Courtesy MLB.com

(December 28, 2009) Owing to a series of logistical issues, my conversation with Jon Gruden prior to his recent trip to Houston for Monday Night Football never saw the light of day. Here, for what I hope will be your holiday pleasure, are excerpts.

Even though he’s no longer an NFL head coach, Gruden still has a team, and he still has a game plan to prepare each week. These days, though, his charges are the 40 members of ESPN’s production crew.

Just like the days when he was coaching the Raiders or Buccaneers, Gruden, the newest member of ESPN’s broadcast team alongside Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski, assembles his troops, flips on the projector and coaches them up.

“I’m used to preparing game plans and talking to players about their opponent – what we have to do to win, tendencies and strategic elements to get the winning edge,” Gruden said. “I make my own tapes, and when we go to production meetings, they give me 45 minutes to introduce a game plan.

“You’re around a lot of football junkies in this job, and you’re not going to find a bigger football junkie than me.”

Tirico said film sessions with Gruden are informative, inspiring and usually side-splitting.

“He has the room laughing and focused on what we’re looking for in the game and what the storylines will be,” Tirico said. “Much like the other great coaches I’ve been around, nine times out of 10, what he says happens, happens. He is dead on.

“I can see why he was such a good coach. He knows how to set a tone and prepare us for what we will see on the field. I’ve worked with guys who will show a clip or two before a game, but I’ve never seen anything this intense.”

The former Raiders and Bucs head coach came to television with a clearly defined visual and vocal personality, honed in part by his trademark sneer, which earned him the nickname Chucky after the homicidal doll of the Child’s Play horror movies, and in part by his animated coaching style as captured by NFL Films cameras.

Perhaps not since Hank Stram’s days as the gleeful, wise-cracking coach of the Kansas City Chiefs has a coach-turned-broadcaster brought such a clearly defined persona from sideline to broadcast booth.

“Hank and Jon were both, in a sense, performers when they coached,” said Steve Sabol, president of NFL Films. “They were great communicators, and they projected a personality, a commanding presence and a great feeling for the English language, the weight and tone of words.

“When they gave orders or coaching instructions, the words came in very sharp bursts of precisely aimed, almost concentrated fire. It was perfect for television. Jon’s words would ricochet off players like gunfire.”

Both mixed style and substance, Sabol said, in a way that made them irresistible to the camera’s eye.

“When we first miked Jon, we knew that when he completed his tour of duty as a coach he would be great in the broadcast booth,” he said. “Like Hank, he had a bird’s-eye view and a worm’s-eye view of the game. Both had a great tactical overview but could drill down and get in a player’s face about his stance or a specific technique.”

Tirico said Gruden has lived up to his reputation as a focused, intense grinder, even to the point of arranging outings for his Monday night colleagues. The group went bowling in Dallas and in Cleveland toured the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and attended a Cavaliers game.

“He approaches anything in life at full speed, and he is the catalyst for us doing a lot of great things,” Tirico said. “He has just attacked every opportunity with great passion. His video presentation is my favorite 45 minutes of the week.”

As he did with players, Gruden tries to motivate his ESPN colleagues toward top performances.

“I like to give people a hard time, to push them to be great. In return, people give me a hard time also,” he said. “At the same time, I want it to be fun, and I want it to be a great experience, a memorable one.

“Whether you coach or play in the NFL, you have to understand you’re at the highest level, with the best players, the biggest games and the most excited crowd. It’s not guaranteed that you’ll be doing this for very long, so you have to enjoy it and understand the magnitude and the sense of urgency.”

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