The Alliance of American Football has its next head coach, and it has a pretty big name as an assistant, too.
Just over two weeks after Steve Spurrier was announced as its first coach for an Orlando-based franchise, the new eight-city league Wednesday that Brad Childress and Michael Vick will be leading the staff for another team in Georgia -- Childress as head coach and Vick as offensive coordinator.
Well Atlanta, looks like you’re in good hands! #AllianceATL Head Coach Brad Childress and Offensive Coordinator @MichaelVick will be building their Alliance in the great state of Georgia. Join us at 2:15pm ET on Facebook Live to hear what they have in store for the season. pic.twitter.com/iteYAx69kh
— AAF (@TheAAF) April 25, 2018
Childress was hired by the Chicago Bears in February as a senior offensive consultant to new head coach Matt Nagy, but he may be able to balance both NFL and AAF responsibilities considering the latter is set for a February 2019 kickoff. Before joining the Bears, Childress spent five years under Andy Reid with the Kansas City Chiefs and had a stint as the Minnesota Vikings' head coach from 2006-2010. He was also on staff with Reid's Philadelphia Eagles from 1999-2005, mostly as an offensive coordinator.
Vick, meanwhile, has been busy since retiring from the NFL, where he went to four Pro Bowls in 13 seasons. Although he hasn't played since 2015, the former No. 1 overall draft pick retired as a member of the Atlanta Falcons in 2017. He then joined the upstart American Flag Football League as a team captain and league adviser after reuniting with Reid as a Chiefs coaching intern during last year's training camp.
Announced in March by Charlie Ebersol, who's in partnership with former NFL executive Bill Polian and ex-NFL players like Jared Allen, Justin Tuck and Troy Polamalu, the AAF is set to debut on Feb. 9, 2019, one week after Super Bowl LIII.
CBS will air the first game, and the network will also carry the Alliance of American Football's championship game on the final weekend of April 2019, and one regular-season Alliance game will air exclusively on CBS Sports Network each week during the inaugural season.