Santa Fe New Mexican

Source says Raiders planning to announce Gruden hiring Tuesday

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ALAMEDA, Calif. — The Oakland Raiders never really recovered from the decision to trade Jon Gruden to Tampa Bay 16 years ago.

There was a Super Bowl trip the following season when Oakland lost to Gruden’s Buccaneers and another playoff appearance in 2016 under Jack Del Rio that garnered little optimism because quarterbac­k Derek Carr was injured.

But there has been mostly a run of losing seasons under nine coaches as only the Cleveland Browns had lost more games during Gruden’s 16-year absence than the Raiders.

Owner Mark Davis hopes that will all change now that he has finally lured Gruden back for a second stint as the team’s coach.

A person with knowledge of the team’s plans said the Raiders are planning a news conference Tuesday to announce that Gruden is leaving the broadcast booth to come back to coaching. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Friday because the team has made no formal announceme­nt.

The Raiders fired Del Rio following a disappoint­ing six-win season and talk immediatel­y turned to Gruden, who has been out of coaching since being fired by Tampa Bay following the 2008 season. Gruden has spent the past nine years as the lead analyst for ESPN’s Monday Night Football telecast. He is scheduled to work his final game Saturday in Kansas City when the Chiefs take on the Tennessee Titans in a playoff game.

Then after that he will head to Oakland with the task of resurrecti­ng Carr after a down year and getting the Raiders back to the postseason.

 ??  ?? Jon Gruden
Jon Gruden

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