Gruden on the Cusp of More History

Aug. 4,2014


 

By CONOR VOLPE
As a player, he was named the 1992 AFL MVP, selected First Team All-Arena twice and voted the Fourth Greatest Player in AFL history.
As a coach, he never missed the playoffs in nine seasons at the helm of the Orlando Predators and won 93 games in his career.
Perhaps best of all, Jay Gruden is the proud owner of six ArenaBowl Championships.
However you slice it, Gruden is AFL royalty. Whether it was on the field or on the sideline, Gruden left a very definite imprint on the League, which can still be felt today.
“You look at the great ones in this League – and when I say great ones I’m talking about Jay Gruden, Sherdrick Bonner and Mark Grieb,” Jacksonville Sharks Head Coach Les Moss said. “Jay came in this League when it was very young and was able to win four championships in six years, which was a huge accomplishment.”
Moss was the defensive coordinator for the Orlando Predators from 1991-2003. He not only coached against Gruden as a player, but coached alongside him when Gruden became the Predators’ head coach in 1998.
One of the first true stars in the AFL, Gruden was in his prime the AFL was in its infancy. The Arena game was still coming together and teams were still fine-tuning and tweaking the way they played when Gruden was winning championships. Gruden’s success under center with the Tampa Bay Storm shaped the League for years to come. For those reasons, he earned Arena Football Hall of Fame honors in 1999.


Gruden is nominated for the Hall of Fame once again this year, but this time for his work on the sidelines. He coached the Orlando Predators for nine seasons, and in doing so put more fuel on the fire that is the “War on I-4” rivalry between the Storm and the Predators. In his first season as head coach, he won the ArenaBowl and won another in 2000. His Predators teams were 11-7 in the playoffs and never missed the postseason. The standard of excellence he set in Orlando is a large reason the franchise has been a mainstay in the AFL for 24 years. Over the course of his tenure in Orlando, the Predators averaged 13,309 fans per game – almost 2,000 fans better than league average. His time in Orlando was integral in establishing the Predators as one of the most storied and successful AFL franchises.
In 2011, Gruden broke into the NFL by becoming the offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals. He took the Bengals from the NFL’s 22nd ranked offense before he arrived to the sixth-best in terms of points scored in 2013. In January 2014, he was hired as the 25th head coach in the 82-year history of the Washington Redskins.
It’s little wonder why Gruden is nominated for a second Hall of Fame induction this year. He is still held in the highest regard around the League, and his extraordinary list of accomplishments speak for themselves. He was involved with the AFL as either a player or a coach for 17 years and has left a lasting impact on the League thanks to his close to two decades of service.
“There are very few guys who can come in here and do what Jay did,” Moss said. “Like I said, he’s one of the great ones.”