Jon D. Gruden (born August 17, 1963 in Sandusky,
Ohio) is the current head coach of the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers of the NFL. Prior to taking over as coach
of Tampa Bay, he was the head coach of the Oakland
Raiders for 4 years. The Buccaneers won Super Bowl
XXXVII in the team's first year under Gruden's
tenure, making him the youngest head coach to win a
Super Bowl. Gruden has also won games with 12
different quarterbacks, more than any currently
active head coach.
Gruden attended Clay High School in South Bend,
Indiana, where his father Jim Gruden served as an
assistant to Dan Devine at the University of Notre
Dame. Feeling he would not have a chance to play for
the Fighting Irish, Jon Gruden choose not to attend
Notre Dame – where he would have received free
tuition as a coach's child – but Muskingum College
in New Concord, Ohio. After just one year he
transferred to the University of Dayton, where he
was a back-up quarterback under coach Mike Kelly
from 1982-84.
After graduating with a degree in communications,
Gruden started his coaching career as a graduate
assistant at the University of Tennessee during the
1986 season. He found his way as the quarterbacks
coach at Southeast Missouri State for two years. He
then made a smooth transition to University of
Pacific in 1989 as offensive assistant. He became
the wide-receivers coach for the University of
Pittsburgh in 1991.
