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Before hiring Jon Gruden, Raiders reportedly interviewed Tee Martin for the position
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While Tee Martin may not have been able to secure an interview for Tennessee’s head coaching position, not even from his former coach and current UT AD Phillip Fulmer, the USC co-offensive coordinator did reportedly manage to land an interview for the opening with the Oakland Raiders.
News of Martin’s Oakland interview is being reported by ESPN’s Josina Anderson.
It’s been the world’s worst kept secret over the last few days that the Raiders planned to hire Monday Night Football’s Jon Gruden, a move that will be officially announced Tuesday morning. Due to current NFL rules, teams must interview a minority candidate for all head coaching positions that come available. This rule is known as the Rooney Rule after former Steelers’ owner Dan Rooney.
Considering Oakland is run by Tennessee alum Reggie McKenzie, it makes some sense that Martin would get a call for an interview. How seriously the Raiders were in Martin remains to be seen but receiving an interview by an NFL club certainly won’t hurt the USC coordinator’s rising stock in coaching circles.
Here’s the news Anderson tweeted out this morning:
Just so we close the loop–I was told the 2nd minority candidate the #Raiders interviewed for their head coaching position, before Jon Gruden was hired, was Tee Martin–USCs offensive coordinator/ wide receivers coach.
— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) January 8, 2018
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
