Former Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley will have two jobs with team in new USFL
Todd Haley is once again a head coach of a professional football team.
The USFL, a new football league controlled by Fox Sports, announced Thursday that Haley has been hired as coach of the Tampa Bay Bandits. In addition to being the Bandits’ coach, Haley essentially will be Tampa Bay’s general manager.
Haley will evaluate and select players for the team, while the director of football operations will assist with the roster, the league said.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for me to get back into coaching at the professional level,” Haley said in a USFL news release. “It’s been a while since I led a team on field, and I’ve missed it.
“It’s also rare that a head coach, as it was once put, gets to pick all the groceries, and fix the meal. This is going to be a lot of fun, and I expect the fans to enjoy the competition.”
The Chiefs had a 19-26 record with Haley as head coach from 2009-11, and they won the AFC West in 2010.
After being fired by the Chiefs with three games remaining in the 2011 season, Haley was the Steelers’ offensive coordinator from 2012-17 and held that position with the Cleveland Browns in 2018.
SteelersNow.com said Haley had been coaching a high school football team in Florida for the last two years.
The USFL will begin play on April 16 with eight teams split into two divisions. Each team’s schedule will have 10 games. All of the USFL games will be played at one site that has yet to be announced, the league said in a news release. Games are expected to air on NBC, Peacock, Fox, FS1 and USA.
Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd announced Thursday that Haley had been hired, along with three other USFL head coaches.
Kevin Sumlin, who coached at Arizona, Houston and Texas A&M, will be the Houston Gamblers coach. The New Jersey Generals hired former Nebraska and Oregon State coach Mike Riley, while Bart Andrus will take over the Philadelphia Stars.
“Todd Haley, a highly intense coordinator and coach, formerly head coach of to the Kansas City Chiefs,” Cowherd said. “Another offensive-minded guy who had stops with the Dallas Cowboys and the Chicago Bears and the Jets and the Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator. So sometimes he and Big Ben (Roethisberger), Big Ben’s had a lot of coordinators. Sometimes he and Ben had their fights, but a very intense, respected offensive coach.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 2:53 PM.
