The suspense was absolutely killing us. Less than two hours after Jon Gruden called his final game for ESPN, he has officially been named the next head coach of the Oakland Raiders.
The announcement came from the Raiders themselves.
Welcome back, Coach Gruden. Let's get to work.#BackInBlack | #RaiderNation
Release: https://t.co/uVjOyTLMcj pic.twitter.com/9qJqTc0i8g
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) January 7, 2018
“The Oakland Raiders will host a press conference at noon on Tuesday, Jan. 9 to officially introduce Jon Gruden as the new head coach of the Silver and Black,” the team announced via its official website Saturday evening.
This has obviously been in the works for some time now. Even as Jack Del Rio was still cleaning out his office after being fired, it was clear Gruden would replace him as the Raiders’ head coach.
Gruden returns to Oakland on a 10-year, $100 million deal, making him the richest head coach in NFL history. He coached the Raiders from 1998-2001, posting a 38-26 record and leading the team to two playoff appearances in the process.