Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden got himself into a heap of trouble resulting from leaked personal emails, some up to 10 years old. They included racist, misogynistic, and anti-gay language directed at NFL personnel. On Monday, a disgraced Gruden resigned as the Raiders' head coach.
"I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction," Gruden said via a statement on Monday night. "Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone."
Gruden gave Kyle Shanahan his first shot in the NFL. The San Francisco 49ers head coach was hired as an offensive quality control coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under Gruden in 2004.
Shanahan joined KNBR this morning and was asked about Gruden's situation and if there are lessons to be learned from it. The 49ers coach provided a lengthy response.
"I think it's a lesson for everybody," Shanahan said on the Murph & Mac show. "I mean, not just people in sports. I mean, it's not OK to think those things, and it's definitely not OK to say those things. When you're in the limelight and stuff, whether it's sports or anything else, but when more people know you, there's a little more of a responsibility to that. And you're going to have to pay the consequences when you do something wrong like that. And it is unfortunate.
"But I think that happens to kids. I show it to my kids. You're accountable for everything that you say, [everything] that comes out of your mouth. And when you put something down on paper, whatever it is, electronic paper, you're accountable forever. Look what it did to someone like Jon. And that happens to kids in schools. That happens to people all over. It's on a much bigger scale when I guess you're famous or something like that. But that's the world we live in. You've got to realize that it's not right. Just because you have a bad moment, don't think that's OK to do. You can be held accountable forever on that.
"Just, the whole situation makes me sad. It's not just Jon, but when you're a head coach, you're in charge of a lot of families. A lot of people move there and stuff because you hire them and things like that. It affects a lot of people—all the other coaches in that building, the personnel people, the players. I know they've got an interim coach now and stuff, but I feel for a lot of the families who are like, 'Well, what does this mean for us? We just moved here a few months ago. What's going to happen?' Things like that. It's not just Jon. It affects the whole building."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.
