Ever heard of Philadelphia’s sports radio WIP? Well, Jon Gruden certainly has, and he still has the scars to prove it.
Barstool Sports announced they signed Gruden to a multi-year deal Thursday morning. And by Thursday night, the former NFL head coach already got to work, joining Dave Portnoy, PFT Commenter and Dan “Big Cat” Katz for a live stream as they watched Thursday Night Football featuring the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders. And as he watched the Eagles on Thursday Night Football, Gruden recalled listening to WIP during his time as Philly’s offensive coordinator under Andy Reid.
Jon Gruden tells a story of a WIP caller calling him an idiot 😂 pic.twitter.com/XCbROe3fcH
— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) November 15, 2024
“You ever heard of WIP radio… It’s a big radio, sports radio in Philadelphia,” Gruden said, prompting PFT to note, “The callers on that show are something else.”
“Brutal,” Gruden said. “We lost like 20-0 or 20-3, I was offensive coordinator and I was listening. A caller calls in and says, Jon Gruden, ‘The guys an idiot!’ He says, ‘If the guy’s IQ was one point less he’d be a plant! He’s a f***ing idiot!’ I’m driving down in the car, I got tears in my eyes.”
Philadelphia certainly has some ruthless sports radio callers. Actually, the entire northeast does. That’s a sort of staple for sports radio stations in Philly, New York and Boston.
Maybe Gruden was remembering a call from Chuck in Mt. Airy, or maybe it was Ruben Amaro Jr. But based on what Gruden was saying, it didn’t sound like his gripe was with a caller at all. It sounds like Gruden may have had tears in his eyes from something Howard Eskin said. Maybe it was a caller, but Gruden’s voice sounded like an attempt at a Howard Eskin impression and the insults were very Howard Eskin-esque.
Barstool Sports seemed like an interesting place for Gruden to continue attempting to rehabilitate his in hopes of getting back to coaching, but his first day on the job was admittedly entertaining.