PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Doug Shively, a defensive specialist with nine years experience in the NFL, was named Monday head coach of the Arizona Wranglers of the new United States Football League.
Shivley, 44, signed a three-year contract with the Wranglers.
He had been linebacker coach for the past six seasons with the Atlanta Falcons and previously worked three years with New Orleans.
At New Orleans, Shivley worked with Harry Hulmes, now chief operating officer of the Wranglers.
'It's a challenge to me to be involved with a football team from the ground up,' said Shively. He added there were not a lot of jobs that could have persuaded him to leave Atlanta.
His immediate task, he told a news conference, will be to hire a staff of six assistants and to help sign players taken in last week's USFL draft. Shivley has less than three weeks to do that as USFL clubs will begin practicing for their spring season about Feb. 1.
Hulmes spent six weeks looking for a coach and was turned down by several college coaches before he began interviewing NFL assistants.
Hulmes called Shivley a 'teacher,' who also will require that his assistants be teachers.
'He'll develop into a top notch coach in our league,' Hulmes predicted.
In his six years as an assistant at Atlanta, the Falcons had a 46-41 record. Before going to Atlanta, he served three years as an assistant under Hank Stram at New Orleans.
Shively, a native of Lexington, Ky., graduated from Kentucky in 1959 after lettering three years as an end. He was co-captain of the Wildcats in his senior year.
Before he reached the pro coaching ranks, Shivley was an assistant at five colleges.
