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sports By the Numbers Jay Gruden was hired as the Redskins’ coach Thursday after steering the Bengals toward offensive improvement in each of his three seasons as coordinator.
Gruden’s Journey to D.C. New Redskins coach has work experience in the UFL and AFL
Snyder’s Latest Hire Jay Gruden is Dan Snyder’s eighth coach in 16 seasons as an NFL owner. The span under Snyder, left, includes four winning seasons and seven last-place finishes. Unlike predecessor Mike Shanahan, Gruden will not have final say over all football matters. He’ll report to general manager Bruce Allen, who has taken charge of assembling the roster and other personnel decisions. (AP)
(THE WASHINGTON POST )
Average points per game scored by the Bengals this season, ranking sixth in the NFL. They averaged 24.4 points per game (12th) in 2012 and 21.5 points per game (18th) in Gruden’s first season at the controls in 2011.
368.4
Yards per game average of the Bengals’ offense this season — ranking 10th in the NFL. They made a jump after ranking 22nd in 2012 with 332.7 yards a game, and 20th with 319.9 yards per game in 2011.
40.9
Percent of the Bengals’ third downs converted this season (10th-best in the NFL).
33
Touchdown passes thrown by Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton — the third-most in the NFL. Redskins QBs threw a total of 20 touchdowns this season.
3 Pro Bowls made by Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green in his first three seasons in the league. Green this year ranked fifth in the NFL with 1,426 yards on 98 catches, and his 11 touchdowns were eighth-most.
32:50 The Bengals’ average time of possession per game this season, the second-highest in the NFL.
The Redskins named Jay Gruden their new coach Thursday, adding a chapter to a remarkable coaching journey that is perhaps unlike any in NFL history — unless you can name another who has played and/ or coached in the World League of American Football, the Arena Football League and the United Football League, and who has drawn paychecks from professional teams called the Dragons, the Surge, the Storm, the Kats, the Predators and the Tuskers. If those minor-league teams — from places ranging from Barcelona to Sacramento to Orlando — don’t ring a bell, then surely the last name does. Gruden, who was the Bengals offensive coordinator the past three years, is the younger brother of “Monday Night Football” analyst Jon Gruden, former Super Bowlwinning coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jay, 46, spent seven seasons on Jon’s Tampa Bay staff. “[Jay’s] terminology and play design were similar to Jon’s,” said University of Pittsburgh quarterbacks coach Brooks Bollinger, who played two seasons under Jay Gruden with the UFL’s Florida Tuskers. “I think it would be wrong to say he got it all from Jon, but that was his starting point.” Jay Gruden’s career path may have more twists and turns than most, but his pedigree is pure foot-
Jay Gruden was announced as the Redskins head coach on Thursday.
The past three seasons, Gruden was the Bengals offensive coordinator.
AP AND GETTY IMAGES PHOTOS
26.9
Redskins
In 2010, Gruden was the head coach of the UFL’s Florida Tuskers.
ball. His father, Jim, was a longtime coach and scout at the high school, collegiate and NFL levels. The three Gruden boys — Jim Jr., Jon and Jay — were all born in Ohio, as Jim Sr.
went from Fremont High School to Heidelberg College, two stops on a lengthy coaching résumé. Jay, the youngest, was the best athlete of the bunch. He played four
seasons under Howard Schnellenberger at Louisville, throwing for 7,024 career yards and leading the Cardinals to an 8-3 season as a senior in 1988, the program’s first winning season in a decade. While Jon eventually became one of the most recognizable faces in professional football, Jay toiled away in obscurity in football’s minor leagues. But he won everywhere he went. In the Arena League, he won six championships as a player or coach. Jay then latched on as offensive coordinator with the Florida Tuskers of the fledgling UFL — hired by then-head coach Jim Haslett — and assumed the head coaching job when Haslett left to be the Redskins’ defensive coordinator. In both seasons, the Tuskers played in the UFL title game. “The guy is amazing and very intelligent,” Haslett told the Orlando Sentinel in 2009. Speaking of Jon and Jay, Haslett said, “They’re so much alike, it’s unbelievable.” DAVE SHEININ (THE WASHINGTON POST )
Former Redskins’ Reactions “Bruce was the general manager in Tampa for six years while Gruden coached there. … There was no interview process; he had a six-year interview process.”
“Job was Gruden’s to lose from the start, keeping some of staff saves Skins $, Allen always knew who he wanted!”
— FORMER REDSKINS TIGHT END CHRIS COOLE Y ON E SPN 980
— FORMER REDSKINS LINEBACKER LONDON FLE TCHER ON T W IT TER