Jon Gruden Recalls Cool Moment With Johnny Majors
By Cody McClure
Jon Gruden joined the Mike Keith Show recently and recalled his time at Tennessee working under Johnny Majors in the 1980s.
Gruden said he used to sit in the press box next to Walt Harris, who has UT’s offensive coordinator at the time.
“He [Walt] said ‘don’t ever talk to me’ but I had these little yellow stick ‘em sheets and I would hand them to him,” Gruden said. “Most of the time he would look at it and throw it away. But one year we’re playing Auburn and I wrote down ‘draw pass 8 go alert pass’ … So we’re playing Auburn and we’ve got to have this game.”
Gruden said Harris called the play and it worked to tie Auburn.
“So the next day we’re watching film and Coach Majors walks in feeling pretty good and that play comes on … And Walt Harris stopped the projector and said ‘Hey, Coach, Gruden called that play.
“And Coach Majors walks up to me and goes ‘atta boy’ … That was the greatest day of my coaching career.”
Good stuff. Here’s the clip from the Mike Keith Show: