The United States Football League which will kick off its “new” season on April 16, has now announced the names of the head coaches of the eight new teams.
Besides serving as head coach, these men also will function as the franchise’s general manager, which means they will be the architects of the on-field product. Here’s a closer look at the eight head coaches.
Andrus’ resume is varied, as he’s been a head coach in three different leagues. A quarterback and punter in college (started at Oregon State before transferring to Montana), Andrus has coached at the high school, collegiate and professional levels. After serving for several years as an assistant with the then-Tennessee Oilers in the NFL, Andrus moved his career to Europe where he became the head coach of the Amsterdam Admirals from 2001-07. He led his team to victory in World Bowl XIII. He’s also spent one year as head coach of the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts (2009) and the United Football League’s (UFL) Omaha Nighthawks (2012). More recently, he has been involved with The Spring League (2018-20), a developmental league that was started and initially run by USFL co-founder Brian Woods.
Fedora has 32 years of collegiate experience but this will be his first job with a professional team. The former head coach at Southern Miss (2008-11) and North Carolina (2012-18), Fedora is 79-62 in his career. More recently, Fedora served as an offensive analyst at Texas (2020) and was Baylor’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach this past season when the Bears won the Big 12 championship and the Sugar Bowl.
Fisher, who spent 30 years as a position coach, coordinator and head coach in the NFL, began his coaching career in 1986 with the Philadelphia Eagles as an assistant under head coach Buddy Ryan. He became head coach of the Houston Oilers 10 games into the 1994 season and remained with the Houston/Tennessee franchise through the 2010 season.
Fisher went 142-120 in 17 years with the Oilers/Titans, with six playoff appearances, three division titles, two AFC Championship games and a trip to Super Bowl XXXIV. In 2012, he was named head coach of the St. Louis Rams, serving through Week 14 of the 2016 season, the team’s first after moving back to Los Angeles.
The son of legendary head coach Lou Hotlz, Skip Holtz has 22 years of experience as a collegiate head coach. He has been the head coach at four different schools – Connecticut (1994-98), East Carolina (2005-09), South Florida (2010-12), and Louisiana Tech (2013-21). Holtz won two Conference USA titles while at East Carolina and three division titles while at Louisiana Tech. He is 152-121 overall as a head coach with an 8-4 record in bowl games.
