San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch won a Super Bowl on a Jon Gruden-coached team — the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Having played for Gruden, Lynch was shocked by the comments that led to the coach's departure from the Las Vegas Raiders.
Emails from Gruden, some up to 10 years old, revealed racist, misogynistic, and anti-gay language directed at NFL personnel. On October 11, Gruden resigned as the Raiders' coach.
Lynch joined KNBR this morning. The general manager shared his thoughts on Gruden's comments and the end of his career with the Raiders.
"First of all, I'll always be grateful to Jon," Lynch said on the Murph & Mac show. "We won a Super Bowl together. So, thankful and grateful for that. Someone asked me if I was surprised. Sure, I was surprised because I didn't know that to be his heart. And those things were ... horrifying. That's just not something I would think would come out of his mouth. And he didn't just do it to one group of marginalized people; he did it to a whole host of them.
"I had the opportunity during the bye week, I reached out, and was surprised he actually called me back, and had a good conversation. He feels a tremendous amount of remorse, as he should. And that's what you do; you reach out to people and say, 'Hey, I'm thinking and praying for you.' And I simply said, 'Hey, when you're ready, give me a call,' and he did.
"We shared some thoughts — I'll leave that privately— but he is extremely remorseful and understands he's got to make up for that however he can. And I think those are his actions. And that's the only thing he can do at this point.
"I think a lot of that [Buccaneers] team, that was a very close team. And a lot of those guys have reached out to him, trying to pick him up but also letting him know that we were all hurt by those comments because we didn't expect that coming from him. So, I'll leave it at that, but it was terrible, and he's paying a price. Lost his job, and is in a lonely place right now, and feeling the consequences of those actions."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.