Jon Gruden returning to football: Super Bowl-winning coach joins Nashville arena team as part-owner

After nearly four years out of professional football, Jon Gruden is making a return. The Super Bowl-winning coach has joined the ownership group of the Nashville Kats, joining former Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher, who holds a majority ownership stake in the team through his company, Fisher Football Ventures LLC. 

The team announced on Monday that Gruden “will be a Partner with consulting and advisory roles in all aspects of the team’s football and business operations.”

Gruden has essentially been out of football since he resigned as the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders back in October 2021. The resignations came after a series of emails leaked out where Gruden used homophobic and misogynistic language. 

The 61-year-old has shown up at several NFL facilities over the past few years, but this will be his first professional football job since he resigned. Gruden said he’s excited about joining the ownership group with Fisher, who also happens to the the commissioner of Arena Football One (AF1). 

“I have been a fan of indoor football for a long time and jumped at the opportunity to be involved with Jeff and the Nashville Kats as part of the ownership group,” Gruden said. “I have so much respect for what Jeff has done over his career and continues to do with the Nashville Kats and as commissioner of AF1. I’m excited to be part of the team.”

Believe it or not, Gruden actually has some ties to the organization and that’s because his brother, Jay Gruden, was the team’s offensive coordinator back in 1997. Before becoming an NFL head coach in Washington, Jay Gruden spent more than a decade as a player and later as a coach in the arena league. Jay won four championships as a quarterback for the Tampa Bay Storm before eventually being inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame.  

“Obviously, I followed all of Jay’s playing and coaching days in Arena Football and knew how much he enjoyed all those years,” Jon Gruden said. “I look forward to having that same kind of excitement with the Nashville Kats.”

Jon Gruden will be joining a Kats team that has won three straight games after an 0-2 start to the 2025 season. The Kats are currently in third place in AF1 and they’ll get a crack at the league’s best team on Saturday when they face the undefeated Albany Firebirds (7-0) in New York.