Jon Gruden to Florida? Jacksonville radio host floats possibility of Gators’ next hire
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Jon Gruden said a month ago that he’d “die to coach in the SEC.”
Those were his own words about the SEC, and now those words have been transferred to speculation about him being the next head coach at Florida. Now, mind you, Florida has a head coach right now in Billy Napier, but the rumors are rampant again regarding Napier’s job security after the Gators were stunned by South Florida at home last Saturday night.
Suddenly, the good feelings that Napier had going to end last season and through the offseason have disappeared with that loss, and Gruden is being talked about as a potential replacement should Napier be let go in Gainesville.
That Gruden-to-UF speculation comes from Frank Frangie, who is a sports radio host in Jacksonville and also the radio play-by-play voice of the Jacksonville Jaguars. On Tuesday, Frangie said he believes that Gruden would be a candidate to be the next head coach at Florida and that he thinks there will be a conversation between Gruden and UF in the near future — or whenever Napier is not the head coach anymore.
“If Billy Napier gets fired, and I think he’s going to, Jon Gruden will be in play for that job,” Frangie said Tuesday. “Doesn’t mean he’ll get it … I think Jon Gruden has had conversations in the past with people who care about Florida’s interest.”
Here is the full clip of Frangie speculating about Gruden eventually heading to Gainesville:
For now, Florida has another game to play this Saturday night at No. 3 LSU, where Napier will try to get his team to bounce back from the Week 2 loss. The Gators and Tigers will kick it off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
