Rod Wood

Latest On XFL Coaching Staffs, Front Offices

The XFL made a bit of a spectacle of announcing all of the staff that would be involved in the league once it returns in 2023. Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network provided a rundown of all eight teams’ staffs (all Twitter links).

Dallas Renegades

Director of player personnel: Rick Mueller
Head coach: Bob Stoops
Offensive coordinator: Matt McMillian and Jonathan Hayes
Defensive coordinator: Jay Hayes

Mueller, 54, has an extensive history in the player personnel circles of football. He’s spent time in the college ranks, the CFL, the UFL, and held high-level positions with the Jaguars, Saints, and Eagles. Stoops has a storied history as a college football head coach, most notoriously spending 18 years with the Oklahoma Sooners. Jonathan Hayes, the brother of Jay Hayes, coached with Stoops at Oklahoma before spending 16 years as the Bengals’ tight ends coach.

DC Defenders

Director of player personnel: Von Hutchins
Head coach: Reggie Barlow
Offensive coordinator: Fred Kaiss
Defensive coordinator: Gregg Williams

Hutchins is a former cornerback who played for the Colts, Texans, and Falcons back from 2004-2009. He also spent time in personnel roles with the Raiders and Packers. Barlow is a former NFL receiver who has head coaching experience with FCS Alabama State and Division II Virginia State. Kaiss has worked in the past with Barlow at the FCS level. Williams has vast NFL experience serving as the head coach of the Bills, interim head coach for the Browns, and defensive coordinator for eight different teams, most recently the Jets in 2020.

Houston Roughnecks

Director of player personnel: Marc Lillibridge
Head coach: Wade Phillips
Offensive coordinator: A.J. Smith
Defensive coordinator: Brian Stewart

Lillibridge has a bit of a thin history with the NFL with experience both representing and scouting players over the years. Phillips has enough NFL experience for the both of them, though. Phillips has served as the head coach of the Broncos, Bills, and Cowboys, interim head coach of the Saints and Falcons, and the defensive coordinator of eight different teams, calling defensive plays in Denver in two separate stints. Smith is an innovative, young coach who created a virtual system to train quarterbacks. He’s worked over the years with Gardner Minshew, Jimmy Garoppolo, Josh Rosen, and others. Stewart has worked previously with Phillips as his defensive coordinator in Dallas. Since his time in the NFL, he has served as a defensive coordinator at the collegiate level at Houston and on two separate occasions at Maryland.

Las Vegas (TBD)

Director of player personnel: Joey Clinkscales
Head coach: Rod Woodson
Offensive coordinator: TBD
Defensive coordinator: TBD

Clinkscales has served in personnel roles for the Steelers, Jets, and Raiders dating back to the early 1990s. At his height, he was hired as the Raiders’ director of player personnel in 2012, parting ways with the team when then-general manager Reggie McKenzie was fired in 2019. Woodson is a legendary former NFL defensive back who last played in the early 2000s. Since then, he has worked in some assistant coaching roles with the Bengals, Broncos, and Raiders.

Orlando (TBD)

Director of player personnel: Larry Lee
Head coach: Terrell Buckley
Offensive coordinator: Robert Ford
Defensive coordinator: Tony Carter

Lee is a former NFL center from the 1980s who became the Lions’ vice president of football operations after his retirement. He hasn’t worked in a professional football league in two decades, serving most recently as the deputy executive director of the Fritz Pollard Alliance. Buckley is a former NFL cornerback who moved to coaching after playing, holding multiple assistant coaching positions around the college ranks over the past 15 years. Ford has been coaching for almost 50 years, breaking into the NFL in 1991 with the Cowboys, where he won three Super Bowl rings as a tight ends coach. He has served as an assistant coach with the Dolphins, Cardinals, and Raiders, as well, with his last stint in the NFL coming back in 2006. Carter is another former NFL cornerback who moved to coaching after his playing time ended, taking small coaching roles with the Raiders and Lions since retiring.

San Antonio (TBD)

Director of player personnel: Will Lewis
Head coach: Hines Ward
Offensive coordinator: Jaime Elizondo
Defensive coordinator: Jim Herrmann

Lewis is a former NFL player and assistant coach who moved to the personnel side of football in the late 1990s. After starting as a scout with the Packers, Lewis has held high-level positions with the Seahawks and Chiefs. He also served as general manager for a franchise in the short-lived Alliance of American Football. Ward is a former longtime receiver for the Steelers who, since retiring, has held assistant coaching roles with the Jets and at the collegiate level. Elizondo has a long history of coaching football at the collegiate level and in the CFL, as well as serving as an offensive coordinator in the 2020 iteration of the XFL. Herrmann has been a defensive coordinator at his alma mater, the University of Michigan, as well as an assistant coach for the Jets, Giants, and Colts.

Seattle Dragons

Director of player personnel: Randy Mueller
Head coach: Jim Haslett
Offensive coordinator: June Jones
Defensive coordinator: Ron Zook

Mueller has served in the past as general manager for the Saints and Dolphins while holding other high-level positions for the Seahawks and Chargers. Haslett was the head coach of the Saints for six years in the early 2000s . He has also been a head coach in the UFL and served as interim head coach of the Rams. He’s held defensive coordinator positions with the Saints, Steelers, Rams, and Washington, as well as holding assistant coaching positions with the Raiders, Bengals, and Titans. Jones was the head coach of the Falcons back in the mid-1990s and, subsequently, served as a head coach in the CFL. He’s held offensive coordinator jobs at nearly every level of competitive football. Zook adds to the head coaching experience in Seattle with two stints as a college football head coach. He’s served as defensive coordinator for the Saints and special teams coordinator for the Steelers and Packers. He has lots of experience as a coordinator at the collegiate level, as well.

St. Louis BattleHawks

Director of player personnel: Dave Boller
Head coach: Anthony Becht
Offensive coordinator: Bruce Gradkowski
Defensive coordinator: Donnie Abraham

Boller has scouting experience with the Buccaneers back in the late 1990s. Becht is a former NFL tight end whose only coaching experience is as a positional coach in the AAF. Gradkowski is a former NFL quarterback who served as a backup for much of his career. Since his retirement, Gradkowski has been serving as a high school head coach in Ohio. Abraham continues the trend of former NFL player coaches in St. Louis with no NFL coaching experience. Abraham was a cornerback for the Buccaneers and Jets from 1996-2004. Since retiring he has been a head coach at the high school level, an assistant coach in the Arena Football League, an assistant coach at the collegiate level, and an assistant coach in the AAF.

XFL Assigns Franchise-Coach Pairings

The identities of the head coaches who will be on the sidelines when the XFL begins its third iteration were already known. Today, though, it has been revealed which franchise each coach will be working with when the league re-starts in 2023. 

[RELATED: XFL Announces HCs For 2023 Season]

As detailed by Pro Football Network’s Aaron Wilson (on Twitter), Wade Phillips has been assigned to the Houston franchise. That will mark the second stint coaching a professional team in that city for the soon-to-be 75-year-old, as he took over interim HC duties for the Texans during his time there in 2013. This will mark his first time on the sidelines since 2019, when he served as defensive coordinator of the Rams.

The list of XFL coaches also includes decorated former players. One of them is Hines Ward, who will be joining Phillips and Bob Stoops in the state of Texas by coaching the San Antonio franchise. The former Super Bowl MVP worked as an offensive assistant with the Jets in 2020 and 2021; he spent the past campaign as the WRs coach at Florida Atlantic. The XFL post will mark his first time as a head coach at any level.

Another brand-name player the XFL will be featuring on the sidelines is Rod Woodson. The Hall of Fame corner has more experience than Ward with respect to time spent as a positional coach at the NFL level, including two separate stints as the CBs coach of the Raiders. In his case as well, though, the XFL will provide a first-time HC opportunity. He will take the reins of the Las Vegas team.

Long before the league unveiled its batch of HCs for the upcoming season, the XFL announced a formal partnership with the NFL. While the former will not organize itself as a strictly developmental league for the latter, there will be notable collaboration between the two on a number of matters, including the NFL’s Alumni Academy. While it remains to be seen if the third time proves to be the charm for the enterprise now co-owned by Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia, these agreements, along with the interest generated by these coaches, should give the league a chance at long-term success.

Here is the full breakdown of the franchise-coach pairings, per Wilson:

Lions Notes: GM/HC Search, Stafford, Wood

Lions president Rod Wood confirmed recently hired exec Chris Spielman is involved in the team’s coaching search, and Wood — a self-proclaimed non-football guy — has helped make some football decisions during the team’s time in between GMs, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press notes. Wood did, however, describe his role as more of a suggestion box or sounding board to the team’s current front office. As far as the Lions’ HC and GM searches, the team’s president offered a vague description of how this search is unfolding differently.

One of the things that I think we’re doing differently that didn’t occur, at least in the searches I was involved in with Bob (Quinn) and Matt (Patricia) is really identifying what we want for a Detroit Lion coach and general manager. Not what some other team may want, but what do the Detroit Lions want?” Wood said, via Birkett. “So we’ve been discussing and detailing a lot of very specific criteria that is unique to us.”

The Lions may well be seeking a scouting type for the GM role, and Albert Breer of SI.com adds Detroit’s next coach would not need to be an offensive genius to land the job. Michigan native Robert Saleh has surfaced as an early frontrunner. Here is the latest from Detroit:

  • The Lions have interviewed eight candidates thus far for their GM position. They are not expected to stop there. The organization expects to venture well beyond 10 interviewees for this role, Breer tweets. Thus far, the Lions have interviewed unattached and internal candidates, with Rick Smith, Scott Pioli and Louis Riddick being the biggest names involved thus far.
  • One of the lower-profile candidates, however, may have some momentum. Rams college scouting director Brad Holmes is expected to be interviewed, and Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal tweets Holmes is viewed as a serious candidate to succeed Quinn. Holmes has been with the Rams for 18 years. The Lions will have competition, however. The Falcons are also expected to meet with Holmes.
  • Regarding head coach interviews, the Lions have waited. They are not opting to take advantage of a recent NFL rule change that allowed virtual interviews with candidates, Breer tweets. The franchise will then go through the usual search process, which can begin next week.
  • While Matthew Stafford has been the Lions’ QB1 since arriving in 2009, he has been mentioned in trade speculation for a bit now. The next coach hired will be Stafford’s fourth full-time HC, and the next GM will be the third of Stafford’s career. Some in the Lions organization are wondering if Stafford would be willing to be part of another rebuild, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com. Stafford was involved in trade rumors earlier this year, but Quinn shot down that possibility and kept the 32-year-old passer. With Stafford’s $27MM-per-year contract no longer close to the top of the QB market, teams will be interested in the cannon-armed passer — should the next Lions regime entertain offers. A few AFC teams — like the Broncos, Colts or Patriots — and the 49ers profile as teams that could be interested in the veteran.

Sunday Roundup: Wood, Burfict, Koetter

As the Vikings and Seahawks do battle in frigid Minneapolis, let’s take a look at some links from around the league:

  • New Lions president Rod Wood admits to not having any football experience, but no one was especially concerned about that, as Wood is expected to handle the business side of the club while new GM Bob Quinn will handle the football side. But as Kyle Meinke of MLive.com writes, Detroit’s press release announcing Quinn’s hire noted that Quinn would report to team ownership and to Wood, which suggests that Wood could be wielding more power than initially believed.
  • Unsurprisingly, Bengals LB Vontaze Burfict is facing a suspension for his hit on Antonio Brown last night, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter (via Twitter).
  • ESPN’s Ed Werder believes it is “unlikely” that the Bengals will part ways with head coach Marvin Lewis (Twitter link), and Mark Maske of the Washington Post lays out the reasons for his belief that Lewis should stay.
  • Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel believes the Packers‘ efforts this season have been hampered by GM Ted Thompson‘s lack of in-season roster moves to address the team’s weaknesses. Since 2010, Green Bay has been awarded just two players on waivers, and Thompson has gone to the practice squad 70% of the time to fill vacancies on the 53-man roster.
  • Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune tweets that Dirk Koetter is still the leading candidate for the Buccaneers‘ head coaching job, though Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that Koetter “really impressed” the 49ers during his interview with San Francisco yesterday. Tampa Bay also interviewed Panthers DC Sean McDermott yesterday.
  • Gus Bradley is taking his time with the Jaguars‘ search for a new defensive coordinator and has yet to establish a deadline for the decision, according to Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida-Times Union.
  • Texans unrestricted free agents Ben Jones and Jared Crick both expressed their desire to remain in Houston, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter).
  • Meanwhile, two notable players have declared that they will enter the NFL draft: Arkansas RB Alex Collins (Twitter link via ESPN’s Joe Schad) and Utah State LB Nick Vigil (Twitter link via Tony Pauline of DraftInsider.net).

Coaching/GM Notes: Pagano, Browns, Fins, Cowboys, Lions

The latest news on various teams’ coaching and front office situations as Black Monday approaches:

  • Colts owner Jim Irsay will meet with Chuck Pagano on Monday to discuss the head coach’s future, writes Mike Wells of ESPN.com. After helping lead the Colts to playoff berths in his first three years with the team, Pagano’s club missed out this season during an injury-riddled, tumultuous campaign, going 8-8. As a result, the Colts are expected to let go of Pagano, whose contract is up, according to CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora (Twitter link).
  • With Ray Farmer out as the Browns’ general manager, the franchise might turn its football operations over to executive vice president/general counsel Sashi Brown, Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News reports (Twitter link).
  • Adam Gase, Jim Mora Jr., Mike Shanahan, Teryl Austin, Mike Smith, Dirk Koetter and Doug Marrone are all currently connected to the Dolphins’ head coaching job, according to Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald (Twitter link).
  • Not surprisingly, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones confirmed Sunday that Jason Garrett will return in 2016 for his seventh season as the team’s head coach. “Let me be real clear: There’s no thought of replacing Jason. At all,” Jones said, according to Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Twitter link). Jones acknowledged that Garrett’s staff could change, though, as four assistant coaches’ contracts expire (Twitter link via Williams). Whether those changes happen will be up to Garrett, who Jones says is “the ultimate-decision maker” when it comes to the coaching staff (Twitter link via Fox Sports’ Matt Mosley).
  • Lions president Rod Wood says the club’s search for a new general manager will begin in earnest Monday, tweets Tim Twentyman of the team’s website. Interim GM Sheldon White will be among those interviewed, according to Wood (Twitter link via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press), and Greg Gabriel of NFPost.com reports the Lions will also talk to Giants assistant GM Kevin Abrams (via Twitter). Another Giants executive, Marc Ross, could also get a look, tweets Fox Sports’ Mike Garafolo.

Lions President Talks GM, Caldwell, Roles

New Lions president Rod Wood spoke to reporters at a press conference today, reiterating that he doesn’t have a football background and indicating at one point, “I would probably say that I’m not qualified to run any other NFL team, but I think I’m qualified to run this one,” according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). The assertion, which sounds alarming on the surface, makes some sense when taking into account Wood’s connection to the Ford family, and his understanding of ownership’s wishes and goals, tweets Birkett.

Still, for an executive whose hiring has been scrutinized and questioned based on his lack of football experience, Wood perhaps should have chosen his words a little more carefully. While that quote may get most of the attention, the new team president had plenty more to say, so let’s round up some highlights….

  • According to Wood, the new general manager will be in charge of the Lions’ salary cap, and there will be a clear line of demarcation in responsibilities in the front office (Twitter links via Birkett). It will be “incredibly rare” for Wood to have input on any football personnel decisions — it will likely only happen if a signing or acquisition requires a significant financial investment.
  • The Lions’ advisory board, which consists of Wood and various members of the Ford family, doesn’t have a ton of football experience, as the new president acknowledged today. Wood suggested the Lions will employ an advisor for their GM search to help identify the right candidate (Twitter link via Birkett).
  • According to Wood, the team will use “every resource available to us” in its search for a general manager, and interim GM Sheldon White will be a candidate (Twitter link via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com). Identifying a candidate with “a history of successful roster building” will be a priority, tweets Birkett.
  • The new general manager will be the one to make the call on Jim Caldwell‘s future with the club, per Birkett (Twitter link). That doesn’t bode particularly well for Caldwell, since new GMs often prefer to bring in their own head coaches.
  • Wood admitted that he was involved in discussions on whether or not to fire former GM Martin Mayhew and president Tom Lewand (Twitter link via Birkett). While it would be unfair to accuse Wood of any ulterior motives, it seems to me like a conflict of interest for the team to solicit his opinion on whether to fire someone he ultimately replaced.
  • Selling the team isn’t an option for the Fords in the near future, according to Wood, who declined to comment on a succession plan for ownership (Twitter link via Birkett).

Lions Notes: Wood, GM Search, Ownership

Speaking today to WJR-AM in Detroit, new Lions president Rod Wood confirmed that he will “probably” not be involved with the team’s personnel decisions going forward. However, he’ll be involved in managing the salary cap and other financial decisions that affect the franchise, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press writes.

The football and personnel decisions figure to be handled by the new general manager, and Wood said today that the Lions are “just embarking upon the next steps of that [GM search].” According to Birkett, many league observers believe the club will likely hire a young GM who is one of the candidates formally identified by the NFL. We heard yesterday about a few executives Detroit may be considering.

Here’s more out of Detroit:

  • The top candidates for the Lions’ GM job will have questions that need to be answered about the ownership structure and succession plan for the franchise, Birkett notes (via Twitter). However, Wood’s presence doesn’t make the job any less appealing. Birkett suggests that Lions ownership ought to hire someone from the NFL’s GM advisory board as a consultant to help conduct the search and to sit in on interviews with candidates (Twitter link).
  • The hiring of Wood, just two weeks after owner Martha Ford promised to conduct “a national serach for the best leadership to manage our team going forward,” doesn’t sit right with Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press, who says Wood’s main qualification for the position is that he has earned the Fords’ trust.
  • As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk outlines, the fact that Wood said he “probably” won’t be involved in personnel decisions, rather than dismissing the idea outright, may be a cause for concern. Florio also points out that if Sheila Ford Hamp were to be next in line to take over the franchise, Wood could end up acting as a surrogate owner for a while, since he’s a “close confidante” of Hamp.
  • Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com provides five things to know about the Lions’ new president.

Lions Hire Rod Wood As President

The Lions have officially hired Rod Wood as the team’s new president, the club announced today in a press release. Wood takes over the position that was previously held by Tom Lewand, until he was let go along with general manager Martin Mayhew earlier this month.

Wood, who was served as the president and CEO of Ford Estates, has “worked closely” with the Lions organization for the last eight years, according to the team release. He’ll oversee the business side of the franchise, and will report directly to owner Martha Firestone Ford.

“I am humbled and honored to accept this position,” Wood said in a statement. “Mrs. Ford has made it clear that her goal, and the goal of the Ford Family, is to make the Detroit Lions a championship football team and organization. In my role as team President, I will do everything possible to provide our organization with all the means necessary to succeed on the football field and provide our fans and city with a championship organization both on and off the field.”

With Wood taking over the role as president, the Lions will now move forward in their search for a general manager, with Ford stating that the club now has “the ability to move more decisively” in that search. She also announced an advisory board for the GM search, which includes herself, Wood, and the team’s board of directors and vice chairmen, all of whom are members of the Ford family.

The Lions remain unlikely to formally name a new GM until after the regular season, but the team figures to identify potential candidates and perhaps put out feelers in the next few weeks. For now, Sheldon White remains the interim general manager in Detroit.