Chucky Says His Ring Of Honor Night Convinced Him To Coach Again
January 18th, 2018
Chucky talks about his big decision and what it means to coach in the NFL
Driving home to his Tampa estate after being inducted into the Buccaneers Ring of Honor last month, Jon Gruden, aka Chucky, says that’s when it hit him that he absolutely had to return to the sidelines.
A guest of the PFT PM podcast yesterday, hosted by creator and curator of ProFootballTalk.com Mike Florio, Chucky told a tale of how being around 60 or so of his former players inspired him to take on what he’s been thinking about since Team Glazer fired him a on mid-January Friday in 2009.
“I had my feet in the water. I just had a hard time diving in. And as you know, if you’re going to do this, you gotta be all-in. I mean you gotta be all-in,” Chucky said of why it took him so long to get back into coaching.
“You have to be on a constant mission to acquire knowledge and personnel. ‘What’s a better way of runnin’ the football? What’s a better drill we can run? Who’s the best offensive line coach we can get?’ You have to be on a constant, 365-days-a-year mission. And I wasn’t ready to do that. But it dawned on me that night in Florida. And here I am.”
Whether Chucky is being honest about his timeline is open for much debate, but that doesn’t matter. What did capture Joe’s attention was him talking about the “mission” to improve.
Do the Bucs have the best defensive backs coaches in football? Were the Bucs obsessed with a better way of running the football? Is Dirk Koetter determined to acquire knowledge at all costs?
Fans are happy when they believe their team is all-in, as Chucky would say, doing everything possible to win. A lot of fans don’t feel that way about the Bucs right now.
January 18th, 2018 at 11:05 am
$100million would make me all in too!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!
January 18th, 2018 at 11:07 am
I DON’T FEEL THE GLAZERS ARE IN ON THE BUC’S 110% AND IT HAS SHOWN……….
January 18th, 2018 at 11:15 am
It will be interesting to see what everybody has to say this time next year IF Gruden had his Raiders in the playoffs again and the Bucs are in the NFC South cellar again
January 18th, 2018 at 11:15 am
A ten year guaranteed contract is beyond “all in”.
That’s more like throwing your wedding ring and car title in the pot as well – and sitting there just praying that your 3 of a kind will hold up on the river with straight and flush possibilities already showing…
Good luck with that Mr Davis. Chucky may bring a good measure of “juice” into the building – but my bet is that in 4 or 5 years Mark is gonna be like –
“10 years?? WTF was I thinking???”
January 18th, 2018 at 11:25 am
Kinda like the eight years we have had since we fired him. “What were we thinking”……
Ill be waiting for the excuses when Chucky does extremely well in Oakland.
Being a lifelong student of Tampa Bay sports it can’t really end any way other than he wins the Super Bowl with the Raiders.
January 18th, 2018 at 11:28 am
Chucky does not tell the truth…..simple as that…..
This is pure BS……..
January 18th, 2018 at 11:30 am
I just don’t care
January 18th, 2018 at 11:40 am
Tom Stimus…if you know what I mean Vern….
January 18th, 2018 at 11:41 am
Joe..Your last few sentences here bout sums it all up. Most of us fans do not believe our Bucs are..ALL IN when it comes to creating a sustainable WINNER. Not just a season Winner. But a franchise Winner. You simply don’t feel it nor see it. I have not even seen what the Bucs will draft yet..I’m predicting an 8-8 next season. And that might even be a stretch.
January 18th, 2018 at 11:48 am
Joe I love the site but just a suggestion. Lets move on he is someone else’s coach and this team is crappy enough without our face being rubbed in it everyday with a article about us not getting a coach that our owners clearly wanted. Lets all just focus on how bad we are going to be next year, that sounds like every comment on every thread on this site.
January 18th, 2018 at 12:18 pm
I think that’s just the problem we need to change our attitudes as fans as well. I’m sure you have all heard about the power of positive thinking. I was doing my end of the year reviews with my team and that was my message to them was that you can’t continue to dwell on the past and instead see the positives towards today and the future. You have to trust in your leaders that they are always working on what’s best for the team and for the teams success. Yes we fail sometimes, but we dust ourselves off, hit the drawing board and keep marching on to be the best. But to be a successful team you have to have buy in by all involved. So it starts with us as well. It all starts with believing!! Go Bucs! Let’s get the power of positivity aura on our side and WIN baby!!
January 18th, 2018 at 12:20 pm
BrianBucs Says:
January 18th, 2018 at 11:15 am
It will be interesting to see what everybody has to say this time next year IF Gruden had his Raiders in the playoffs again and the Bucs are in the NFC South cellar again
I totally agree with you Brian, but you mean “when” not “if” Jon has the Raiders in the playoffs and our sorry ass Bucs are in the NFC South cellar. Can’t wait to see Jon rub the Glazers collective faces in it!
January 18th, 2018 at 12:31 pm
Will be interesting how he will coach now after the newest CBA , it will be a shock to him and new rules since he was here.
But the fact is he picked up ALOT of coaching tips from the time in the booth . . . Just thinking he will need one yr to adjust , but with the right DC he will be winning again
January 18th, 2018 at 12:33 pm
AlteredEgo Says:
“Tom Stimus…if you know what I mean Vern…”
So true Ego!
January 18th, 2018 at 12:40 pm
Tom Edrington Says:
January 18th, 2018 at 11:28 am
Chucky does not tell the truth…..simple as that…..
This is pure BS……..
Right because Jon’s the only coach in the NFL that doesn’t tell the truth. Who gives a sh!t whether this is true or not. I mean the ass clowns Licht and Koetter have been so honest about everything happening with this team. Have we heard the real reason why Doug Martin continued to start when he clearly sucks? They’ll never be honest enough and tell us that they continued to play him because they signed him to that ridiculous contract and had to try to do anything to justify and prove they were right. Dude I don’t know what your issue is with Jon, but you have to let that sh!t go. He’s the ONLY COACH ever to bring a championship to this sorry ass franchise. Let’s not loose sight of the point of this article…….to do everything possible to be all in to win and this joke of a franchise is NOT all in. They’re not even half way in. Status quo losing, that’s what they’re all in for.
January 18th, 2018 at 1:09 pm
We call it coach talk. Yeah, we all know better. Who cares?
January 18th, 2018 at 1:22 pm
After the Super Bowl year Chucky won less than 50% of his games!!!
He put up two years of 5-11 and 4-12!!! Mike Tomlin’s career record makes Chucky look like a total amateur.
I’m not sure why some of you guys think Chucky can walk on water. His record with the Bucs after the SB was LOSING!!! He was at 47%!!!
Dirk Koetter’s record after two years is 44%. Do you guys consider that a MAJOR difference?
Oakland/LV better hope he can take Oaklands talented defense and franchise QB to the playoffs ASAP….because after three years he might trash that team if the Bucs performance is any indication.
Let’s be fair…he did turn around his OWN losing ways finishing with 9-7 seasons his final two years. And for that you’re going to jump up and down? You guys are making me go all TMAX here if you going to call mediocrity great.
January 18th, 2018 at 1:25 pm
Mark Davis has always had and incedible “man crush” on Gruden…to the point of obsession. Ten million a year is a ton…having said that..the Bucs of late have paid Vincent Jackson 9 million not to play/as a final season severance, JR Sweezey 8 million or so to rehab an entire year ( and I almost forgot Revis a million per game to rehab his knee…and a high draft pick ) Doug Martin 7-8 million this year to detox/fall forward for 2.9 yards per…it’s a long list. I’m convinced Gruden will forever hold a grudge over the Bros. Glazer…and never would have come back to the Bucs. Trying to go “back to the future” hasn’t worked out cery well…so moving forward. It would be a lot easier if Dick LeBeau came to run the D…the least the Titans can do for taking John Robinson.
January 18th, 2018 at 1:30 pm
Classic case of the Glazers being cheap. Gruden would have taken JW to the stars and resurrected the 2nd worst franchise in Professional Sports. I can’t believe the Bucs are sticking with Lovie’s sh itty assistants. Doesn’t make any sense to me.
January 18th, 2018 at 2:14 pm
Glazers – go trade for Tomlin and shut up the Gruden crowd. You know you’re still mad you let Tomlin leave, so make it, go shock the system and throw Dork and Mike a Smith to the unemployment line.
January 18th, 2018 at 2:27 pm
Rod
I do not disagree but find it hard to believe the Steeler would EVER really release Tomlin.
Let’s be honest and I’m a Tomlin fan…but he overlooked the crappy Jags in what should have been an easy win for the Steelers and the fans went ballistic!!! It was one game!
But sooner or later they’ll have to face reality. Yeah it’s been awhile since Tomlin was in the SB but the fact he won one means that he CAN. He put up 13 wins last year and has NEVER had a losing season.
So yeah Rod…if the Bucs could ever get Tomlin I’d be for it.
January 18th, 2018 at 2:30 pm
Can’t wait to see what they do, I’ll be a fan until they move to Las Vegas
January 18th, 2018 at 3:47 pm
Tomlin is over rated. . . Once Big Ben is gone everyone will be able to see it
January 18th, 2018 at 4:08 pm
Sunny
I think Don Shula has the record and I’m old enough to have watched all of his teams to believe he’s the greatest NFL coach ever.
Having said that…he had Dan Marino all those years and how many SB’s did Marino win. I could go farther with plenty of other QB/Coach combos that never won the big one…from Dan Fouts on…
BTW If you had said the Pittsburgh organization gave him enormous advantages I would not disagree. If you said his record wouldn’t be as good had he coached the Bucs all these years I would not disagree. But that does not diminish his coaching ability.
January 18th, 2018 at 4:31 pm
How fickle some of you are. You curse the Glazers for firing coaches every two years, then bitch when a coach gets a 10 year contract. Davis got himself the best head coach available for next season. You rather have McDanials, Koetter, Shurmur over Gruden? Please it’s not even close. Davis wanted the best, he paid the price, and got it.
January 18th, 2018 at 4:41 pm
Rod Munch Says:
January 18th, 2018 at 2:14 pm
Glazers – go trade for Tomlin and shut up the Gruden crowd. You know you’re still mad you let Tomlin leave, so make it, go shock the system and throw Dork and Mike a Smith to the unemployment line.
StPeteBucsFan Says:
January 18th, 2018 at 2:27 pm
Rod
I do not disagree but find it hard to believe the Steeler would EVER really release Tomlin.
Let’s be honest and I’m a Tomlin fan…but he overlooked the crappy Jags in what should have been an easy win for the Steelers and the fans went ballistic!!! It was one game!
But sooner or later they’ll have to face reality. Yeah it’s been awhile since Tomlin was in the SB but the fact he won one means that he CAN. He put up 13 wins last year and has NEVER had a losing season.
So yeah Rod…if the Bucs could ever get Tomlin I’d be for it.
Rod, StPeteBucsFan finally some common ground! lol I completely agree with you guys, I would LOVE to have Mike Tomlin here! And I’m part of the “Gruden Crowd” to boot. All seriousness though, Mike Tomlin would be/ is EXACTLY what this team and franchise needs! An experienced, WINNING, no nonsense, HOLDS PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE, CHAMPIONSHIP, defensive, coach who got his professional start right here as a defensive backs coach. Unfortunately I too don’t see the Steelers letting him go anywhere, and from all the reports I’ve read/heard he’s staying put in the Burg which unequivocally sucks for us!
Oh boy I can’t wait till next season! LOL
January 18th, 2018 at 4:44 pm
Hodad Says:
January 18th, 2018 at 4:31 pm
How fickle some of you are. You curse the Glazers for firing coaches every two years, then bitch when a coach gets a 10 year contract. Davis got himself the best head coach available for next season. You rather have McDanials, Koetter, Shurmur over Gruden? Please it’s not even close. Davis wanted the best, he paid the price, and got it.
And BOOM goes the dynamite!! LOL Out of the park home run assessment!
January 18th, 2018 at 8:18 pm
Why is Joe posting about the Oakland head coach. Let it go and move onward.
January 19th, 2018 at 10:06 am
The tale of 2 Owners
1- Team Glazier (60-70% in)
2- Jeff Vinik (100% in)
Nuff said…
January 19th, 2018 at 11:30 am
sj_bucsfan Says:
January 19th, 2018 at 10:06 am
The tale of 2 Owners
1- Team Glazier (60-70% in)
2- Jeff Vinik (100% in)
Nuff said…
Exactly right!!! Man I wish we had an owner like Vinik with the Bucs. That man is “ALL IN” when it comes to winning and doing whatever it takes to do so. He’s the anti Glazers.