Former Washington head coach Jay Gruden spent over five seasons as head coach of the Washington Football Team. Gruden was hired in Jan. 2014 and remained Washington’s coach until Oct. 7, 2019, when he was fired after starting the season 0-5.
Gruden is also the brother of Jon Gruden, who resigned as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday after derogatory emails from his past were revealed. The emails in question were exchanged with former Washington team president Bruce Allen. Allen was fired after the 2019 season after 10 years in the organization.
On Tuesday, Jay Gruden joined Chris Russell and Pete Medhurst of The Team 980 and discussed his brother’s situation:
Jay Gruden was questioned on his relationship with Allen while in Washington and said the two mostly got along, despite the normal disagreements between the coach and front office. But Gruden said he mostly stuck to football and wasn’t privy to many things outside of his coaching staff and players.
“No, I tried to stay in my lane as far as football coaching is concerned,” he said. “I know they had the total say over everything. But I wanted to stay in my lane as far as football is concerned and try to do the best I can in that regard and try to make the team better.”
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Gruden’s interview was when Russell asked if Beth Wilkinson interviewed him during her probe of Washington’s toxic workplace culture.
Gruden said he wasn’t.
“No, I haven’t been questioned, so I don’t even know what the heck is really going on,” Jay Gruden said. “Once I was let go out there, I was let go, and I just kind of backed away quietly.”
That’s indeed interesting.
Gruden spent almost six years in the same building as Allen and owner Dan Snyder, yet was not questioned one time during the NFL’s investigation that lasted around one year?
The NFLPA recently requested that all of the emails be released, but the NFL has declined at this time. It remains to be seen if that changes anytime soon.