Former Steelers assistant Kirby Wilson named head coach of USFL Pittsburgh Maulers
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The new pro football team named after Pittsburgh has its head coach — and it’s a man who used to coach pro ball in the city.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers running backs coach Kirby Wilson was named the first coach for the reboot of the Pittsburgh Maulers. The Maulers will play in the reimagined United States Football League when its season kicks off in April.
Wilson was an original member of Mike Tomlin’s staff when Tomlin took over the Steelers in 2007. Wilson spent seven seasons with the Steelers as part of 24 consecutive years as an NFL running backs coach for eight teams from 1997-2020.
“I’m excited to have this opportunity to be a head coach for the first time,” Wilson said in a statement released by the USFL. “I didn’t believe it at first, but now that that moment is inching closer and closer, I’m super excited about being a head coach in the USFL. I can’t wait to get out on the field, in the grass with my players and the coaches, and start building a championship football team.”
This is the first head coaching job for Wilson, 60, who was on the staff twice when the Steelers played in the Super Bowl — winning it after the 2008 season.
Wilson was badly burned in a 2012 house fire at his then-home in Seven Fields.
The Maulers are one of eight teams in this new version of the USFL, all a nod to the original 1980s league that took on the mighty NFL by signing college stars and paying outsized salaries to big-name players.
But despite the Maulers’ full name, the team will not play in Pittsburgh for the 2022 season — all league games will be played at one site. That is soon expected to be announced as Birmingham, Ala.
The league’s other teams in 2022 are the Birmingham Stallions, New Orleans Breakers, Houston Gamblers, and Tampa Bandits (South Division) and Michigan Panthers, Maulers, New Jersey Generals and Philadelphia Stars (North Division).
Former Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley earlier this month was named coach of the Bandits.
The USFL will play a 10-week regular-season schedule with the top two teams in each division meeting in the postseason to determine participants in a league championship game. The league draft is scheduled for Feb. 22-23. Roster size is set for 38 in addition to a seven-player practice squad.