With the reboot of the XFL about to start play in little over two months, the Houston Roughnecks have assembled a veteran NFL coaching staff to lead this franchise through its inaugural season.
As the new season begins on February 8th, 2020, fans will immediately want to see that XFL 2020 is not like the original XFL 2001 (He Hate Me?). With new rule changes and famous NFL alumni leading each franchise, XFL 2020 will have to make a quick impact on fans in order to survive its first season- and not end up as yet another spring professional footnote like the AAF which tried (and failed miserably in the end) to bring back spring pro football to American football fans.
The Houston Roughnecks are led by June Jones who returns to Houston after stops as a coach with the Houston Gamblers of the old USFL and an assistant coach with the Houston Oilers under Jerry Glanville. Coach Jones brings a long and illustrious coaching resume to the Roughnecks including head coaching stints in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons and being the winningest head coach in University of Hawaii history. June Jones also spent the better of five seasons re-building SMU’s football program in Dallas. As an early proponent of the “run and shoot” offense fans can hopefully look forward to a pass-happy strategy that will put points on the board each game.
Coach Jones pulls double duty as the Roughnecks’ General Manager and hired Chris Miller to be his offensive coordinator. Miller, a veteran NFL quarterback with the Falcons, Rams and Broncos before retiring due to injuries has also worked as a QB coach with the Arizona Cardinals from 2009 through 2012. Incidentally, both Jones and Miller have worked back at the high school levels after leaving the NFL coaching ranks.
Veteran NFL defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell rounds out the Roughnecks’ coaching leadership and will take on the same role in Houston. Cottrell has been in the NFL coaching carousel for decades with stops in Buffalo, the New York Jets, Minnesota and with the San Diego Chargers. Most recently, Cottrell worked as an assistant coach with the Birmingham Iron of the AAF, so hopefully he’ll bring some insight into the failures of that league with him to Houston.
Jones also was an interim head coach for San Diego in the NFL.