Shortly after Tony Kornheiser announced he was stepping down from the Monday Night Football booth due to his fear of flying, ESPN announced former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl winning head coach Jon Gruden would take his place.

“This is a tremendous opportunity and I am very excited to be associated with ESPN and Monday Night Football,” Gruden released in a statement. “I grew up a fan of Monday Night Football, and whether I’ve coached on Monday night or watched, I’ve hardly missed a game all these years.”

As for all of you Kornheiser fans, don’t worry, he still plans on co-hosting Pardon the Interruption for a very long time.

“I am totally grateful for the MNF opportunity that I truly enjoyed the last three seasons,” Kornheiser said. “I feel we got better each year. My fear of planes is legendary and sadly true. When I looked at the upcoming schedule it was the perfect storm that would’ve frequently moved me from the bus to the air. I kept looking at the schedule the past month and wanted to find a way to quietly extricate myself.”

“If I could handpick a replacement of a football guy, I would cast a net and drag in Jon Gruden,” Kornheiser added. “He is the two things you most want — smart and funny — and has the two things I don’t — good hair and a tan. I love PTI and am looking forward to continuing to yammer and yodel with Wilbon until the end of time.”

Kornheiser was never that entertaining during the Monday night games so Gruden will hopefully be an upgrade over the PTI legend.