Group of 5 AD cautions Florida against interviewing Jon Gruden for Gators head coach job

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An anonymous Group of 5 AD told CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello that he wouldn’t interview Jon Gruden for the Gators head coaching position if he were a high-ranking member in Florida’s brain trust.

"If I was in the market right now, would I interview Jon Gruden? Yeah, probably," an athletic director at the Group of Five level admitted under the condition of anonymity. "There'd be no reason not to. Now, if I was at Florida, no, I'm not doing that. It's not the right fit, right time. A lot of that depends on the right job. One of the things with a Group of Five [school] is you can take a more calculated risk."

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Florida still employs Billy Napier but his time in Gainesville appears to be finite. Gruden doesn’t have Power Conference experience besides a year at Pitt as a receivers coach and a year as a GA at Tennessee, but he has 12 years of head coaching experience in the NFL.
Gruden would undoubtedly be an upgrade at this point for Gator fans. But does Florida want to be seen as desperate in the same vein as Arkansas with Bobby Petrino and Auburn with Hugh Freeze?

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Arkansas is a better landing spot for Jon Gruden than Florida
Since Arkansas already did the unthinkable and brought back Petrino as an offensive coordinator this past offseason, what’s to say the Hogs won’t bring Gruden back to a coaching role?

Sam Pittman is almost out the door in Fayetteville and Petrino is not a lock to replace him. If anything, Petrino may be directly tied to Pittman’s regime.

Gruden is a big name that recruits grew up watching as an NFL head coach and an on-screen analyst for ESPN. Florida or Arkansas would be smart to consider him, but the Hogs are a better landing spot culturally at this point.

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