BC-FBN-RAIDERS-GRUDEN-SPORTSPLUS:LA — sports (2000 words)
(PHOTO) (HAS TRIM)
NAPA, Calif. — Jeff Leonardo is the guy behind The Guy.
He’s the right-hand man to Jon Gruden, essentially spending every waking moment with the $100-million coach of the Oakland Raiders, from swinging by his house to pick him up for work at ungodly hours, to helping organize his schedule, to compiling video on players, to holding up the dry-erase board at training camp that shows the play for the No. 1 offense.
“Jon,” he said, “is a rock star.”
Leonardo should know. Before he spent the last 13 years as an ESPN bus driver for the “Monday Night Football” crew — nine of those transporting Gruden from city to city — he.