Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

Former NFL coach and current analyst for ESPN Jon Gruden reportedly considers manning the sidelines for the Tennessee Volunteers a dream job.

Gruden discussed the program and how close he was to accepting the coaching job after it opened up following the 2012 season with the SEC Network, per Chase Goodbread of NFL.com:

I don't know how close. I love football. I'll be the first to tell you, I miss coaching. But I do look at my job here as a lot like coaching. i get a chance to be around it 364 days a year and I feel like I'm improving, but I don't have a team. Tennessee is a dream job for a lot of people, me included. Timing wasn't right. I'll say this about the Volunteers, they got the right guy. I think Butch Jones is going to put the Volunteers back on the map. It might happen this year.

Gruden coached for the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1998-2008, won a Super Bowl with the Bucs and counts five division titles on his NFL resume. It is no wonder that any pro team or college program with an opening would consider him a viable candidate with numbers like that, and he even has a Tennessee connection.

Gruden was a graduate assistant for the Volunteers in the 1980s, which is one reason why he was potentially linked to the coaching position after the 2012 campaign.

Alas, Tennessee hired Butch Jones (which Gruden praised in the above quote), and there is plenty of momentum in Knoxville after impressive showings on the recruiting trail and a dominant victory over Iowa in the Gator Bowl.

Gruden would have likely succeeded in the SEC based on his NFL track record alone, but Goodbread noted that fans should take discussions surrounding the ESPN analyst and potential coaching jobs with a grain of salt:

Gruden's name has routinely popped up for various pro and college coaching jobs since he left the Buccaneers after the 2008 season, but it seems as though a return to coaching for Gruden never gets past the flirtation stage. It might never again, but coaching moves happen in the winter, not the summer. Give it four months, and Gruden speculation will be back -- just probably not at Tennessee.

If the Volunteers cash in on elevated expectations this season, they won’t have to worry about any chatter surrounding the head coaching position.