Chucky No. 57
June 28th, 2016
“You f@#$%^g right I’ve got power! Why else would Hooters Calendar girls hang on me when my wife’s not around?”
Over at USA Today, the NFL crew there is clearly in the throes of the NFL offseason. They have a list!
Every reputable organization has a list this time of the summer (yes, Joe does, too. More on that in the coming days). In this USA Today list, they have the 100 most powerful people in the NFL. Few are players; most are movers and shakers off the field.
Chucky is at No. 57.
57. Jon Gruden
ESPN Monday Night Football analyst. He makes the list not for his TV work, but because Gruden’s QB Camp has become a “must stop” for top NFL quarterback prospects prior to the last seven drafts.
It’s cool that despite giving up on coaching, Chucky can stay this active and this powerful. Hey, why else would a guy who professes to love the game so much pretend to be a coach by going to his Tampa bunker at 3:30 a.m. each day to break down tape?
Folks in the market for quarterbacks often consult Chucky about prospects, after he has worked them over on his annual made-for-TV, spring mini-series.
June 28th, 2016 at 6:44 am
Say what what you say about Coach Gruden. All I know is that this guy not only took us to the promise land but brought back the trophy. This is an experience that some teams have yet to experience folks!(Cleveland, Detroit) Some experienced it but left with a sour taste in their mouth. (Atlanta once and Carolina twice)
We are one of the few teams to win a Super Bowl the game before the Super Bowl. Remember the SB loses by Buffalo were mostly icing in the cake also. That’s right our REAL Super Bowl was beating Philadelphia while closing down the Veteran Stadium. Oakland was icing in the cake!
The rest of Grudens’ seasons with the Bucs were up and down with coaching that left a bad taste in your mouth. Nevertheless, he gave us a special moment as Buccaneer fans.
Thanks Coach!
June 28th, 2016 at 7:27 am
Jon Gruden is the greatest. I think most long time Bucs fans thought they would be dead before the Bucs won a Super Bowl. Now with Jameis we have reason to hope we may get to see them win another one.
June 28th, 2016 at 7:36 am
No doubt, the most special season in franchise history. I will never For get that amazing season. That was truly special. I am forever grateful for being able to witness that in my time being a Buc fan. I will always have love for chucky. “Love that guy man.” He’s the guy who brought us players like Joe Jurevicius who is one of my fav bucs of all time. He was exactly what the bucs needed at the time to get them over the hill. He added his offensive genius to a legendary defense and challenged them to be even better, and better they did.
It still shocks me to this day that he hasn’t gone back to coaching, it kinda sucks because u know he could make one hell of a coach, and is still better than 75% of the coaches we have now. Ppl might point out all the years after the SB and how he did t fair that we’ll but when u have no 1st or 2nd rnd picks for the next 2 seasons it’s hard for any coach to build a contender. And Ur lying to yourself if u didn’t think that made a difference either. That was 4 REALLY good starters that he lost. But thats what happens when trade your soul 4 a coach. We basically traded away the next decade for that SB. The question is…was it worth Bucs fans?? I’d prob have to say yes.
June 28th, 2016 at 8:00 am
I’m grateful for the SB experience. But we witness his stubbornness there after. As Joe has pointed in the past sitting Joey Galloway was a head scratcher. We already experience and know how far a “Coach My Scheme” could last now a days.
June 28th, 2016 at 8:28 am
If Jon Gruden was the greatest, he would still be coaching the Bucs, Aaron Rogers would be our QB, and SB XXXVII would not have been our last.
June 28th, 2016 at 8:58 am
Every squirrel lands a big cache of nuts every now and then. The Bucs next Super Bowl win will be the greatest ever. There will still be teams who have never won it when the Bucs land another trophy.
June 28th, 2016 at 10:15 am
God Bless Jon Gruden!
June 28th, 2016 at 11:03 am
Gruden came into the right setting at the right time. He only had to add some pieces and his philosophy to the offense. The table had already been..more than set by Dungy. Our Defense was then much further along than it is right now. Gruden walked into a stellar defense.Was Gruden a great coach? probably not. A good coach? Yes indeed.
You see what happened the year following our Superbowl. We collapsed bigtime. I think our Current Bucs Mngt thinks..Koetter has set the table and just needs a Defense. But I believe we are a couple years, perhaps 3 yrs removed from Superbowl contention. And that’s only if we can keep and build a good group together. We are not..ready made yet.
June 28th, 2016 at 11:13 am
Agreed! MJ
But we are on our way…Go Bucs!
June 28th, 2016 at 12:11 pm
“It’s cool that despite giving up on coaching” .. “why else would a guy who professes to love the game so much pretend to be a coach by going to his Tampa bunker at 3:30 a.m. each day to break down tape?”
I don’t understand how someone that professes to love the Bucs and the game of football can be so disrespectful to the greatest coach in Bucs history. Wouldn’t someone that calls people out for not watching the game respect someone that actually does watch the film. If anything, it shows that he has not given up on coaching. quit spewing your idiotic hate. you clearly are uneducated when it comes to the firing of Jon Gruden
June 28th, 2016 at 12:54 pm
(Ahem)
Joe regularly lauds Chucky for winning the Super Bowl and often defends Chucky from the twisted, ill-informed Dungyphiles. And there is no question Chucky should be in the Ring of Honor before Father Dungy.
However, that doesn’t mean Joe is going to swallow everything Chucky says. If he loves coaching as much as he claims, he sure as hell has turned down a lot of NFL and college jobs.
If you are suggesting Joe is somehow “disrespectful” to Chucky, you are shooting arrows at the wrong guy.
The only “idiot” commenting in this thread is the guy who thinks Joe is somehow anti-Chucky.
June 28th, 2016 at 2:13 pm
I can’t stand Chucky on TV the “role” he plays is annoying that being said he is the greatest coach in bucs history. Dungy failed! Gruden came in and cleaned up the mess Dungy left offensively and hoisted the Lombardi. No other coach in bucs history has done that. Kiffin / Dungy built a good defense with Wyche’s players but his offenses were as horrible as Lovie’s defenses. Even the Ravens could win a super bowl with Dilfer. dungy could not do anything offensively. Yes the Dilfer comparison is relavant given the make up of the bucs and ravens at that time. Legend of Dungy has greatly surpassed his actual accomplishments.
June 28th, 2016 at 3:31 pm
tmax nailed it.
June 28th, 2016 at 4:47 pm
Really, i’d take the booth too if
I were him. Less ulcers.
June 28th, 2016 at 5:47 pm
Right now I just want a coach that wins. If that’s Koetter than fine.
If not I’d take either Dungy or Gruden back in a flat hot second.
More so Gruden though in today’s NFL.
June 28th, 2016 at 7:53 pm
Demboyz
Agree completely about the draft picks. It the deal the Glazers had to make to get the Super Bowl but it insured a decade of mediocrity at best….total suckitude at worst.
The lack of the top two draft picks for two years in a row also handicapped Chucky’s never ending search for a true franchise QB. Would have been fun to watch Chucky with a Brady, Manning or Rodgers.
June 29th, 2016 at 4:59 am
Gruden was a great OC. He was not a great evaluator of talent. He passed on Rogers. He also was not great at developing young talent. He worked best with veteran players that other coaches had trained. He failed in the long run because players could not trust him for his word.
June 29th, 2016 at 5:01 am
Great coaches develop a bond with their players. Gruden could not.