Former Washington Coach Signs with New League

A former Washington defensive coordinator will be one of eight head coaches in the new league

The third incarnation of the XFL is still over a year away, but in anticipation of its 2023 inaugural season, the eight head coaches have been selected.

Those head coaches include former Washington defensive coordinator Jim Haslett. Haslett, who was on staff from 2010 to 2014 under head coaches Mike Shanahan and Jay Gruden.

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Jim Haslett

Jim Haslett

Haslett was hired as Washington's defensive coordinator in January 2010 under then-head coach Shanahan, replacing the retired Greg Blache. After a disastrous 2013 season where the defense allowed an average of 29.4 points per game, new head coach Jay Gruden surprisingly announced Haslett would remain for the upcoming 2014 season. The following December, Haslett and the team mutually agreed to part ways.

The other coaches who will lead XFL teams in 2023 include Wade Phillips, Bob Stoops, Terrell Buckley, Hines Ward, Rod Woodson, Reggie Barlow, and Anthony Becht.

It's a mix of varied football backgrounds including Stoops, who was a coach in the previous iteration of the league in 2020, coaching the Dallas Renegades, before an aborted season due to COVID.

Jim Haslett

Jim Haslett

Jim Haslett

Phillips is a football lifer who has had trouble getting an NFL job lately and will now help kick off a new league outside of the NFL, and Woodson is a Hall of Fame player with very little coaching experience.

The newest XFL season will launch in 2023. 

With another spring league, the USFL, set to re-launch Saturday night, the XFL seems to have timed its announcement so that its name in the news as some prepare for the USFL and question whether there will be enough interest to support either spring league.