Home is an elusive concept for a football family.

New Washington Redskins coach Jay Gruden knows that as well as anybody. His childhood was spent moving around the country as his dad, Jim, ascended the coaching ranks.

Competition is an inherited gene, and the three boys were a handful for Kathy Gruden, whom Jay saluted on Thursday as “the toughest Gruden of them all.”

Kathy was an elementary school teacher, and her oldest son, James, is a renowned radiologist at the Mayo Clinic.

Her other two boys, Jon and Jay, got the football bug.

Jim is in the athletic hall of fame at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, where Jay was born. Jim spent his career as a high school, college and pro coach, including time at Notre Dame while Joe Montana was quarterback of the Fighting Irish. He finished his career as an NFL scout.

Jon is the most famous of the Grudens, having led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl victory before joining the Monday Night Football broadcasting crew.

With Jay’s introduction as Redskins coach, the family takes its place alongside the Mannings, Shulas and Ryans, last names that carry significance in the football world.

Jay is not Jon

Jon Gruden’s work ethic and his 3:17 a.m. wake-up calls are legendary.

Jay Gruden did not inherit those traits, but was the more successful athlete in the family, something that ate at his older brother.

Both Grudens have often told the story of a summer in Tampa, while Jim was working with the Buccaneers. Jon was a quarterback at the University of Dayton and worked out every day, trying to stay in shape for training camp.

Jay was the quarterback at Tampa’s Chamberlain High School, and, as Jon tells the story, his brother spent his days watching TV and eating potato chips.

It drove Jon nuts, and he challenged Jay to a race every day. Finally, Jay accepted. He let his brother run alongside him for most of the way, then blew by him when the finish line was in sight.

“I think that destroyed him,” Jay said with a laugh.

Jay’s natural talent carried the day in youth, but as adults, Jon’s work ethic propelled him to the top of the coaching business.

His intensity earned him the nickname “Chucky” after a character in the movie “Child’s Play.” When he volunteered as an assistant with his son’s youth football team, Jon rented a cherry picker to film practices so he could analyze them later.

Those who know Jay emphasized this week that the Redskins won’t be getting that persona.

“Jon is gregarious and outgoing,” Howard Schnellenberger, Jay’s college coach, told the Washington Times. “He’s a music man. He’s an entertainer. Jay is not that.”

In Cincinnati, quarterback Andy Dalton said Jay was always open to his ideas, and never made him do something that made him uncomfortable on the field.

“From the start, Jay was big on asking my input, what I’m most comfortable with and any ideas I had,” Dalton said.

Making his mark

While Jay was a successful quarterback at Louisville, the NFL never called.

The closest he came was participating in the World League of American Football, which later was rebranded as NFL Europe before ultimately folding.

While he always wanted the chance to play in the NFL, he instead became one of the most decorated Arena League players of all time, and has been inducted into the league’s Hall of Fame, having won four titles with the Tampa Bay Storm.

He made the biggest headlines, though, in Orlando, where he served as head coach.

When the team’s quarterback went down with an injury before the season, Gruden came out of retirement to become the team’s quarterback at 32.

That didn’t go over well in Tampa, where the rival franchise took his retired number down from the rafters when Jay came to town with the Predators.

He was injured three weeks into the season, but came back to lead his team to the semifinals of the playoffs.

The league was a perfect fit for a quarterback who could make split-second decisions, but didn’t have the ability to throw the ball 70 yards downfield.

From there, Gruden went to the fledgling United Football League, where he worked under current Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett, and finally to the Cincinnati Bengals as their offensive coordinator.

Experience is experience

The question asked on Thursday was whether Gruden would have been hired by the Redskins if it weren’t for his last name.

He dismisses the concern, contending with passion that his years of coaching experience, even though they weren’t in the NFL, still count.

“You have to weather storms, losing streaks, fumbles, interceptions, losing in the playoffs, losing three games in a row, winning three games in a row, there’s a lot of things that you can learn, from whatever league you coach to get yourself ready,” he said.

“My strength, I believe, is dealing with players, motivating players, keeping players excited to come to work and plan, and not letting them get too high or too low, but keeping them even keel and letting them understand that, honestly, I have their best interests at heart.

“At the end of the day, that’s all they want. They want to be coached, and they want to play well, and we’re going to provide them with every resource to do that.”

At the news conference where he was introduced, the Redskins handed out a sheet of quotes from people who have previously employed Gruden, noting his achievements and how prepared he is for the job.

“He didn’t go up a smooth trail,” Schnellenberger wrote. “He took a winding, hard trail to a head coaching job in the NFL by being the best quarterback that ever was in Arena Football and being the best coach we’ve ever had in Arena Football. So now he gets his due reward.”

Gruden understands as well as anybody that the life of a coach is a transient one, something his three sons, J.J., Joey and Jack, have inherited as well.

If Jay succeeds in Washington, he’ll add another chapter to a family history that is intertwined with the game.