I honestly thought that Jon Gruden would stay with MNF for one year, and then roll out to a team in need of a head coach (*ahem* Redskins!), but that's definitely not the case. Gruden has signed a multi-year deal to stay with the network....

Super Bowl-winning head coach Jon Gruden, who joined ESPN in May as a Monday Night Football analyst, has agreed to an exclusive multi-year agreement with the company. Gruden has made a commitment to remain with ESPN.

In addition to his MNF role alongside play-by-play commentator Mike Tirico and analyst Ron Jaworski, Gruden will appear on ESPN’s NFL Draft and Super Bowl week coverage, among other platforms, and he will call the 2010 NFL Pro Bowl in South Florida on January 31, 2010. Gruden will serve as an analyst for ESPN Radio’s 2010 Rose Bowl and Bowl Championship Series (BCS) title game broadcasts, where he will team with Tirico, and he will be part of SportsCenter coverage leading up to the ESPN on ABC telecasts of both games.

"Working with Mike, Jaws and our entire Monday Night Football team is the most fun I have had in years, and I am fired up to make this long-term commitment to ESPN," said Gruden. “Monday Night Football is special and I look forward to remaining a part of it and continuing to call these great games.”

While there's no mention of a "coaching clause", there's no reason to believe he'd re-sign if he wanted to immediately return to coaching. I'm still conflicted on how I feel about him as an announcer, but the move makes sense for ESPN. Even though there are times when he goes overboard with emotion and analogies, he's still better than Kornheiser.

We'll be live blogging all of the action here and at 12SD tonight. Here are your particulars....

Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos (ESPN, 8:30pm)- Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden
Line: PIT -3, O/U 41

We'll be live blogging all of the action here and at 12SD tonight. Drew Brees and the high flying Saints are hosting Matty Ice and the Atlanta Falcons Here are your particulars....

Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints (ESPN, 8:30pm)- Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden
Line: NO -11.5, O/U 55.5

We'll be live blogging all of the action here and at 12SD tonight. Yes I am a Redskins fan, so you'll probably see my fly of the chain at some point this evening. Here are your particulars....

Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Redskins (ESPN, 8:30pm)- Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden
Line: PHI -9, O/U 38

We'll be live blogging all of the action here and at 12SD tonight. I'll be in and out for most of the game, but shouldn't slow down the fun. Here are your particulars....

New York Jets at Miami Dolphins (ESPN, 8:30pm)- Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden
Line: NYJ -3, O/U 36

Tonight's game is supposed to set all sorts of cable ratings records, and we'll be live blogging all of the action here and at 12SD tonight. Below are the particulars, and the ratings from ESPN's largest Monday night broadcasts. Get your predictions in and I'll see you at 8:30 for the game!

Eagles-Cowboys (9/15/08): 18,608,000
Patriots-Ravens (12/03/07): 17,522,000
Giants-Cowboys (10/23/06): 16,028,000
Panthers-Cowboys (09/28/09): 15,705,000
Falcons-Saints (09/25/06): 14,999,000

Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings (ESPN, 8:30pm)- Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden
Line: MINNESOTA -5, O/U 46

And thanks to Bodog, we even have some awesome prop bets for the game as well....

- How many times will Brett Favre’s wife Deanna be shown on TV during the Broadcast of Monday Night Football Week 4 of the 2009 NFL Regular Season? (Over/Under: 1.5)
- Brett Favre – Total Passing Yards Week 4 vs. the Green Bay Packers (Over/Under: 205.5)
- Brett Favre – Total TD Passes Week 4 vs. the Green Bay Packers (Over 1.5: +110/Under 1.5: -150)
- Brett Favre – Total Interceptions Yards Week 4 vs. the Green Bay Packers (Over/Under: 1)

We'll be doing some more live blogging tonight over at 12StepDrop. It's Peyton vs. the Widcat O tonight, and while it's not the most exciting game ever, there is certainly some fantasy implication. We'll get going right around 8:30pm, but in the meantime....let's get those predictions!!!

Indianapolis at Miami (ESPN, 8:30pm)- Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden
Line: IND -3, O/U 41

We'll be doing some more live blogging tonight over at 12StepDrop. Brady's back and Jon Gruden makes his official debut on Monday Night Football. Not only that, but we have a second game as well! I'm sure there are a lot of fantasy games hanging in the balance, so bring your "A" material! We'll get going right around 7pm, but in the meantime....let's get those predictions!!!

Buffalo at New England (ESPN, 7pm)- Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, Jon Gruden
San Diego at Oakland (ESPN, 10:15pm)- Mike Greenberg, Mike Golic, Steve Young

Lines: NE -13, O/U 47.5 - SD -10, O/U 42.5

One of the more fun things about the MNF booth over the past few years, was the love/hate relationship between Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser. Whether you thought Tony was good or not was irrelevant, because he knew how to get under Jaws' skin, and every time he did so, it was pretty funny. Well now Jon Gruden is in the booth, and after a pretty good debut last night, the Coach didn't hold anything back after Jaws said he didn't like the Vick signing by the Eagles. Here's the clip....

I obviously agree with Gruden, and while I was skeptical of his hiring at first, it seems like this trio really could work out. The producers of MNF always wanted three different perspectives in the booth, with Tirico providing the images, Jaws providing the stats and analysis and Kornheiser providing the angles. And while those three perspectives didn't gel, replacing the writer's slant with a coach's slant, looks like a winner. Especially when you have a story like the Vick signing that will bring up many different emotions and opinions.

Jaws Jumps The Shark on the Vick Idea, ESPN Video (NESW Sports)

I always find the transition to broadcasting for ex-players and coaches to be a fascinating, yet usually a dreadful, endeavor. Most think they can step right in and contribute right away, but much like a rookie year in the league, they learn they are sadly mistaken. Those who can contribute right away, are the players that don't hold out and get to camp as soon as possible (see: Sanchez, Mark).

This seems to be the case for Jon Gruden, who is not only getting to know his boothmates already, but even got a crash course in production at the NBA Finals of all places. Via the Orlando Sentinel....

"We wanted him to see the nerve center and get a really good idea of how a producer and director and crew really work," ESPN Producer Jay Rothman said of Gruden, who will replace Tony Kornheiser in the MNF lineup. "Basketball, obviously, is a different animal because of the continuous action, but seeing the inner-workings of the production — with the communication back-and-forth between the truck — is part of the crash course we're trying to give him heading to the fall."

Tirico put it this way: "I can say, without equivocation, that Jon's approach to learning how we do things is the most intense I've ever seen from a newbie in broadcasting."

Rothman seconded that notion. In one of their initial meetings, Gruden pulled his producer aside.

"He told me, if he was going to do this, he wanted to be great and told me not to hesitate to hold back — 'Rip me to shreds,' he said — if I needed to," Rothman recalled. "Who wouldn't want to work with someone like that?"

Next week, "Jaws" will be in Tampa to hole up with Gruden at his St. Pete Times Forum office and watch tape — "Cut-Up Heaven" for both men, no doubt — in preparation for a series of mock broadcasts at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn., in July.

Now that's what I'm talking about. Everyone is fully aware of Gruden's tendency to stay up all night as a Coach, and it's refreshing to see him taking the same approach to broadcasting. Maybe the guy won't just be hanging around for a year or two, after all.

Chucky training for new job (Orlando Sentinel)

Earlier this week, news broke that Jon Gruden had sort of given the NFL Network the run around during contract discussions, and today Rich Eisen made completely clear that was the case. Eisen went on the Dan Patrick Show, and had the following to say about Chucky....

Obviously handshake deals mean nothing in Sports, especially when you take into account that ESPN's monetary impact. I certainly hope Gruden will be good, but I think he would have benefited from staying at the NFL Network. Not just for practice, but because I still believe he's going to coach again soon, and ESPN will be left out in the cold.

Rich Eisen says NFL Network was expecting Jon Gruden (SI)

We've heard from a lot of people on Tony Kornheiser's decision to leave Monday Night Football, and about his replacement Jon Gruden, but we had yet to hear from Tony himself. That is until tonight. Kornheiser explained his decision at the very end of PTI, and delved deeper into the notion that travel was the reason....

If the man hates flying, the man hates flying. Oh and the Hall of Fame comment was pretty damn funny. There was also a veiled shot at Gruden's different faces at the end of the program, but I cut the video off.

Just a quick little update that I thought I'd provide its own thread for. Not only does the hiring of Gruden come as quite a shock, but it's awfully funny how people's opinions change when money is involved. When Gruden was in Tampa, he had not one, but two famous run ins with ESPN's reporting crew. Both came in 2007, with the first being in response to an ESPN report that Bucs' QB Bruce Gradkowsi might have been involved in an NCAA point shaving scandal. Gruden even uttered the words "I don't believe half the f**king people on the channel". Then later in the season, a Mort report involving Jeff Garcia, cause the coach to go off again. Here are the two quotes....

September, 2007:"I don't watch ESPN. I don't believe half the [expletive] people on the channel, personally – no disrespect. But if Bruce Gradkowski is throwing games in Toledo, how in the hell does he lead the NCAA in passing percentages? That is a crock. You know, these reports make me sick – really. I don't believe [there is] any truth to it, and I'll go to my grave believing that. I hope ESPN 3 or 4 has real sources behind this story, because it has nothing to do with the kid. He's a great kid. He wants to be great. This is very uncharacteristic, in my opinion, of 'professional' journalism."

December, 2007: "There's a lot of reports out there," Gruden said. "I just wish some of these reports were verified. (Mortensen) doesn't have a (expletive) idea what he's talking about. I can't understand why he would say that unless he got the X-rays himself."

So as you can see, there was plainly a hatred there once, that has now magically disappeared. Obviously opinions can change, but I find it kind of ironic that Gruden has now become one of the people he doesn't "f**ing believe". There's no question he is a smart Football mind, but he also has a reputation that will certainly follow him.

Jon Gruden Goes Off On ESPN's Chris Mortensen (Awful Announcing)
ESPN4? That Was Supposed to Be A Secret! (Deadspin)

What in the world just happened? Tony Kornheiser has been replaced in the Monday Night Football booth by former NFL Coach John Gruden. Seriously. I'm not kidding. The cause appears to be the schedule, and the fact that Tony is afraid of flying, but either way the PTIer has decided to call it quits....

Former Super Bowl-winning head coach Jon Gruden is joining ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The dynamic, outspoken and often fiery Gruden will join commentators Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski in the booth when sports television’s signature series kicks off its 40th season this fall. Gruden will also contribute analysis throughout the year on ESPN Radio and other platforms, in addition to being a part of ESPN’s 2010 Pro Bowl telecast and Super Bowl and NFL Draft coverage.

Gruden replaces Tony Kornheiser, who has decided to step down after three years in the Monday Night Football booth.

“I would like to thank Tony Kornheiser for his many contributions to Monday Night Football the past three years,” said John Skipper, ESPN executive vice president, content. “He has been a big reason for the show’s success on ESPN. Pardon the Interruption is one of ESPN’s most important franchises and fans will continue to see Tony on the show and involved in other future ESPN projects for many years to come.”

Kornheiser added: “I am totally grateful for the MNF opportunity that I truly enjoyed the last three seasons. I feel we got better each year. My fear of planes is legendary and sadly true. When I looked at the upcoming schedule it was the perfect storm that would've frequently moved me from the bus to the air. I kept looking at the schedule the past month and wanted to find a way to quietly extricate myself. If I could handpick a replacement of a football guy, I would cast a net and drag in Jon Gruden. He is the two things you most want -- smart and funny -- and has the two things I don't -- good hair and a tan. I love PTI and am looking forward to continuing to yammer and yodel with Wilbon until the end of time.”

Man, now that is a complete and utter shocker right there. I obviously think that Kornheiser wasn't the right person for the job, but like he said, each year he got better. Some moments were still unbearable last season, but the three were finally starting to get it right. As far as Gruden goes, I enjoyed him on the NFL Network, and it's definitely a good hire, but I question his dedication. It's no secret that he wants to go back to coaching, and this could quickly become a one or two year fill-in.

Why they wouldn't go with someone proven like Matt Millen is beyond me, but good luck to them. Maybe this is finally the combination they've been looking for.

(Via ESPN PR)

The NFL Network made a move today to beef up it's coverage of the NFL Combine this year, and that move was to hire blacklisted, ex-Bucs Coach John Gruden. Via TampaBay.com....

Recently-fired Tampa Bay Bucs coach Jon Gruden has a temporary job, and it could turn into a full-time job. Gruden will serve as analyst on the NFL Network's coverage of the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis later this week.

Gruden will join the network's Total Access show each night at 7 p.m. from Thursday through Monday, and also offer analysis specifically about quarterbacks and wide receivers throughout the weekend.

"We just think he's going to have an interesting perspective because he is so passionate about the combine, the draft and building a football team,'' NFL Network executive producer Eric Weinberger said. "He doesn't seem like a guy who is going to hold back and he will be able to fully evaluate the process.''

This falls into the Matt Millen hiring category, but certainly not to the same degree. With as many enemies as Gruden has apparently made, his credibility is a little shaky at the moment, but not nearly at Millen's level. I can't wait until the NFL-N decides to put him on the same set with Warren Sapp. That should be fun.

Jon Gruden joins NFL Network for scouting combine (TampaBay.com)