United Football League announces coaching staffs

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Former Vikings and Cardinals head coach Dennis Green will serve as chairman of the competition committee for the new United Football League.

It's a job Green once held in the NFL.

The UFL plans to begin playing games in October in four cities: New York, Orlando, Las Vegas, and San Francisco, where Green will be the coach.

Green previously served on the NFL's competition committee, which reviews and proposes revisions to rules, from 2000-2002.

The other UFL head coaches will be Jim Fassel in Las Vegas, Ted Cottrell in New York and Jim Haslett in Orlando. They hired their assistants on Tuesday.

"One of the keys to the overall success of the UFL is the high-caliber head and assistant coaches that we have been able to attract," UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue said. "The addition of these highly talented individuals, along with the naming of coach Green as chair of the league's competition committee, are further indicators of our goal of producing a high-quality product on the field that within time will be indistinguishable from other professional football leagues currently playing."

That's a hefty goal, of course, but the UFL can lean on a coaching group heavy on NFL experience. Huyghue estimated nearly 85 percent of the assistant coaches have been in the NFL as players or coaches.

Among the assistants who have solid NFL coaching backgrounds are Las Vegas defensive coordinator Larry Mac Duff and San Francisco offensive coordinator Mike Kruczek; Orlando secondary coach Bill Bradley and linebackers coach Chuck Bresnahan; New York offensive line coach John Tice; and Las Vegas receivers coach Mike Wilson.