Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden was shocked Tuesday to learn that his decision to stay in Tampa with his coaching staff on Monday had been construed as controversial in some corners.
He was even more surprised to learn that Oakland coach Bill Callahan’s decision to do the same had been interpreted as gamesmanship.
“That’s not gamesmanship,” Gruden said. “We played the Philadelphia Eagles. We didn’t get home in our beds until 3 a.m. Monday. To wake up and come into the office and get on a plane at 12 and fly six hours to San Diego I didn’t feel gave our coaching staff, me included, any opportunity to preview the Raiders at all.”
Though it was reported that a head coach never has missed the kickoff news conference the Monday of Super Bowl week, logistics are more difficult when playing the Super Bowl the week after the conference championships.
“We needed a day,” Gruden said. “We communicated with the league office. They, in turn, communicated with Bill and his staff. We needed to get some sleep and have an opportunity to look at the projectors and study some tape.”
Different strokes
Gruden was once part of a Green Bay Packers staff that included Bears coach Dick Jauron and Philadelphia coach Andy Reid in the early ’90s. It would seem unlikely the manic Gruden would have much in common with the more sedate Jauron, but Gruden said Tuesday that wasn’t the case.
“Opposites attract,” Gruden said. “We used to sit next to each other every day for three years in Green Bay, and Dick listened to classical music, I listened to AC/DC. Dick and I are exact opposites, but he is so smart. Anybody who comes from Yale, anybody who can express football the way he does, I learned a great deal from him, and he’s a great man, a family man also, which helped me too.”
Diplomacy 101
Gruden, apparently in a particularly generous mood, said he also learned from his former employer, Raiders owner Al Davis.
“I learned a lot,” the former Oakland coach said. “What I learned from him, No. 1, it’s no secret why he has dominated and been a world champion in this business. He loves it, the guy is absolutely all over football–personnel, strategy, moves, ways to improve.
“He’s on the cutting edge, and that’s one of the things that never will be forgotten. He is all over the Oakland Raiders all the time, and that’s something that separates that organization.”
What if . . .
Bucs receiver Keyshawn Johnson might have played under Gruden years earlier if one of his wishes had come true.
“I actually tried to get traded to the Raiders,” said Johnson, who grew up as a Raiders fan. “Before being drafted by New York, I wanted to be with the Raiders. My love for the Raiders was there, I didn’t care who the coach was.
“Even after the trade [from the Jets to] Tampa Bay, that was one of the first phone calls we got after we got permission to seek the trade, to see if the Raiders would be interested. I don’t think they had enough ammunition to get it done.”
Only in America
The most notable–or notorious?–media “personality” working media day? A Don King impersonator, complete with the shocked-straight hair and massive stogie, bellowing at interview subjects.
When Not-Don-King began haranguing Warren Sapp, the Tampa Bay defensive tackle simply leaned forward to the microphone and said, “Security.”
