A familiar name might be coming back to the spring football world. According to James Larsen of Pro Football Newsroom, longtime NFL coach Jim Haslett is the frontrunner to become the next head coach of the St. Louis Battlehawks. This comes as the UFL moved Anthony Becht to Orlando.
Jim Haslett is 70 years old from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He last coached in 2023 with the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. The Sea Dragons finished second in the XFL North Division with a 7-3 record and lost to the D.C. Defenders in the North Division Finals.
Haslett played college football at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he made 412 tackles, 35 sacks, and set the IUP record with 13 fumble recoveries from 1975-78. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills second round of the 1979 NFL Draft and was named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.
He also played one season for the New York Jets in 1987. In eight seasons, Haslett made 94 tackles (86 solos, 6 assists), 7.5 sacks, seven forced fumbles, and 12 fumble recoveries in 94 games. He retired after the 1987 season.
Haslett returned to Buffalo as the team’s linebackers coach in 1988. He would later be promoted to defensive coordinator from 1989 through 1990. After Buffalo, Haslett was the defensive coordinator for the Sacramento Surge of the World League of American Football from 1991 to 1992. Haslett returned to the NFL as a linebackers coach for the Los Angeles Raiders from 1993 to 1994. In 1995, he was named a linebackers coach for the New Orleans Saints.
The following year, he was promoted to defensive coordinator. The Pittsburgh Steelers hired Haslett as a defensive coordinator in 1997. He was there until 1999, before returning to New Orleans as the team’s new head coach. In six seasons, Haslett went 45-51, helping the Saints win the NFC West Division in 2000, before losing to the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Divisional Round. He was named the AP Coach of the Year. The Saints would finish second twice, third twice, and fourth once in 2005. Haslett was fired after the season.
Haslett was named defensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams in 2006. He was the defensive coordinator for three seasons before being named an interim head coach in 2008. Haslett was let go after the season.
In 2009, Haslett coached the Florida Tuskers in the second incarnation of the United Football League. He led the Tuskers to a 6-0 record before losing the UFL Championship game to Jim Fossell’s Las Vegas Locomotives.
Haslett returned to the NFL as a defensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins from 2010 to 2014. In 2015, he was a consultant for the Penn State Nittany Lions. A year later, he was named linebackers coach for the Cincinnati Bengals from 2016 to 2018. From 2020 to 2021, he was the inside linebackers coach of the Tennessee Titans. He was not retained after the 2021 season. He took a year off from coaching before joining the XFL.
