The Oakland Raiders officially announced the hiring of Jon Gruden as their next coach Saturday night, The East Bay Times reported.
The Raiders announced the hiring of Gruden in a news release shortly after he finished calling the Chiefs-Titans playoff game for ESPN on Saturday afternoon. The team called a news conference for Tuesday afternoon to introduce Gruden, who coached the Raiders from 1998 to 2001.
Gruden’s 10-year, $100 million contract is the richest in NFL coaching history and matches Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson (both with the Cowboys) for the longest, the Times reported.
Gruden began his head-coaching career in Oakland 20 years ago Monday, leading the Raiders for four seasons before spending seven as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ head coach. He is the second-youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl in NFL history, winning a ring at age 39 in his first season with Tampa Bay.
He hasn’t coached in the NFL since leading the Buccaneers in 2008.
Gruden will replace Jack Del Rio, who went 25-23 in three seasons with the franchise.
Gruden's return to coaching ends his nine-year stint with ESPN.
"It's an emotional and bittersweet day for our ‘Monday Night Football’ family, as today we say goodbye to coach Gruden after nine very distinguished years coaching this ‘Monday Night Football’ group," ESPN analyst Sean McDonough said at the beginning of Saturday's game.
