Jon Gruden Resigns As Las Vegas Raiders Coach After More Email Leaks
Jon Gruden and Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis met at the team's training facility minutes ago and the two agreed the coach would resign effective immediately.
"I have resigned as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders," Gruden said in a statement released to various national media outlets, including OutKick. "I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction.
"Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff and fans of Raider Nation. I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone."
The Raiders announced they promoted special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia to interim head coach. Bisaccia will meet with the media at the regularly scheduled team availability on Wednesday, the club said.
The Gruden move has pretty much zero to do with football but rather a trail of emails that have been leaked, most likely by the NFL, to the Wall Street Journal three days ago and the New York Times on Monday.
The latest uncovered emails Gruden sent contained comments in which Gruden referred to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell as a “f—-t” and a “clueless antifootball pussy.”
Gruden also said that Goodell should not have pressured former Rams coach Jeff Fisher to draft “queers,” in reference to Michael Sam, a seventh-round pick of the team in 2014.
The New York Times story came after last week's revelation that Gruden had sent an email containing comments regarding NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith, who is black, as having lips the size of "Michelin tires."
All these emails came into the NFL's possession as part of a toxic workplace culture investigation of the Washington Football Team. The NFL is in possession of 650,000 emails relative to the WFT investigation.
Interestingly, not one email has been leaked about the Washington Football Team or club owner Daniel Snyder -- the original targets of the investigation.
Gruden sent his emails to then-Washington team president Bruce Allen and the one reported by the Journal was sent in 2011.
In it, Gruden also said of Smith: "Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michelin tires.”
The New York Times report also said Gruden, in emails, criticized the hiring of women as referees and also the acceptance of players protesting for racial justice during the national anthem.
The Times said Gruden also exchanged photos of topless women with Allen, including one of WFT's cheerleaders.
Gruden wasn't an employee of the NFL nor the Raiders in 2011.
The NFL recently sent the emails in question to Davis, and the league was awaiting the Raiders owner to take action. That action, which didn't initially include a suspension when Davis saw the first batch of correspondence, was all but sealed when the new revelations came to light.
Gruden took over the Raiders in 2018 when Davis gave Gruden a 10-year contract. Because Gruden resigned, the Raiders are likely not on the hook for the remaining portion of the deal unless the sides agreed otherwise.
The Raiders have a 3-2 record and are tied for second place in the AFC West.
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