USFL Michigan Panthers Hire Longtime NFL Coach Jeff Fisher

Is there room for spring football in our lives? I guess we'll find out in about a month. But another positive sign about Michigan's team in the USFL reboot, the Michigan Panthers, is they've hired a coach and general manager. And this might raise some eyebrows; it's longtime NFL coach Jeff Fisher.

Fisher, who got a Super Bowl ring with the 1985 Chicago Bears, got into coaching after an ankle injury ended his career. He followed defensive legend Buddy Ryan (ESPN's Rex Ryan's father) to Philadelphia with the Eagles and was name defensive coordinator at age 30. He became head coach of the Houston Oilers in 1994. After the Oilers moved to Tennessee, he took the Titans to the Super Bowl after the 1999 season, only to lose to the St. Louis Rams at the very end of what may be the best Super Bowl game ever.

After seventeen seasons with the Titans, he and the Titans parted ways, and after a year off, Fisher joined the Rams for five seasons.

(USFL Forever via YouTube)

More details are emerging about the USFL. The league will be run by Fox Sports and will use NFL rules. Player selection is February 22nd and 23rd, with training camps starting in early March. Opening games are to be on April 16th.

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America's sport is now football, and if Fox can give fans a fun product to watch, this could be a success. Reaction to the Panthers' tweet about the hiring of Fisher so far has
333+ Replies, over a thousand retweets, and almost 7,000 likes in just over two hours.

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