The Josh Innes Show - Gruden and Jimbo Want To Coach Again

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

Jon Gruden wants in the SEC and I'm all for it. The question is, does he really want it? It sounds good until you actually have the gig and have to go through the grind. Would he be accepted? Jimbo Fisher also wants to coach. I don't see any scenario in which he gets back in the SEC or a power conference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm looking at USA Today, and I see two headlines that are intriguing, back to back, okay? The first one, John Gruden would die to coach in the SEC, followed by Jimbo Fisher is very interested in coaching college football again. Now, those are two interesting people to look at. Let's dissect these things. So right out of the shoot, let's play a couple commercials, and let's dive into it. First, we'll start with John Gruden. after these words.

I would love to see John Gruden in the SEC. I would love to see John Gruden coaching anywhere because John Gruden loves football, right? Guy's got his baggage. Guy has his issues. But if you notice, like, the world seems to have a disdain. Not even the world, but the online world that thinks John Gruden is a racist and a homophobe or whatever the hell they think of John Gruden. They think all these things about him.

But then you see him around other football people, and people love the dude. So take from that what you will. But John Gruden would, quote, die to coach in the SEC as he looks to return to football. With nine teams in the preseason coaches poll, the Southeastern Conference is expected to once again be the crem de la crem of college football. It's a level style and tradition of football that John Gruden appears to have his eyes set on. Speaking in a team meeting setting to the Georgia Bulldogs during their fall camp, the now barstool sports media personality got the groomers. That's a weird

That's weird I don't like that Like I get what you did there G-R-U-M-O-R-S That sounds weird And I know that you know it sounds weird And I don't like that Got the groomers going again

By expressing his continued desire To make a return to the sidelines And specifically in the SEC Quote the only reason I came here Is I want to coach again I'm being honest with you I do not get I do not shit

I do not fuck I do not expletive either. So I'm going to guess it's shit. I do not expletive either. I want to coach again. I die to coach in the SEC. I would love it. I would fucking love it, man. Let's see. While Groon just expressed interest in coaching in the SEC, it's been some time since he last coached in the college ranks. Nearly four decades to be exact, when he served as a wide receiver coach at Pitt. 91. He began his coaching in college football as a graduate assistant at Tennessee in 86, a position he held for two seasons.

he became the passing game coordinator Division 2, Southeast Missouri. I never knew that. I never knew that Grudog coached in Cape Girardo, Missouri for the then-Semo Indians, man. Now the Simo Redhawks, I think. Anywho, dude, Gruden in the SEC would be great. And who cares if he's got baggage? Like, there's baggage with everybody. Hugh Freeze is the coach at Auburn.

The guy had hookers in his phone. Then, like, big religious guy, hookers in his phone, goes to a religious. Lidges College to rehab himself, and now is at Albert. The SEC does not care about your baggage. The SEC does not give a shit about what kind of baggage you come with at all. So I guess my question I would have, though, and look, Gruden just seems to legitimately love to coach. Like, there are some guys that you look at, you don't know how much they love to coach, they enjoy it, it's their job. And I look at that from the standpoint of college versus pro.

because it's like a college co as a pro coach you're more of a CEO type of guy a lot of your position coaches are doing most of the actual coaching you're kind of just you got the headset on your you're saying we're running pass we're going to run here we're going to pass here whatever it is we're going to go forward on fourth down we're going to punt but like your position coaches are the ones doing the coaching if you're a defensive lineman your defensive lineman is who you're with coach is who you're with most of the time your quarterback's coach who you're with most of the time if you're a quarterback right like a lot of guys in the NFL it's a CEO job. There is more coach. It's still a CEO job in college, but it's a, it's less of, there's still more hands-on type stuff because you're still dealing with younger dudes and you're still coaching. Like some guys, you would question how much they'd like to do that, right? Who would want to go from pros to college? Now, we've seen guys do it successfully, obviously, I think most recently you'd look at like Harbaugh. You'd look at Jim Harbaugh and you'd go, all right, he's a good example of a guy that made the transition.

and his was kind of a different arc, of course, from college to pro back to college. But a lot of guys can't – and some guys make the jump from college and go to pro, and they don't like the vibe of it, like Nick Saban. Nick Saban did decent. Like, people think that Nick Saban was a giant Steve Spurrier-like failure or a Lou Holtz-level college-to-pro failure like that, and he wasn't. Like, he wasn't bad as the coach at Miami. He's a great football coach, and he won games there.

It's just a matter of – he didn't enjoy the coaching of pro athletes because it's a different vibe. It's the same reason why Nick Saban got out of coaching now. Nick Saban could still coach and Nick Saban could still kick ass and be very successful. Do you think they would rather have Kalin-Dibor or Nick Saban in Alabama right now? Who do you think has a better chance to win? Nick Saban all day. But Nick Saban didn't want to deal with guys who are now basically becoming pro athletes in the portal and the NIL world.

They didn't want to deal with it. So every coach kind of has a different makeup. When I look at Gruden, I ask myself, could John Gruden, does he seem like the kind of guy that wants to deal with the bullshit that comes along with coaching in college? There's the bullshit now of NIL. There's the bullshit now of dudes transferring constantly. You're dealing with dudes three or four times they'll transfer. You're begging dudes to come. You're trying to find NIL money, which in an SEC school, a big one really isn't a huge issue, but you're trying to find that money.

and then you ask yourself, do you think he wants to deal with all of that bullshit and deal with the coaching of the young guys who are not pro guys or young guys? When you watch Gruden with young dudes, like in the Gruden quarterback camp, when you watch that, you're like, okay, like, I see it. Like, he likes to do that. How much of that is just for show, how much of it because it was a TV show on ESPN or it's online, and how much of that is what he really wants to do? is it just because it's quarterbacks? Like, I don't know. But to me, when I watch Gruden, and maybe I'm easily duped by this, I see a guy who seems to legitimately just enjoy coaching,

and it doesn't matter at what level. I would question whether or not he wants to deal with the bullshit. And there's a lot of bullshit you have to deal with now as a college coach that you didn't have to deal with 10 or 15 years ago, hell even five years ago, that you didn't have to deal with. Now, part of it, now, I guess you could. can argue. If you're a guy who's been at the pro game and you've had to deal with dudes and contract negotiations before, maybe the new NIL world is easier for you. I guess that

could be argued. I don't know that I'd argue that because I still think it's a different world in the way you have to deal with NIL shit versus pro contracts. For me, the hardest thing I'd have to deal with and being a college coach other than the fact that I have no qualifications to do it is I'd see guys who I believe can be great players. who've never done a fucking thing, who own me, basically. I'm being owned by 18-year-old dudes, 17-year-old dudes, who've never done a fucking thing, have barely scratched their ass. And now they're getting millions of dollars to go play college football,

and I have no idea how good they are. And my livelihood depends on whether or not these 18-to-22-year-old dudes are going to go out and show up and show out when I've had to find them millions of dollars in NIL. You know, like what's his day? Underwood, this Price Underwood, who's at Michigan now and left LSU. No one knows if this guy's going to be any fucking good.

And if you told me this year, now maybe not next year or two years, but this year, if my options were Garrett Nussmeyer or Bryce Underwood to be the quarterback at LSU, I would take Garrett Nussmeyer all fucking day. It's not to say that in two years that Bryce Underwood won't be a god, but this guy's getting paid X millions of dollars and has never played college football before. The highest level this dude has played is high school. And that's the part of being a college coach that has to.

to be a pain in the ass, more so than it used to be. It's one thing like, oh, there's Eric Dickerson and Seeley. Let's get his mom a trailer or let's get him a transam and get him here. Now it's working with agents and contract negotiations. It is pro football. Does Grudeau want to deal with that? I don't know. And does somebody want to take a chance?

Like his names floated around forever. Like when there were LSU openings, you heard the name John Gruden. Whether it was viable or not, I don't know. But you heard that. His name will always get mentioned in those settings. So I don't know, but I'd like to see it because I just think it adds to the drama of the league. Put him in a situation like at Mississippi State. For a million dollars, I couldn't name the coach at Mississippi State right now.

Imagine if it was John Gruden. You know when I did know who the coach was at Mississippi State when it was an interesting person like the pirate? When the pirate, Mike Leach, was the coach, we knew who that was. Other than that, I couldn't tell you who this slap dick coach they have now. I guess the guy that came in after the pirate died. no idea who this guy is could not name it for a million dollars could not do it

so you put John Gruden at Mississippi State would he win there I don't fucking know but it'd be fun all right to the next one we see Jimbo Fisher very interested in coaching college football again here's what Jimbo Fisher would have to do because Jimbo Fisher

his arc very fascinating because you go from Florida State where at least you won a national title, but everybody knows you won the national title because of one particular player, right? That's kind of like you're Gene Chiswick. I think you're a better coach than Gene Chisick, but Gene Chisick wins the national championship with Cam Newton, and then Gene Chisick's like fired two years later, right?

Coach O wins the national championship with Joe Burrow and is fired two years later. One player can change the world for you, particularly a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, can change the world for you. Jimbo Fisher had the Heisman Trophy winning quarterback. quarterback at Florida State, and winning that title at Florida State, which is actually limited in terms of resources, which is kind of surprising, but they are. They're not, you know, they're not a Texas A&M as it relates to resources. They're not an LSU or in Alabama or Florida as it relates to resources. So you win there, you run off and go to Texas A&M, where for all

intents and purposes, it was a colossal failure and they had to pay you a lot of money to go way. Jimbo Fisher will not be a coach in the SEC again. The only chance Jimbo Fisher would have would be at like a Mississippi State or a Vanderbilt if Clark Lee decides to leave or something. And they're like, hey, here's Jimbo Fisher, right? I don't even know if Jimbo Fisher would want to coach in like Mississippi State, maybe. But if Jimbo Fisher wants to coach and be a head coach, here's what Jimbo Fisher's going to have to do. Much like Les Miles after getting whacked at LSU had that disastrous. like year and a half or two years at Kansas, that was just awful.

And you knew it was going to fail because you knew that Les Miles wasn't a good coach. And you know that Les Miles won a lot of football games at LSU because he just had more talent than everybody. And he lost a lot of football games because he had more talent. Yet he wasn't a very good coach. You knew that Kansas was going to be a knockdown, stone cold, lead pipe lock of a failure of a situation for Les Miles. You knew it.

There was no debating it. There was no chance it was going to be successful. But I think Jimbo Fisher could go, to me, Jimbo Fisher, if he's going to get another gig, Jimbo would have to coach it like Sam Houston. Although Sam Houston, those kind of jobs are cool for young dudes looking for their first gig, he'd have a chance at like UTSA or Sam Houston or Northwestern State in Nackadish, Louisiana, like something like that or a very lower level of college, like one of the power conferences. Could Jimbo Fisher, like, get a job at UCLA or something? Like that level of a gig. Maybe. Could he get a job at a Mississippi State?

Would he be qualified for that? Sure. Could he be the coach at Houston? Maybe. But I think Jimbo Fisher's days of being a well-compensated, $100 million coach at a power school are dead because that thing ended so badly. And that team was so terrible. And there was nothing good in his offense.

archaic. Like, that's the end of the road for him. Like Jimbo, which is wild to say that about a guy who coached and won a national championship at one of the, you know, one of the, not blue blood, Florida States and a blue blood, but a good program like Florida State. And then went to A&M, which is a wannabe blue blood, and was a colossal failure there. Now, does he get any benefit of the doubt because everybody that goes to A&M seems to fail? No. I just, I think each case is different. And you look at the way things went down with Jimbo and it just was ugly. I'm just glad that LSU didn't hire

the guy. Because we all thought they were going to and they decided to stick with O. And then again, once O got whacked, they didn't get Jimbo and you can say what you want about Brian Kelly but at least, I mean, he seems to kind of have a grasp of what he's doing. Jimbo just seems like a doofus. Maybe he's not, but maybe

he is. So could Jimbo be a head? Like, you know, Coach O, I bet could have gotten a head coaching job somewhere. He's been collecting a big check from LSU for a while now, but If he wanted to go to, you know, a Northwestern state, which I think is his alma mater, or a ULL. Coach O could have done that. It would have made sense.

It would have been great for those schools. Can you imagine Coach O being the coach at Louisiana, Lafayette? I mean, come on, the raging Cajuns, the Northwestern State demons, ULM. Like, Coach O would be amazing in a little school like that if he wanted to coach there. And he could probably coach there forever. But then you look at, like, could you get something like that out of a gym? Jimbo? Could Jimbo be the coach at ULM? Yeah. Would he want to? I don't know. It's kind of hard. If you're just addicted to coaching and he's obviously wealthy beyond his wildest imagination, he never has to work again. But Jimbo could. But it's not going to be at a Texas or an LSU or a Florida or a Georgia. He's never going to get one of those kind of jobs again. He probably knows that. But could he coach at McNeese? Sure. He could coach there. But I don't know if he wants to. That's also when he's you've been to the mountaintop and you've been somebody at the highest of highs.

I mean, what would be better? Like, if you're just addicted to coaching, do it. If you're addicted to your profession, go do it. But you don't have to. Says he wants to. Says he's still got love for coaching. The people of that. What you know what's wild about Jimbo Fisher is he's only 59.

Jimbo Fisher carries himself like he's 70. Like, there are some dudes who are 59 and you're shocked to find out. Like Sammy Hagar is almost 80 and you're like, that motherfucker's almost. 80? I remember when I found out that like when Sammy Hagar joined Van Halen, he was like 40. I'm like, what the fuck? You know? Like Jimbo Fisher is the opposite. Jimbo Fisher with this kind of like shitty like Walmart looking sweaters and shit that those A&M, Adidas shitty sweatshirts and hats and shit. Like he looks like someone who's older. He carries himself older than 59. Let's see. I never thought of it as a job. I loved it. I think I'd be able to do it. I've been

fortunate. I won 72% of my games, won 80% of my playoff games, been fortunate to win a national championship as a head coach and as an assistant coach. I missed the relationship with the players. I'd be very interested in still doing it because I think I've still got a lot to give and I'd love to get back there. I really would. And I guarantee you he could get a job at many, many lower level colleges and universities, but it would not be a situation where he'd get another A&M. He would not get another Florida. Like if he wants on the SEC. I'd say Mississippi State is kind of a halfway house for that. Once they fire this other doofus they've got there now, I could see that. Could happen. Anyway, more to come.