The search for a successor to Tony Dungy, a circuitous maze that at times was just one big-top tent shy of qualifying for circus status, took the Tampa Bay Buccaneers five weeks.

It took only five words, however, in the wee hours of Monday morning -- "You're not sleeping, are you?" Raiders owner Al Davis asked coach Jon Gruden when he awakened him at 1 a.m. to apprise him he was free to depart Oakland if he so desired -- to conclude a scavenger hunt that rivaled the centuries-old pursuit of the Holy Grail.

The last time Davis roused the early-rising Gruden from a deep sleep, a reverie that most likely included dreams of crossing patterns and screen passes and off-tackle lead plays, occurred four years ago when he phoned to offer him the Raiders' head-coaching position. This time Davis was dangling the Tampa Bay carrot with one hand, holding the exit door open with the other, lusting for the bounty of high-round draft choices being proposed by Bucs vice president Joel Glazer.

And just like that, it was over, Gruden mumbling in his semi-consciousness that, yeah, he really did want to leave one of the league's most storied franchises, and Davis hurriedly phoning back the Bucs to agree to their proposal before the Glazer family changed its mind.

	Jon Gruden will be scowling on the sidelines for the Tampa Bay Bucs in 2002.

After a torturous five weeks, a period that included more pratfalls than a classic Milton Berle skit, the respective football landscapes of a couple "Bay Areas" separated by thousands of miles were dramatically altered.

The Bucs got the man they most coveted, after Bill Parcells backed out of a deal, that is. Gruden wiggled out of a final lame-duck season with the Raiders. Oakland collected a batch of draft choices, a pile of cash and the right for Davis to hire a coach who might not need a ball-and-chain device to secure his loyalty. And the Glazer family, the butt of jokes for weeks now, got to moon the rest of the NFL and a media crowd that kept comparing the clan to the Three Stooges.

From this day forward, the Glazer Boys -- Joel, Bryan and Ed, by name, sons of owner Malcolm Glazer -- will no longer be viewed as Tweeledee, Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber. Heck, they should be renamed Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar.

Through the Parcells fiasco, the first failed courtship of Gruden and the mess with Marvin Lewis, the Glazer Family kept whispering to its few confidants around the league that there was a plan, that the situation wasn't as bleak as it seemed, that things would work out. Darned it, if in the end His Three Sons weren't transformed into Malcolm Glazer's own three wise men.

Only time will tell if the Glazers saved their franchise. For now, despite doling out a ransom for the right to secure Gruden's name on a contract, they have saved face.

The cost of doing business with the devil (a k a Davis) was, as always, a steep one. The Bucs will sacrifice first-round choices in both 2002 and 2003, a second-round pick in 2002 and another No. 2 selection in 2004. They will also pay the Raiders, ESPN.com has confirmed, $8 million in cash over the next three years.

That care package to the Raiders is far more than the New England Patriots extracted from the New York Jets for allowing Bill Parcells out of his contract. And, remember, Parcells was a two-time Super Bowl winner at the time. For all his coaching brilliance, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, Gruden has won just two division titles.

The only thing discounted in the deal was the $3.5 million a year contract to which Gruden agreed. It came in far less than the $5 million annually agent Bob LaMonte strongly suggested his client would get once he left the Raiders, but, hey, if there's a chance to escape Davis a full year early, you offer a wholesale alternative.

Still the Bucs, eyeing the prospect of turning the calendar to March without a head coach, were backed into a corner. And make no mistake about it: This time, Davis felt some pressure, too, to make a deal he would not consummate weeks ago.

Why was that? Because Davis did not want his Bay Area rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, to wind up with all those high draft choices as compensation for Steve Mariucci, plus the very real possibility Gruden simply would have moved across town when his Oakland contract expired after the 2002 campaign.

Either the stubborn Davis suddenly came to his senses in the dark of night, the deal having been completed in hours after Bucs general manager Rich McKay had spent weeks of frustration trying to get the Oakland owner to merely return his phone calls, or top lieutenant Bruce Allen convinced Davis that cash and high draft picks trump any head coach.

No matter the catalyst for Davis' change of heart, it promulgated, at least for now, a win-win scenario. The loser in all of this, however, could be McKay, who might be stuck in Tampa until his contract lapses after this season. Once again proving they are more wily than anyone could have imagined, the Glazer brothers neither gave away the store nor the general manager's title to Gruden, who nonetheless figures to essentially oversee the football operation.

By naming Gruden as head coach only, the Bucs can argue to commissioner Paul Tagliabue, and to the Atlanta Falcons who covet McKay as their new general manager, that they didn't breach his contract. Translation: Tampa Bay will want draft choice compensation for McKay to squirm out of the final year of his contract. If new Atlanta owner Arthur Blank wants McKay as badly as it appears, he'll have to ante up something to the Bucs in return. Or he can simply hire a guy who is well-suited for the job, Tom Modrak, whose time is long overdue.

Gruden spoke to McKay briefly Monday afternoon, ESPN.com has confirmed, and the two will chat again Tuesday after the new coach arrives in town for a Wednesday press session. The feeling is that McKay still wants to depart. And while Gruden told McKay he would prefer he stay on, there are indications the Bucs are prepared to hire longtime NFL executive Ken Herock, if McKay departs, as a top lieutenant in the front office.

Herock actually worked for the Bucs at the outset of the franchise, when the team advanced to the NFC title game in just its fourth season. He also worked with Gruden in Oakland and has a great deal of admiration for the coach.

It would be fitting for Herock to end up back with the Bucs, who will play in the same division as the Falcons in 2002. Falcons coach Dan Reeves ran Herock off when he arrived in 1997, yet took the 1998 team to a Super Bowl with the players the veteran personnel man brought to Atlanta.

As for Mariucci, his reluctance to drag his wife and four kids across country is admirable, but the emotional decision could wind up costing him down the road. In truth, the Glazer guys, having sensed Mariucci was agonizing over his decision, phoned Davis to re-open negotiations even before the San Francisco coach officially rejected their offer.

Mariucci was seeking a seven-year deal worth $42 million and it is believed the Bucs offered five seasons for $25 million. Instead he will earn $4.2 million in the two seasons remaining on his San Francisco contract.

But beyond the money, the fact San Francisco ownership nudged Mariucci toward the Tampa Bay job, stopped just short of encouraging him to accept it, does not bode well for his future. Fact is, it validates the suspicions and rumors about the lack of cohesion in the 49ers front office. The 49ers have insisted there will be no contract extension or upgrade for "Mooch" until after this year.

Because he isn't about to be a lame duck in 2003, as Gruden would have been in the coming season, the circus could start again in the Bay Area next spring. Only this time, it will be the Bay Area on the West Coast.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.