The United Football League will be making its return in a big way on August 13.
Building upon the league's tradition of employing former NFL players and head coaches, the debut match-up of the UFL's third season will feature two highly recognizable football faces: Jerry Glanville and Marty Schottenheimer. Glanville is the head coach of the Hartford Colonials, who look to improve upon last season's 3-5 finish, while Schottenheimer steers the ship of the newly minted Virginia Destroyers, formerly the Florida Tuskers.
"I will be in Virginia for the season kickoff and am excited both to witness the birth of professional football in the region and to see how these two veteran coaches match up against each other," said UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue.
The last time that Glanville and Schottenheimer squared off was back on Sept. 1, 1991 when Glanville's Atlanta Falcons lost 14-3 to Schottenheimer's Kansas City Chiefs.
"Jerry is recognized for his astute skills in coaching defense and his special teams play will be formidable," said Schottenheimer. "You have to take one game at a time, and find a way to win that game."
While the Colonials and Destroyers will kick things off on a Saturday, for the first time in UFL history, there will be games played on Sundays. With a total of 20 regular season games to be played between the league's five teams, a total of 11 will take place on Saturdays, in addition to four games on Fridays and five on Sundays.
After the opening game on Aug. 13, former Arizona Cardinals head coach Dennis Green and his Sacramento Mountain Lions will play host to the Omaha Nighthawks, who are led by first-year head coach Joe Moglia.
There is also plenty of excitement to see if former New York Giants head coach Jim Fassel can lead his two-time defending UFL champion Las Vegas Locomotives to yet another title this season. While they have the opening weekend off, Fassel is making sure that his Locomotives stay focused and ready for their opening contest against the Mountain Lions.
"We've got to really focus in and concentrate, because our first game is going to be against a team that already had a game. And the old saying goes, you make your most improvement between the first and second game. We can't be making a lot of mistakes," said Fassel.
If Fassel's team can limit their mistakes enough, they very well could find themselves in familiar territory: on the field for the Championship Game, which will take place at some point during the Oct. 21-23 weekend, between the league's top two regular season teams.
This summer and fall, especially with the NFL lockout still in effect, the UFL aims to satisfy football fans appetites during otherwise uncertain times.
