Disclaimer: The words below could range anywhere from 100 percent false to 100 percent true. Saturday Down South is NOT reporting these rumors as fact, just simply relaying what a crazy (or maybe not so crazy?) fan is hearing: 

The wonderful world of Tennessee message boards has been providing entertainment for college football fans since the beginning of time, which was maybe somewhere between 2005 and 2008.

From the firing of the legendary Phillip Fulmer, to the hiring and middle-of-the-night departure of Lane Kiffin, to the dumpster fire that was Derek Dooley and his orange pants, to the now-tired and cliche-ridden Butch Jones … it has been fun.

Practice fights, GRUMORS, coaches driving under the influence, coaches driving under the influence with sorority girls, corruption — you name it — the list goes on and on. Most of the message board chatter is eventually proven false (when necessary), but every now and again, it has merit.

The paraphrased/shortened statements below insinuate that Jon Gruden is, without a doubt, coming to Knoxville to be the head coach of the Volunteers. They come from this Tennessee Reddit page. Take them with a grain of salt, or however you wish:

Take it as you will, but multiple insiders on Vol Nation and now Volquest are murmuring that Gruden looks like a very real possibility. Apparently Gruden had a dinner Friday with important people, in which Tennessee essentially asked him to name his price. The idea is that the search team, from the Neyland Foundation to Manning and Fulmer, have admitted to Gruden they messed up in 2012 and are not pursuing other options until he either says yes or no.

A Gruden HC/ Jim Bob Cooter OC with JBC inheriting the gig once Gruden leaves no longer seems like a pipe dream. [Insiders] have stated that Gruden has already started looking for assistants. I’d link the relevant forums but this all came to me through a conversation with a friend in the admin office and my brother, who is a Tennessee forum addict. Just relaying the info I’ve received.

One of the posters who heard Gruden is putting feelers out to possible staff members shared the following statements, according to the original poster:

Here are the facts I have heard. If anything is more than 3 degrees from the source, I won’t believe it. So everything comes from an agent in the game told to a 1st Degree to a 2nd Degree to me/us. Others on here are gathering most of the intel:

-Currie is obsessed with hiring Gruden. He is going to do things differently than Mike Hamilton or Dave Hart, so don’t expect as much UT AD sourced info this go around.

-Fulmer was hired to “fund raise.” In this case, “fund raise” means be the behind the scenes agent for the AD to lay groundwork for new coach if Butch tanked this year. Butch tanked. He and Peyton will help with legwork until it’s time for Currie to do his thing. Fulmer loves UT, and he will do whatever he needs to for UT, including burying beef with Currie.

-Gruden is THE candidate at this time. All eggs are being thrown into the “Grusket.”

-Gruden had planned to be here this weekend for a while. He told others it was to buy his son a property to finish out his UT career. He’s already a junior, so buy a property for 18 months’ use? Maybe, maybe not.

-Friend’s uncle is a real estate agent who is tight with the agent the Grudens use. They’ve been looking for a while for area home because Cindy [wife of Gruden] knows her parents are getting older, and she wants somewhere to go to be close to them. Yes, they also own Jeff County land. There is some intel that properties they looked at are too expensive for a college junior to live in, and an offer may be in the works.

-Friend knows Cindy’s college roommate, and she said things this weekend that led people to believe that Cindy has some excitement about “spending more time in East Tennessee in the near future.”

The poster also mentions a plane in the area that went back and forth from Nashville to Knoxville, among other Grumors.

“I’m prepared to be called stupid, a troll, an idiot, a loser, gullible, whatever else some may want to throw out,” he finished by saying. “I know it was close last time though … I’m not attempting to play myself as a fool again and be ‘that guy with the Grumors.’

“Take it for what it’s worth, but I just want to share what I have heard from trustworthy people who don’t live to troll. We ain’t got time for that!”