Gruden Right Fit for Tuskers

by Fran Stuchbury
Published on February 10, 2010 under United Football League (UFL 1)
Florida Tuskers


The hiring of Jay Gruden as the Florida Tuskers' head coach is an outstanding move.

Everywhere Jay Gruden goes, he wins. He won four ArenaBowl titles as the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League. In 1999, he was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame. In his nine seasons coaching the Orlando Predators, he was 82-54 and won two ArenaBowl championships.

From 2002-08, he served as an offensive assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and learned a great deal from his brother Jon, who was the head coach of the team. The Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVII on January 26, 2003 with a 48-21 victory over the Oakland Raiders.

Last season, Gruden was the offensive coordinator of the Florida Tuskers. During the regular season, they led the UFL in scoring, averaging 30 points per game. Gruden did a great job calling plays that spread the football around to many different players, and the team went undefeated at 6-0 before faltering in overtime of the UFL Championship game.

If Brooks Bollinger comes back as the team's quarterback, the Tuskers will be considered favorites to get back to the UFL championship, and this time, win it. Also, I would not be surprised if UFL Director of Player Personnel Bret Munsey ends up working for the Tuskers this season, since Munsey worked with Gruden when Gruden was the head coach of the Orlando Predators.

Several Florida Tuskers players were on record as wanting Jay Gruden to be named the new head coach.

Further, it was a smart move from the Tuskers to hire within on a team that was successful last season. Jay Gruden certainly seems to be the right man for the job.

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