Multi-Year Extensions Coming For Gruden, Allen?
By: Scott Reynolds
January 17, 2008 @ 1:30pm
G.M. Bruce Allen and head coach Jon Gruden have won two NFC South titles over the past three years in Tampa Bay (Reinhold Matay)
Will Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen get contract extensions? Yes, and based on the fact that assistant coaches Bill Muir, Rich Bisaccia and Richard Mann signed three-year deals, according to a PewterReport.com source, it is likely that Gruden and Allen will receive at least a two-year contract extension.
PewterReport.com has learned that the contracts that Buccaneers offensive coordinator-offensive line coach Bill Muir, special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia and wide receivers coach Richard Mann were three-year deals, a source close to one of the coaches confirmed. What is significant about this discovery is that these coaches are signed through the 2010 season and the contracts of head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Bruce Allen expire at the end of the 2008 campaign.
It has been widely speculated that both Gruden and Allen will get contract extensions in 2008 as a reward for turning the Buccaneers around from a 4-12 season in 2006 to a 9-7 regular season record, which despite losing four of its last five games, won an NFC South championship and earned the Bucs a home playoff game. That Wild Card postseason contest ended in defeat at the hands of the New York Giants, 24-14. But only the Glazers know how long they want to extend the contracts of Allen and Gruden for, and they haven’t commented on the situation publicly.
But if the Glazers were willing to extend the Bucs assistants’ contracts, which are guaranteed, through 2010, it is reasonable to assume that Gruden and Allen would receive at least a two-year extension, which would sync their contracts up with the other assistants and expire after the 2010 season. Of course, Gruden and Allen could also be offered longer extensions if the Glazers choose to do so.
“I don’t even know really the status of my contract other than I will fulfill the contract that I signed,” Gruden said in his season-ending press conference last week. “I’m going to work as hard as I can to help this team get back to the Super Bowl and all those issues will take care of themselves.”
Allen, who was hired in 2004, suggested both he and Gruden’s contract situations likely would resolve themselves at some point in the near future, likely after taking care of the contracts of the assistant coaches. Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, senior offensive line assistant Aaron Kromer, quarterbacks coach Paul Hackett and assistant defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake are among the other assistants whose contracts will expire later this month.
FULL STORY
http://pewterreport.com/articles/view/3841