Gruden's big year began far from Tampa Bay

Jon Gruden was, at least for a while, an Indian.

Long before Jon Gruden was making commercials, stirring up controversy with his departure from Oakland or leading Tampa Bay to its first Super Bowl, Gruden was a 24-year-old quarterbacks coach -- his first full-time job as an assistant -- for Southeast Missouri State University.

"His knowledge was well beyond his years," Bill Maskill, the Indians head coach who hired Gruden, said of his first impressions of the young coach now with the Buccaneers, the team that plays the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVIItoday. "He just has a tremendous amount of passion for the game."

Gruden came to Cape Girardeau in the spring of 1988 as a quarterbacks coach. It was only Gruden's second coaching career stop after he spent 1986 and '87 as a graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee. Even though Gruden's stay in Cape Girardeau was brief and he left for Division I Pacific after one season, the impression he made was a lasting one.

For Jim Eustice, the Indians' starting quarterback in 1988, his first meeting with Gruden sticks out the most, particularly Gruden's first words.

"Jim, I'm Jon Gruden, I'm going to be an NFL head coach someday," Gruden told him.

Gruden, who grew up in Sandusky, Ohio, and was a three-year letterman at quarterback at University of Dayton, arrived in Cape Girardeau with boxes and boxes of game film. It was Gruden's attention to detail and constant thirst for football knowledge that helped mold Eustice into one of Southeast's most prolific passers.

After combining with Jason Chambers for more than 2,000 yards passing in the 1988 season, Eustice set what was at the time the school single-season passing yards record in 1989 with 2,128 yards. The Indians finished that season with a 6-4 record.

Maskill, now coaching at Midwestern State University in Texas, credits offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Marty Mornhinweg, who took over from Gruden in 1989 and now is the Detroit Lions head coach, for helping Southeast's offense break even more records in the 1989 season when the Indians finished 7-4.

Still, he says, Gruden's teachings were significant.

"Jon was instrumental in helping Eustice," Maskill said.

Eustice said it was Gruden's extensive preparation that helped him understand defenses and the mental aspects of the game.

"As a quarterback I made up for a lack of arm strength and sensational foot speed by being so mentally prepared," he said.

While Gruden's long hours are stuff of legend -- he's been said to awake at 3:17 a.m. for work each day -- his work ethic was evident at Southeast. Even though Gruden's contract for the 1988 season started in July, Gruden was on Southeast's campus by April.

Maskill said Gruden's volunteer coaching from April to July showed how committed he was to coaching.

"He was a guy that was obviously mature beyond his years," Maskill said. "He just had all the intangibles you look for."

Gruden even worked several months replacing carpets for Cape Girardeau Public Schools just to pay the bills, although his mind appeared to usually be on football.

"He'll beat the custodian to the office in the morning and he'll be the last one out the door," said Rich Payne, Southeast's defensive line coach in 1988.

Payne, now the director of the Career and Technology Center at Central High School, said Gruden's intensity and level-headedness stood out in their year of coaching together.

"He's intense, but he's always under control," Payne said. "There's no more pressure put on Jon Gruden than the pressure Jon Gruden puts on himself to be successful."

Gruden's path to success that has brought him all the way from Southeast to the Super Bowl in 14 years has even been a source of inspiration for Eustice. That same confidence and determination that Gruden showed in his first meeting with Eustice has helped inspire Eustice in his professional life, he said, as well as his high school coaching career in his hometown of Ottawa, Ill.

Gruden's message of setting a goal and following through is a standard he lives by.

"I certainly use that in my business career," Eustice sad, "and it's always in the back of my mind."

But not only was Eustice trained by a Super Bowl coach, but another NFL coach in Mornhinweg. That, he said, provides even more inspiration today.

"It really makes an impression on the high school kids I'm coaching," he said. "I was really, really blessed."

jjoffray@semissourian.com

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