Steve Spurrier to Coach Alliance of American Football's Orlando Team
Hall of Famer Steve Spurrier will return to coach the Orlando team of the Alliance of American Football, the league announced Saturday.
"The fact I can do this in Orlando makes it that much sweeter," Spurrier said. "I’m fired up and ready to go.”
He added it offers a "unique opportunity to get back into coaching."
Spurrier, 72, last coached South Carolina from 2005 to 2015, before resigning halfway through the season.
He won the Heisman trophy in 1966 while at Florida before playing 10 years in the NFL. Spurrier coached 12 years at Florida, becoming the winningest coach in school history and leading the team to a 1996 national championship.
The Alliance of American Football is set to debut Feb. 9, 2019, the week after Super Bowl LIII. There will be eight 50-man teams, and the season will run 10 weeks.
The league was launched in March by Charlie Ebersol, the son of longtime NBC Sports executive Dick Ebersol and director of the 30 for 30 documentary about the original XFL his father created with WWE’s Vince McMahon.
McMahon announced in January that a revived XFL would launch in 2020 with eight teams of 40 players playing a 10-game schedule. More details were scarce, but McMahon did hint that players would be required to stand for the anthem.
