Los Angeles, November 3, 1997
The fledgling USFL took another big step towards bringing football to the Spring, today announcing the head coaches for each of the 12 founding franchises. The twelve men tapped to head up this new venture in pro football come from every corner of the football world, and include everything from wizened NFL veterans like the Chicago Blitz's George Allen to young upstarts like Tampa Bay Bandits new chief, former Heisman winner Steve Spurrier.
Allen gets the early nod as the most well-known of the 12 coaches, but there is still a lot of experience among the group, including LA's Hugh Campbell, who led the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos to 5 consecutive Grey Cup championships, and New Jersey's Chuck Fairbanks, who was the head man for the New England Patriots sandwiched between jobs leading Oklahoma and Colorado. For several coaches, this will be there first job as the Head man, as is the case for Spurrier, as well as former Patriot and Seahawk D-line coach Jim Mora, Steelers' O-line coach Rollie Dotsch, now coaching the Birmingham franchise in the USFL.
Other names you might recognize are former WFL coach Dick Coury (now leading the Boston Breakers), former Broncos Head Coach Red Miller, who returns to Denver with the Gold, and another former Broncos leader, John Ralston, who also led squads at Utah State and Stanford. Of the group, likely the largest mystery is the hiring of Saints LB coach, Doug Shively to lead the Arizona Wranglers. While there are several coaches new to the lead position, the selection of Shively is the most intriguing as his resume is one of the shortest of the group.
This reporter, and many others, are looking at George Allen, and possibly Hugh Campbell, as the coaches with the best chance to successfully form together new teams and get them ready to play on short notice, as players will not be drafted until December and will have only a short camp before the league's two scrimmage/preseason games in February. With the season kicking off for real in mid-March, it will be the success of these coaches in turning strangers into teammates that may determine how the USFL inaugural season goes.