungy said he鈥檇 never heard of an NFL head coach skipping out on the flight home with his team like Meyer did. For Gruden, he offered harsh words but also grace.
鈥淲hat Jon Gruden did in that email: definitely insensitive, definitely inappropriate, definitely immature. I thought he attacked the character of a man,鈥� Dungy said during the Bills-Chiefs rain delay Sunday night. 鈥淏ut he apologized for it. He said it wasn鈥檛 racially motivated. I have to believe him. This was an incident that was 10 years ago. He apologized and I think we have to accept that apology and move on.鈥�
Instead, the league is moving on without Gruden.
鈥擜rnie Stapleton, The Associated Press
