A star is born - Kickoff

Football Digest, April, 2003 by William Wagner

WOULDN'T YOU LOVE TO BE IN Jon Gruden's shoes right about now? He has boyish good looks and exudes an "aw shucks" charm that harks back to a more innocent time. And by the way, he's flesh off of leading his Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the Super Bowl title.

Madison Avenue is going to be all over this guy. What company wouldn't want to align itself with Gruden? He is a winner in every sense of the word.

No coach in the NFL faced more pressure this season than Gruden did. In order to pry him away from the Raiders last offseason, Tampa Bay had to give Oakland a slew of draft picks and $8 million in cash. The unprecedented deal raised eyebrows around the league ... and placed Gruden squarely on the hot seat.

For the previous several years, the Buccaneers had been competitive but had fizzled come playoff lime. Gruden was hired to push the Bucs over the hump--nothing short of a Super Bowl title would suffice.

Although Gruden never admitted as much publicly, those expectations weighed heavily on him. To make matters worse, he was replacing a coach, Tony Dungy, who had been extremely popular with the players and the fans.

When the Bucs looked hopelessly out of sync in losing their season opener to the New Orleans Saints, Gruden really started to feel the heat. But the coach--famous for his around-the-clock dedication to his craft--kept plugging away. And slowly but surely, all of those long-standing myths surrounding the Buccaneers began to evaporate.

So the Bucs are one-dimensional? In the final eight games of the regular season, they averaged 22.6 points a game. That was more than enough firepower to give their all-world defense the breathing room it needed.

So the Bucs can't win in cold weather? In the season finale, they traveled up to frigid Champaign, Ill.--the temporary home of the Chicago Bears--and pitched a shutout.

So the Bucs can't score offensive touchdowns in the playoffs? In their playoff opener against the San Francisco 49ers, they had four of them.

So the Bucs can't figure out how to beat the Eagles in Philadelphia? In the NFC Championship Game, visiting Tampa Bay flummoxed heavily favored Philadelphia and won, 27-10.

The last hurdle was the Super Bowl, a game that had seemed like an impossible dream for most of the franchise's 27-season history. Adding to the usual hype was the fact that Gruden used to coach Tampa Bay's opponent, Oakland.

Unfazed by all of the distractions, Gruden continued to plug away. And soon after kickoff, it became apparent that the Buccaneers were the better-prepared team. Powered by a suffocating defense and a competent offense, Tampa Bay annihilated Oakland, 48-21. The man who had been brought to Tampa to push the Buccaneers over the hump did just that.

It's one of those feel-good stories that doesn't get old--which probably is a good thing. After all, you'll be seeing a lot of Gruden in the coming months.