Ranking The XFL’s Eight Head Coaches
Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 1:35 pm
June Jones is now on board with XFL Houston. It will be formally announced next Monday in Houston. The hiring process began in early February. Three months later and now all 8 Head Coach/GM’s have been hired.
There was a group of coaches that were interviewed, that didn’t land jobs in Jeff Fisher, Jim Haslett and Jim Leavitt.
We knew that this would be an eclectic mix before this process started. Upstart football leagues usually attract coaches who are not on NFL radars, or coaches that have been out of that loop entirely. Just look at the AAF, which had a group of coaches who were out of the game for quite some time. Just getting coaches to buy in to an upstart league is tough.
The original XFL had only 1 coach with NFL Head Coaching experience, in the late Ron Meyer with Chicago. The other members of the original 8 were Al Luginbill (LA), Jim Skipper (SF), Rusty Tillman (NY), Jim Criner (LV), Kippy Brown (Memphis), Gerry Dinardo (Birmingham) and Galen Hall (Orlando).
The current group of 8, has 5 coaches with head coaching experience. 4 of them are former NFL head coaches. The group consists of former super bowl champions, a college football champion and a CFL champion. 6 of the 8 coaches have an offensive background.
Here are my final rankings on the coach/gm’s that have been hired. It’s all subjective but my list is based mostly on experience and success.
#1- Bob Stoops- Despite having no experience as a pro football head coach. Stoops is the most successful of this group. His experience as a top recruiter should aid him as a first time GM.
#2- Marc Trestman- Leagues like this were made for him. He’s always been an innovative and forward thinking coach. Trestman is great with utilizing his talent and being adaptable to his schemes and players. He will have a strong support staff.
#3- June Jones- I was almost tempted to put him at #2. His body of work is the most impressive in the league. He’s coached at every level and produced great results on offense.
#4- Kevin Gilbride- Tough call here because Kevin has no experience as a GM or recruiter. His run as a head coach wasn’t very good. He did a great job as an OC with The Oilers and won two Super Bowls as an OC with The Giants. That puts him ahead of other coaches who don’t have that level of experience or success.
#5- Pep Hamilton- One of my personal favorite hires. Loved the work that he did with Stanford and Indy, coordinating those offenses. I’d rank him higher but he has no experience as a head coach. The jury is still out. Recent knowledge of the NCAA and NFL will help him in finding the right talent.
#6- Jim Zorn- The coach with the most impressive player resume of the league. His QB expertise will help him. It’s the other matters of running a team, that concern me. He was a great choice for Seattle but would not have been a great choice in any of the other markets.
#7- Winston Moss- I rank him slightly ahead of Hayes because he has experience in being an assistant head coach for a long time in Green Bay. This has a chance to be a boom or bust type hire. He has the flair and background to be a leader, and will probably be the most entertaining coach to follow in the league. Moss kind of reminds me of Herman Edwards, great leader who also had no coordinator experience. Winston’s staff choices will be the key to his success.
#8- Jonathan Hayes- Someone has to be in this spot. Another good leader who has had a respectable career as a player and assistant coach. He is a complete unknown in this spot. In Cincy, their assistant coaches are de facto scouts because the team has a tiny scouting staff. That will help Hayes as the GM. Like Moss, he’s going to need the right support staff around him to succeed. The majority of the XFL’s coaches have great experience running an entire side of the ball. Hayes simply doesn’t.
There was a group of coaches that were interviewed, that didn’t land jobs in Jeff Fisher, Jim Haslett and Jim Leavitt.
We knew that this would be an eclectic mix before this process started. Upstart football leagues usually attract coaches who are not on NFL radars, or coaches that have been out of that loop entirely. Just look at the AAF, which had a group of coaches who were out of the game for quite some time. Just getting coaches to buy in to an upstart league is tough.
The original XFL had only 1 coach with NFL Head Coaching experience, in the late Ron Meyer with Chicago. The other members of the original 8 were Al Luginbill (LA), Jim Skipper (SF), Rusty Tillman (NY), Jim Criner (LV), Kippy Brown (Memphis), Gerry Dinardo (Birmingham) and Galen Hall (Orlando).
The current group of 8, has 5 coaches with head coaching experience. 4 of them are former NFL head coaches. The group consists of former super bowl champions, a college football champion and a CFL champion. 6 of the 8 coaches have an offensive background.
Here are my final rankings on the coach/gm’s that have been hired. It’s all subjective but my list is based mostly on experience and success.
#1- Bob Stoops- Despite having no experience as a pro football head coach. Stoops is the most successful of this group. His experience as a top recruiter should aid him as a first time GM.
#2- Marc Trestman- Leagues like this were made for him. He’s always been an innovative and forward thinking coach. Trestman is great with utilizing his talent and being adaptable to his schemes and players. He will have a strong support staff.
#3- June Jones- I was almost tempted to put him at #2. His body of work is the most impressive in the league. He’s coached at every level and produced great results on offense.
#4- Kevin Gilbride- Tough call here because Kevin has no experience as a GM or recruiter. His run as a head coach wasn’t very good. He did a great job as an OC with The Oilers and won two Super Bowls as an OC with The Giants. That puts him ahead of other coaches who don’t have that level of experience or success.
#5- Pep Hamilton- One of my personal favorite hires. Loved the work that he did with Stanford and Indy, coordinating those offenses. I’d rank him higher but he has no experience as a head coach. The jury is still out. Recent knowledge of the NCAA and NFL will help him in finding the right talent.
#6- Jim Zorn- The coach with the most impressive player resume of the league. His QB expertise will help him. It’s the other matters of running a team, that concern me. He was a great choice for Seattle but would not have been a great choice in any of the other markets.
#7- Winston Moss- I rank him slightly ahead of Hayes because he has experience in being an assistant head coach for a long time in Green Bay. This has a chance to be a boom or bust type hire. He has the flair and background to be a leader, and will probably be the most entertaining coach to follow in the league. Moss kind of reminds me of Herman Edwards, great leader who also had no coordinator experience. Winston’s staff choices will be the key to his success.
#8- Jonathan Hayes- Someone has to be in this spot. Another good leader who has had a respectable career as a player and assistant coach. He is a complete unknown in this spot. In Cincy, their assistant coaches are de facto scouts because the team has a tiny scouting staff. That will help Hayes as the GM. Like Moss, he’s going to need the right support staff around him to succeed. The majority of the XFL’s coaches have great experience running an entire side of the ball. Hayes simply doesn’t.