Jon Gruden Will Coach at Notre Dame After All… Kinda

Many Notre Dame fans remember vividly the rumors of Jon Gruden coming to coach Notre Dame prior to the 2002 season.  Five years later, Gruden will end up on the Notre Dame campus after all as a speaker at this year’s coaches’ clinic taking place next weekend.

“Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden has been named a guest speaker at the 2007 Notre Dame Football Coaches Clinic, Irish head coach Charlie Weis announced Monday. Gruden will address the coaches on Saturday morning, April 14. Pre-registration, which originally was to end March 27, will now be extended to April 6 because of the announcement. Coaches can register by following the instructions at www.ndcoachesclinic.com.” 

Gruden’s dad coached for Notre Dame and over the years there have been plenty of articles which have shown Gruden’s affinity for the Irish such as this one…

I’ve been fortunate to be exposed to some great home fields. When I was a kid, my dad was an assistant coach at Notre Dame.

To see that marching band walking across campus at 8 o’clock in the morning, to look up and see Touchdown Jesus and the Golden Dome, to feel Rockne’s ghost, the best word I can use to describe it is chilling. Every time I see Notre Dame on TV, it gives me goose bumps.  (NFL.com)

And here’s a new one I had never seen before, but its… well… pretty interesting…

Bucs head coach Jon Gruden, interviewed in the Sept. issue of Playboy, reveals that he lost his virginity at age 17, in South Bend, Indiana. “I lost my virginity to the Notre Dame fight song,” Gruden says. “There was a band?” asks Playboy. “No, not even music,” Gruden replies. “But it was in my mind.” (ESPN.com Page 2)