Former NFL QB Gets Coordinator Position; Ron Zook Goes Back to Coaching
Twelve of the fourteen offensive and defensive coordinators that will serve the eight teams in the league were named by the XFL on Wednesday, June 8.
Two of the coordinators, special teams coach Ron Zook and former quarterback Bruce Gradkowski, were once employed by the Pittsburgh Steelers. The information was obtained via a press release on the XFL website, mentioning that a few of the recently appointed coordinators were involved with the league in 2020, prior to its suspension because to COVID-19.
The 39-year-old Pittsburgh native Gradkowski was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played quarterback for five different teams before joining the Steelers from 2013 to 2016. Under head coach Anthony Becht, a former NFL tight end who played for 11 years with five different teams after being selected in the first round by the New York Jets in 2000, he will oversee offensive schemes.
Jim Haslett, who was Bill Cowher’s defensive coordinator in Pittsburgh from 1997 to 1999 until he left to become head coach of the New Orleans Saints, will be the defensive coordinator under the 68-year-old former assistant of the Steelers, Ron Zook. Zook began his career as an NFL coach in 1996 and worked under Cowher for three years as the special teams coordinator. He was the special teams/secondary coach for the AAF’s Salt Lake Stallions in 2019, which was his last coaching position.
Among the eight head coaches of the XFL is Rod Woodson, a Steelers legend.
The head coaches of each of the eight teams in the XFL, which is scheduled to start play in February 2023, have been revealed. Three of the head coaches, including the previously mentioned Haslett, have ties to the Steelers; the other two are great wide receiver Hines Ward and Pro Football Hall of Famer Rod Woodson.
In addition to having a stellar 17-year playing career with four different clubs, Rod Woodson,57, has worked as an NFL assistant for a number of seasons. Following his 2013 coaching internship with the Steelers, he was hired by the Raiders as an assistant defensive backs coach in 2015–16 and later upgraded to cornerbacks coach in 2017. After then, he stopped coaching in the NFL.
Legendary Steelers Coach Hines Ward Will Also Teach in the XFL
Regarding Ward, 46, he played for the Steelers for all 14 of his NFL seasons before joining the New York Jets as an offensive assistant in 2019–20. He was a candidate to be the Detroit Lions’ wide receivers coach at the beginning of 2021, but Antwaan Randle El, a former teammate of his, was hired for the position.
Ward joined Florida Atlantic in April 2021 as an off-field assistant, and in November of last year, he was elevated to the position of wide receivers coach for the Owls. He most recently had an interview for the position of head coach with the Houston Texans, but Lovie Smith was chosen to fill it.
Jim Herrmann, the defensive coordinator, and Jaime Elizondo, the offensive coordinator, will support Ward. To date, the league has not released the identities of the coordinators working under Rod Woodson. The team names have not yet been revealed.
