Jim Haslett Was Not Exactly a "Hot" Coaching Property

Okay, this is a relatively petty argument, but one that has been bugging me for some time. It goes something like this.

When talking about the Redskins "staff" under Mike Shanahan, I have been less than enthralled with the resumes and caliber of the OC and DC. As I casually mentioned to my colleague and afternoon co-host on ESPN980, Andy Pollin, "well, we have a UFL coach and the head coach's kid for our coordinators. Not exactly a Hall of Fame tandem."

Andy can't take exception to the "coaches kid" jab, because, well, it's true.

The Jim Haslett moniker of "UFL coach" however, really rankles him - for some reason.

The point I was trying to make, and somehow keep failing with Andy, is that Haslett, once let go by the Rams as interim HC, was basically at the end of his coaching career. Which, while sad for him, is a reality for many coaches who "have their run" in the highest league in the land.

Not wanted by any other NFL team as a coordinator, Haslett had to accept the lowly gig in the fledgling UFL. When I point this out, Andy gets very pointed and defensive, saying "how do you know he didn't have offers to be a coordinator elsewhere in the NFL? Maybe he wanted to be a head coach again, and CHOSE the UFL instead."

Child, please.

I tried to impress upon Andy that the NFL, is, well, the NATIONAL....FOOTBALL..... LEAGUE..., and being a coordinator in that league is pretty damn good. Or, as Larry David would say, "pretty... pretty... good."

Only a blithering IDIOT, would turn down a DC job in the NFL, to take  HC job in the UFL for surely half the price, and with absolutely zero stability (see: league, folded).

Andy, however, rises with indignance when I say that, and fires back.... "and you KNOW this... BECAUSE...???"

Well, here's the show stopper, at least in my mind. From the Orlando Sentinel, by way of courtesy of e-mailer Jeremy Floam...

He became the St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator in 2006 and stayed there until last year. He took over as interim head coach when head coach Scott Lenihan was fired after Game 4. 

Haslett led the Rams to two straight wins, but then the team lost the final 10 games and Haslett was not asked to return. 

He was out of football and didn't know what to do with himself. "I was probably driving my family crazy. You go 16 years of waking up a four in the morning every day and working until 11 at night and then suddenly, you're doing nothing." 

He was considering the defensive coordinator job with Green Bay, also had another couple of opportunities with other teams as an assistant head coach, but nothing quite worked out. He was indeed, jobless. Until the UFL came along. "I figured, what the hell ... why not?"

Boom. Roasted.

"What the hell, why not?"
-Jim Haslett

Back to you, Andy.....