The Tampa Bay Buccaneers said Tuesday that former coach Jon Gruden will be removed from the team's Ring of Honor.
What You Need To Know
- Jon Gruden coached Bucs to their first Super Bowl win after the 2002 season
- But team says he will be removed from Ring of Honor
- He resigned as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders after emails he sent before being hired in 2018 contained racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments
Gruden has resigned as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders after emails he sent before being hired in 2018 contained racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments.
He coached the Bucs to a Super Bowl win after the 2002 season — the first of two championships in franchise history.
“The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have advocated for purposeful change in the areas of race relations, gender equality, diversity and inclusion for many years," the team said in a prepared statement. "While we acknowledge Jon Gruden’s contributions on the field, his actions go against our core values as an organization. Therefore, he will no longer continue to be a member of the Buccaneers Ring of Honor.”
Gruden coached the Bucs from 2002-08, going 57-55, and was fired after the 2008 season.
He worked in broadcasting for several years before rejoining the Raiders organization — where he coached from 1998 to 2001 — in time for the 2018 season.
He stepped down from the Raiders on Monday after The New York Times reported that Gruden frequently used misogynistic and homophobic language directed at Commissioner Roger Goodell and others in the NFL.
It was a rapid downfall for Gruden, who is in the fourth year of a 10-year, $100 million contract he signed with the Raiders in 2018. It started on Friday when the Wall Street Journal reported that Gruden used a racist term to describe NFL union chief DeMaurice Smith in a 2011 email to former Washington executive Bruce Allen.