Joe is on the record saying Chucky is considering the offensive coordinator job on his son's high school team

Joe wants to be first to say there’s a good chance Chucky will be coaching in Tampa this year.

That would be high school ball at Carrollwood Day School, where his son Jon “Deuce” Gruden, Jr. is on the team. 

No doubt Chucky will return to the NFL one day. But surely the 2009 season is all wrong for him. First, there are very few openings left, and Chucky may not want to risk a payday.

Yes, the Glazer Boys are on the hook for Chucky’s fat annual salary, and if he goes to a new NFL team the Glazers have to pay the difference between Chucky’s new salary and what he earned with the Bucs.

But if another team pays Gruden less than his current salary, the Glazers could always refuse to pay and challenge the contract by saying the new team is not paying fair market value for Gruden.

Would anyone be shocked if the Glazers did that and tied up Gruden’s money in court? This could keep money from Chucky and cost him interest on seven figures and legal fees, etc. 

Back to the high school theory, Chucky is a regular at his kid’s high school games.

The Orlando Sentinel even wrote a huge spread in the fall (story no longer archived) about Chucky being a fixture at all the Friday night games.  He even took Joey Galloway to a game. (Rumor is Galloway was on a leash carrying a water bowl and Milk Bones.)

Chucky’s kid, Deuce, plays quarterback, receiver and defensive back. He’s entering his sophomore season. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Gruden to be his son’s quarterbacks coach and call plays for him.

Although it seemed sarcastic, Chucky mentioned coaching high school ball in his only post-firing interview, with ESPN this week.

Carrollwood Day School is a small private school entering the second year of its football program. No pressure. No expectations.

Gruden knows how much taking that job would endear him to the national media. They’d be all over the story, and follow him all through the season. Then he can come back to the NFL in 2010.

Monte Kiffin moved to Tennessee and took a massive pay cut to work with his kid.

Chucky can have the same fun, at the same pay and live in the same house.

Spring practice kicks off in May.