UFL Announces Partial Coaching Staffs

On the same day that the NFL will be making plenty of news, the upstart football league has tried to take a piece of the spotlight. The UFL has unveiled some of the members of the coaching staffs of the four teams for the league’s first season. The new league also has named San Francisco coach Dennis Green to be the chair of the UFL’s Competition Committee, pointing out that he once held that same role in the NFL. Here are a few key points regarding Tuesday’s developments. First, the UFL points out that 85 percent of assistant coaches have worked in the NFL as a player or a coach. Second, former AFL coach and NFL assistant Jay Gruden, the brother of Jon Gruden, will serve as offensive coordinator of the franchise headquartered in Orlando. Third, despite prior media reports that former Stanford, Notre Dame, and Washington coach Ty Willingham will be working for Dennis Green in San Francisco, Willingham’s name does not appear in the release. (He might eventually be named -- Green’s team has not identified a special teams coordinator, a quarterbacks coach, a receivers coach, or a defensive line coach.) Fourth, we sort of expected former Colts offensive line coach Howard Mudd or former Colts offensive coordinator Tom Moore to do a year with the UFL, if for no reason other than to stick it to the NFL. Neither man has resurfaced with the new league. Yet. The Las Vegas franchise will employ the following coaches under Jim Fassel: Isaac Carter, defensive backs; Donald Eck, offensive line; Sam Garnes, defensive assistant; Larry Mac Duff, defensive coordinator/special teams; Charles Shelton, director of football operations/running backs; Eric Van Heusen, special teams/tight ends; Michael Wilson, wide receivers; Kevin Wolthausen, defensive line. The following coaches will work for the New York team under Ted Cottrell: Donald Blackmon, defensive coordinator; Derrick Burroughs, administrative assistant/defensive assistant; Earle Mosley, running backs; John Tice, offensive line; Pete Rodriguez, special teams. The Orlando team led by Jim Haslett will have the following men on his staff: Bill Bradley, secondary; Chuck Bresnahan, linebackers; Jay Gruden, offensive coordinator; Carl Hairston, defensive line; Bill Laveroni, offensive line; Sean McVay, quality control/wide receivers; Ricky Porter, director of football operations/running backs; Al Roberts, special teams/tight ends. The San Fran team will include the following assistants to Dennis Green: Martin Bayless, defensive backs; Trent Bray, linebackers/quality control; Charles Collins, receivers/tight ends; Robert Griffith, defensive assistant; Art Kehoe, offensive line; Mike Kruczek, offensive coordinator; Mike McDaniel, running backs/quality control; Sid Pillai, director of football operations; Brian Stewart, defensive coordinator.