The New York Giants need a new head coach, and Stephen A Smith knows just the man for the job.
Discussing the G-Men’s vacancy on his SiriusXM radio show on Friday, Smith looked no further than the halls of his longtime home at ESPN and the former face of Monday Night Football.
Just four years after Jon Gruden left the Las Vegas Raiders over the revelation of intolerant emails he allegedly sent about NFL business, Smith believes Gruden should be the next man to lead the red and blue. Despite what Smith called egregious transgressions in the email scandal, Smith believes Gruden has bided his time for long enough and deserves another shot.
“We have to ask ourselves, in the land of second chances, in America, and the people that have been given second chances … Jon Gruden has been a football guy forever. Words hurt, and he shouldn’t have emailed those words, and that’s fine. Does it warrant a death sentence?” Smith questioned. “Especially in America, where we have seen people that have actually done significant harm to other human beings actually get a second chance at life.”
Who should be the next head coach of the New York Giants?
Stephen A. Smith puts his support behind Jon Gruden: “We have to ask ourselves in the land of second chances, in America … does it warrant a death sentence?” pic.twitter.com/e8z74FFLWB
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 14, 2025
In late 2021, the NFL uncovered emails allegedly sent by Gruden during an investigation into former Washington executive Bruce Allen. In these messages, which were leaked to several media outlets, Gruden allegedly referred to NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith in a racist manner, called commissioner Roger Goodell and former Rams lineman by homophobic slurs, and exchanged photographs of Washington cheerleaders with Allen.
Since then, Gruden has been involved in a protracted legal battle with the NFL. Most recently, the Nevada Supreme Court sent the case back to the state’s district court after the league sought dismissal.
Gruden resurfaced in 2024 with a YouTube channel and later landed a job at Barstool Sports.
In his endorsement of Gruden for the Giants job on Friday, Smith said he believes Gruden “should have been ashamed of himself,” but that at some point the tide needs to turn for someone he sees as a legendary coach.
“We know about his transgressions. But is he in jail? Does he deserve a death sentence for what transpired?” Smith questioned.
“It was egregious. I’m a Black man, I didn’t like what he said about DeMaurice Smith. If you’re a member of the LGBTQ community, you didn’t like what he was saying about the notion of female referees. I mean, these were egregious emails. Very biased. He should have been ashamed of himself, and she should have been let go.”
During his second stint with the Raiders, starting in 2018, Gruden brought the team from 4-12 in his first season to 8-8, then to a 3-2 start, before he resigned in 2021.
In Smith’s opinion, this shows that Gruden is still a top NFL coach and would still be one of the most celebrated minds in football if not for the scandal that took him down:
“We know he would not be gone as an NFL coach if that hadn’t happened.”