Jon Gruden Will Be Reinstated Into Bucs’ Ring Of Honor

February 28th, 2025

Jon Gruden will be back — in the Ring of Honor.

A great wrong has been righted.

Last night, it was officially announced that Team Glazer decided to reinstate the winningest coach in Bucs history, Chucky, the man who got the Bucs their first Super Bowl win, back into the coveted team’s Ring of Honor.

Well done, Team Glazer. Well done!

Chucky was in the Ring of Honor but his name was unceremoniously removed after personal, vile if not grossly insensitive emails from Chucky were leaked. Some allegedly were directed toward Team Glazer.

The emails were typed many years ago when Chucky was an ESPN analyst on “Monday Night Football” and not coaching.

Joe really had a problem with the decision to remove Chucky’s name from the Ring of Honor. Were his emails despicable? Absolutely! But Joe is very much against attempts at whitewashing history.

And in Joe’s mind, removing Chucky’s name from the Ring of Honor was an attempt to rewrite Bucs history. Like it was an attempt to pretend Chucky never worked for the Bucs, as if his coaching didn’t finally push the Bucs over the hump to win the team’s first Super Bowl.

Joe is a history nut and treasures history. Joe believes all history, no matter how distasteful, needs to be remembered.

Rather than lazily try to cancel Chucky, Joe thought then and thinks now that those awful emails should be used as a teaching and learning tool.

Canceling Chucky did nothing more than try to sweep an issue under a rug. How can we ever advance as a sophisticated society if we don’t learn from mistakes?

Former St. Louis Cardinals play-by-play man Jack Buck once said when Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris’ then-season record of 60 home runs in 1998, “Pardon me for a moment while I stand to applaud.”

So pardon Joe for a moment as he applauds Team Glazer for doing the right thing and reinstating Chucky into the Bucs’ hallowed Ring of Honor.

23 Responses to “Jon Gruden Will Be Reinstated Into Bucs’ Ring Of Honor”

  1. Rod Munch Says:

    HOW DARE THEY UNCANCEL SOMEONE WHO TOLD OFF-COLOR JOKES IN PRIVATE! I’M GOING TO BOYCOTT!!!! WHO’S WITH ME!!!

  2. Tim Says:

    About time.

  3. dbbcpa Says:

    I agree, a wrong was righted. Well done Glazer family. One shows their character when they realize maybe they had a misstep and then extended an olive branch to the party that offended them. It is not east to do. If more people did this the world would be a better place.

  4. dbbcpa Says:

    Easy not east.

  5. David Says:

    AWESOME!!!

    The left wing woke PC cancel culture is over. No one gives a crap what you said in private last week or 10 years ago. No one gives a crap what you say in public because… Free speech.
    America being made great again!

  6. kaimaru Says:

    Good for Gruden

  7. Buccaneer Bonzai Says:

    Personally, I felt the entire situation had been blown out of proportion. They were emails from his past distant past.

    Woke had nothing to do with it though. Media did.

    I never cared for Gruden’s language or behavior toward players, but removing him from the RoH was wrong.

  8. garro Says:

    Gruden was betrayed and set up. All concerned have stated that those Emails were not what Gruden was about. All of the “victims” out there these days forced the Glazers hand. A shame…
    Welcome home Jon!
    Go Bucs!

  9. 1sparkybuc Says:

    Gruden lied to his players, was a great OC, far from the greatest HC, not an honorable man, but should not have been removed from the ROH. Great at using players other people coached. Sucked at developing his own players. He was the brains to get the team over the hump. Monte Kiffin was the heart. I was happy when the Bucs hired him, and happy when they fired him. He has his place in Buccaneer history. Please keep it that way.

  10. Hodad Says:

    Chucky was put in a timeout. He wasn’t allowed to be in the ring of honor till he ate all his vegetables. He’s all grown up now, and a much better person. Good to have him back.

  11. Defense Rules Says:

    1 sparkybuc … ‘Gruden lied to his players, was a great OC, far from the greatest HC, not an honorable man, but should not have been removed from the ROH.’

    Lots of JBFers over the years have shared that opinion that Chucky was a great OC. I don’t see why; he was dual-hatted while here and the performance of our offense was never all that great.

    o 2002 (12-4): Offense ranked #18 (345 pts – 21.6 PPG)
    o 2003 (7-9): Offense ranked #18 (301 pts – 18.8 PPG)
    o 2004 (5-11): Offense ranked #23 (304 pts – 19.0 PPG)
    o 2005 (11-5): Offense ranked #20 (300 pts – 18.8 PPG)
    o 2006 (4-12): Offense ranked #31 (211 pts – 13.2 PPG)
    o 2007 (9-7): Offense ranked #18 (334 pts – 20.9 PPG)
    o 2008 (9-7): Offense ranked #19 (361 pts – 22.6 PPG)

    That’s an average ranking over 7 years of #21, based on an average Points Scored of 308 Points (19.3 PPG).

    Chucky’s saving grace is that he had Monte Kiffin as his DC the entire 7 years he was our HC/OC, and our defense those years was always one of the best in the NFL.

    Other than us not sharing the belief that Chucky was a great OC, I agree with the rest of what you wrote Sparky. The price we paid in trading for him … Tampa Bay’s 2002 and 2003 first-round draft picks, 2002 and 2004 second-round draft picks, and $8 mil … was absolutely ludicrous, and it screwed our team for many years. No NFL team can give up that many high picks and expect to compete well.

  12. Bring back the lawn chairs Says:

    Bully for the glaziers for righting a wrong. A takes a big man to do that.
    Even if it stings.
    I’d still like to see chucky get another shot in the nfl personally. He added character. For better or for worse.

  13. Buccaneric Says:

    Disagree with your headline. What chucky did was wrong. He’s a d@@(#=.

  14. nick houllis Says:

    Hey David, please keep politics out of sports, but if you must, canceling NFL because of the anthem, canceling bud light, Both sides cancel because canceling is an OLD thing, not a new one. it just never had the name canceling.

  15. darengibo Says:

    Love that photo of Gruden! It’s like the Lombardi is a burning torch! 🔥 🏆

  16. OHBucFan Says:

    Gruden is the poster boy for right place/right time and for wrong place/wrong time.
    Jon got to coach a well developed team that Dungy and Kiffin built. He had to get there of course but once he got to the SB, his new team faced his old team that still ran his offense. Players still had to play but what an advantage. Right place, right time.
    Then the idiot puts his vile thoughts in writing instead of picking up the phone and saying his garbage. Locker room talk that bit him where it hurt the most, taking away his first love. Wrong place, wrong time.
    All in, his game day skill set is great. His team averaged a whopping 10 minutes advantage in time of possession. I’d argue that stat has far more value than total points in a season. Add to that a scoring defense and the job is to control the clock, not rack up yards and points.
    Developing teams as a whole? Not so much. His second stint with the Raiders was mired in mediocrity because the right players weren’t being drafted and who they got weren’t being developed.

  17. Smashsquatch Says:

    Right move

  18. ModHairKen Says:

    Thank you Glazer family for doing what is right. This proves that people can learn from their mistakes. And I’m not talking about Gruden. He has a right to have private conversations.

    I’m talking about the wokeism that led to Coach Gruden being removed.

    Now maybe the media and others can do the same and let him Coach or Commentate again.

    Congratulations, Coach Gruden. Still the most thrilling season in my opinion.

  19. Adam’s Angry Says:

    That might’ve been the dumbest thing the Glazer’s have ever done since they re-signed Michael Clayton.

  20. ChiBuc Says:

    his game day skill set is great. His team averaged a whopping 10 minutes advantage in time of possession.

    Again, that stat is more indicative of Kiffin and that awesome defenses contributions. Ok, and Alstott, but Gruden never impressed me as a QB whisper. When it came to QBs he was like an alcoholic in a liquor store. He liked them all,and seemed to be on a perpetual manic QB bender.

    Regardless of the artist, you can still appreciate the art

  21. Tampa2ATL Says:

    Jon Gruden is a hometown hero who brought the (first) ultimate victory to The T. I love the guy and he will never have to pay for drinks anyplace in which I am also present. Chuckie is part of Buccaneers lore now and forever. Cheers to this news!

  22. SteveK Says:

    🇺🇸 🏈 👍

  23. AKicknTheBucNuts Says:

    Could this be the first step in becoming the Bucs coach next year?

 

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