Steve Spurrier hired as Alliance league's first head coach

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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Steve Spurrier plans to be back on the sideline if a proposed new professional league gets off the ground.

The Orlando Alliance announced Saturday that it has hired Spurrier as its first head coach. Spurrier will coach in the planned Alliance of American Football.

The Alliance is the creation of Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Polian and longtime TV and film producer Charlie Ebersol. The league plans to have eight teams and will play a 12-week season Feb. 9, 2019, and will be broadcast on CBS.

Orlando is the first planned team site, and Spurrier is the first coach.

The 72-year-old Spurrier says he's ''fired up and ready to go.''

Orlando has never had much success with startup football leagues.

The Florida Blazers lasted only one season in the ill-fated World Football League during the 1970s, followed by several other short-lived teams: The Orlando Renegades of the United States Football League, the Orlando Thunder of the World League of American Football, the Orlando Rage of the infamous XFL, and the Florida Tuckers of the United Football League.

Spurrier coached collegiately at Duke (1987-89), Florida (1990-2001) and South Carolina (2005-2015). The 1966 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback also coached the NFL's Washington Redskins (2002-03).

He is the fourth person to be inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.