The "Jon Gruden to college?" rumors are beginning early this year

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October 15, 2009

You know those "Pete Carroll to the NFL" rumors that start floating around when pro jobs begin to open up every December? Maybe we’ve finally found their counterpart in the persistent speculation that some down-on-its-luck program somewhere is chomping at the bit to bring former Super Bowl winner and fledgling broadcast booth foil Jon Gruden back to campus. In January, the hot rumor was Notre Dame, where Gruden grew up as the son of an Irish assistant; the latest round of speculation concerns a slightly less prestigious position on the other side of the Ohio River:

The University of Louisville has pegged Jon Gruden as its No. 1 candidate should the school decide to fire coach Steve Kragthorpe, sources told NFL Network’s Michael Lombardi.

Louisville, two-and-a-half years removed from its last bowl bid (in the Orange Bowl, as Big East champion), is currently sitting at 2-3 with the meat of the conference schedule still in front of it; the Cardinals were 30 seconds from their fourth straight loss last week before hitting the game-winning field goal against Southern Miss, two days after school officials had to shoot down a rumor that it had already asked Kragthorpe to resign. So "should the school decide to fire Steve Kragthorpe" is already on the verge of "when the school decides to fire Steve Kragthorpe," and beleaguered ‘Villians are twitching with delight at the mention of Gruden’s name.

But speculating on Kragthorpe’s eventual fate is the easy part — it’s been the easy part since the heavily-favored Cards gave up 465 yards and 38 points in a home loss to hopeless Syracuse in Krags’ fourth game in 2007, after giving up 42 to Middle Tennessee and 40 to Kentucky in his first two games against I-A competition. No, the hard part for the rumormongers is convincing anyone that Gruden would ever be willing to a) Leave a cushy Monday Night gig, b) Pass up a chance at the Notre Dame job if Charlie Weis looks like he may be canned, or c) Would want to come to Louisville even if MNF, ND, NFL, UNICEF and all other acronyms were out of reach. Other than timing, transparent sourcing and plausibility, then, this is a very fine rumor.

But if you’re really in the market, Cards, you know where to find Phil Fulmer. He’s perfectly happy working on his miniatures, of course — Tee Martin is almost finished, and then he’ll start on Anthony Muñoz — but, you know, he’s willing to listen.