Former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden publicly addressed the e-mail controversy that cost him his job last October for the first time.
Gruden, who filed a lawsuit against the National Football League, alleging the league singled him out, spoke Tuesday at the Little Rock Touchdown Club in Arkansas.
The 59-year-old former coach said he was going to be “honest” with the crowd in attendance.
“I’m ashamed about what has come about in these emails, and I’ll make no excuses for it,” he said. “It’s shameful. But, I am a good person. I believe that. I go to church. I’ve been married for 31 years. I’ve got three great boys. I still love football. I’ve made some mistakes. But I don’t think anybody in here hasn’t. And I just ask for forgiveness and, hopefully, I get another shot.”
Gruden went on to criticize his former employer ESPN for how they covered the story and other things for ratings:
“I get choked up because there’s a lot of misunderstanding out there right now,” Gruden said. “What you read, what you hear, what you watch on TV. Hell, I worked at ESPN for nine years—I worked hard at that job. I don’t even want to watch the channel anymore because I don’t believe everything is true. And I know a lot of it is just trying to get people to watch.”
Gruden signed a 10-year, $100 million contract with the Raiders in 2018 and ended up agreeing to a settlement with the team as he was owed at least $40 million in guaranteed money at the time of his departure.
