Can Tennessee steal Gruden from ESPN?

If I had a dollar for every time I heard a Tennessee fan say, “Let’s just pay Jon Gruden 7 million dollars,” I would have around 7 million dollars. I can remember thousands of outraged students chanting Jon Gruden outside Gate 21 on that fateful winter night when mattresses burned in the streets and Lane Kiffin miraculously escaped Knoxville alive.

After Saturday’s 13th consecutive loss to a ranked opponent, the cries for bringing Gruden to Tennessee have never been stronger. What would it mean if the Vols could get Gruden? Is it possible? There are a few things to consider regarding this dream hire.

Gruden is the most important man at ESPN.

So to clarify, Jon Gruden is the most valuable asset on the most valuable programming of the “worldwide leader in sports."

Side-note: I guess I'm in the small minority who doesn't think the phrase "I tell you what, this guy for the [insert city and team name here]? He can play! He's a FOOTBALL player!" as broadcast gold.

Vol fans believe ESPN utterly hates Tennessee.

In fairness, this College Gameday commercial from 2002 didn't exactly portray Tennessee in a positive light.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9lsK3fdY9E

The ESPN hate theory dates back decades. I grew up hearing my grandfather talk about how Beano Cook cost Peyton Manning the Heisman Trophy. He knows his stuff too. This is a man who had goal line seats in '59 when the Vols stuffed Billy Cannon on a two point conversion attempt to upset LSU. To this day Cannon swears he got in, but my grandfather says the call was spot on.

What would stealing Gruden from ESPN mean to conspiracy theory Vol fans? Absolutely everything. The only steal that could top this would be getting Saban from Alabama, which is something Satan would never allow to happen.

Can UT afford Jon Gruden?

Hard economic times have fallen in Knoxville. Last year the athletic department announced that it had a $4 million deficit. A Dooley buyout after this season would cost $5 million. Combine that with the buyout of assistant coaches, like Sal Sunseri's $2.4 million contract, and we're talking about a ton of cash. That's just the cost to get rid of the current coaches. Who knows what the total would be after hiring a new staff.

If the stars aligned and Gruden felt like coaching again, he would obviously require a respectable salary. It's not like bringing in some guy with a losing record in the WAC.

We can safely assume Gruden is already under a multi-million dollar contract from ESPN. This would truly be one of Clay's dump-truck hires. Will Tennessee really be willing to dump-the-truck in their current economic situation?