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Todd Haley Named Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach

 
    • _Tarkus_ schrieb...
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    • 6. Feb. 2009, 20:00

    Todd Haley Named Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach

    Feb 06, 2009, 1:00:00 PM

    Kansas City Chiefs Chairman Clark Hunt announced on Friday that Todd Haley has been named head coach. Haley joins the team after spending the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals. At 41 years old, Haley becomes the second-youngest head coach in franchise history.

    “We are very pleased to welcome Todd to the Chiefs,” Hunt said. “Todd is an outstanding football coach with a proven track record of success at every stop in his career, and we look forward to his leadership.”

    “I am very excited that Todd has accepted the position of head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs,” General Manager Scott Pioli said. “Todd is an outstanding football coach and he has been an integral part of several very successful organizations.

    “Having worked with Todd in New York from ‘97-99 and having been mentored by some of the same people, we have a shared vision of what it takes to build a successful franchise in the National Football League,” Pioli continued. “He will bring passion, dedication and energy to Kansas City, and I am confident that this is the beginning of a partnership that will serve the Chiefs well.”

    Haley said he was eager to begin his work in Kansas City.

    “I am extremely excited and proud to be a part of the Kansas City Chiefs family and the Kansas City community,” Haley said. “I am looking forward to working with Scott to re-establish the winning tradition that the tremendous fans in Kansas City deserve.”

    Haley enters his 15th season in the National Football League and his 13th campaign in a coaching capacity in 2009. He enjoyed previous NFL coaching experience with Arizona (2007-08), Dallas (2004-06), Chicago (2001-03) and the N.Y. Jets (’97-00), earning playoff berths with each of those franchises. He helped the Cardinals win the NFC Championship and reach Super Bowl XLIII, marking the first time the franchise had advanced to the NFL title game since ‘47. Haley was also a member of Bill Parcells’ N.Y. Jets staff that guided that franchise to the ‘98 AFC Championship Game. It was during his tenure with the Jets that he began his association with Pioli, who served as Director of Pro Personnel for the Jets from ‘97-99.

    Under Haley’s guidance, the Cardinals offense in 2008 was one of the league’s most innovative and explosive units. Arizona tied for third in the league in scoring, registering a franchise-record 427 points (26.7 ppg). The Cardinals were fourth in total offense, averaging 365.8 yards per game. Arizona was second in the league in passing offense (292.1 ypg) and ranked sixth in the NFL with 20.5 first downs per game.

    Haley’s offensive unit in Arizona featured a trio of Pro Bowl performers in 2008. QB Kurt Warner led all NFC passers and established single-season franchise records with a 96.9 rating and 30 TD passes. Warner threw for 377 yards and three TDs in Super Bowl XLIII. Meanwhile, WRs Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin formed the league’s most potent receiving tandem. Fitzgerald led all NFC receivers with 96 catches for 1,431 yards with 12 TDs. He enjoyed a seven-catch, 127-yard, two-TD performance in Super Bowl XLIII and set NFL single-season postseason records for receptions (30), receiving yards (546), TD receptions (seven) and 100-yard games (four) during the 2008 playoffs. Boldin had 89 receptions for 1,038 yards with 11 TDs during the regular season, while WR Steve Breaston had 77 receptions for 1,006 yards, making the Cardinals just the fifth team in NFL history to boast three 1,000-yard receivers in a single season.

    Arizona’s offensive resurgence began when Haley joined the Cardinals as offensive coordinator in 2007. That season the Cardinals ranked fifth in the league in passing (254.1 ypg) and set a single-season franchise record with 32 TD passes. Arizona also ranked second in the league with a 94.0 scoring percentage inside the Red Zone. The Cardinals ranked seventh in the league in scoring by averaging 25.3 ppg after ranking 19th in that category in 2006 (19.6 ppg). The Cardinals also rose to 12th in total offense (344.1 ypg) in 2007, an improvement of 31.6 ypg after ranking 18th in that category one year earlier.

    He joined Ken Whisenhunt’s staff in Arizona after serving a three-year stint as Passing Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers coach for Dallas (2004-06). In 2006, the Cowboys offense ranked fourth in the NFL in passing (239.8 ypg) as QB Tony Romo developed into a Pro Bowl performer in his first year as a starter and Dallas qualified for the postseason. Haley’s passing attack helped the Cowboys finish fourth in the league in scoring (26.6 ppg) and second in third-down efficiency at 48.8%. Dallas boasted a pair of 1,000-yard pass catchers in WRs Terrell Owens and Terry Glenn. In 2005, Glenn averaged 18.3 yards per catch to tie for the NFL lead and posted 1,136 receiving yards, the first 1,000-yard campaign by a member of the Cowboys since ‘99. In his debut with the Cowboys in 2004, WR Keyshawn Johnson recorded 70 catches for 981 yards with six TDs with Haley serving as his position coach.

    Haley joined the Cowboys after a three-year tour of duty as wide receivers coach for Chicago (2001-03) under head coach Dick Jauron. In 2001, the Bears went 13-3 and won the NFC Central for the first time since ‘90 as WR Marty Booker set a single-season franchise record with 100 catches. Under Haley’s tutelage a year a later, Booker became just the second player in franchise annals to post back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns, becoming Chicago’s first Pro Bowl wide receiver since ‘71.

    His initial NFL experience came as a member of the N.Y. Jets (’95-00), where he served as that club’s wide receivers coach from ‘99-00. In his initial season in that capacity, he helped WR Keyshawn Johnson earn his second straight Pro Bowl berth as he accumulated 89 receptions for 1,170 yards and caught eight TDs in ‘99. Prior to becoming a position coach, Haley worked as an offensive assistant/quality control coach for Jets (’97-98), working closely with offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, who currently serves as the head coach at Notre Dame. Haley began his career with the Jets as an assistant in the scouting department in ‘95, where he scouted regionally for the team and assisted in player evaluations.

    Owning a distinguished football pedigree, he is the son of Dick Haley, a 43-year NFL veteran. After enjoying stints as the Director of Player Personnel for Pittsburgh (’71-90) and the N.Y. Jets (’91-02), the elder Haley served as a Personnel Consultant for the Jets (2003-07), and currently is a Player Personnel Analyst for the Miami Dolphins. One of the architects of the great Steelers teams of the 1970s, Haley’s ‘74 draft class with Pittsburgh featured four Hall of Famers – LB Jack Lambert, C Mike Webster, as well as WRs Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. The elder Haley also selected Hall of Fame LB Jack Ham in ‘71 and tabbed hall of Fame RB Franco Harris in ‘72, forming the nucleus of a team that would claim four Super Bowl crowns over a six-year span from ‘74-79. The elder Haley spent six seasons playing cornerback in the NFL with Washington (’59-60), Minnesota (’61) and Pittsburgh (’61-64).

    The younger Haley spent his formative years in Pittsburgh, immersed in football with his father and the Steelers organization. A former ballboy for the Steelers, Haley spent many summers as a youth at training camp with the club, and frequently watched film alongside his father. In attendance for many of the greatest games in Steelers history, he later served as a member of the Steelers chain gain on gamedays during his teenage years. He attended Upper St. Clair High School in Pittsburgh, where he was a multi-sport standout.

    Born on February 28, 1967 in Atlanta, Georgia, Haley was a member of the collegiate golf squads at the University of Florida and the University of Miami and participated in the NCAA golf tournament during his time at both schools. He later earned a degree in Communications from the University of North Florida in ‘91. Haley and his wife, Chrissy, have four daughters: Taylor, Peyton, Kady, and Ella and one son, Richard Todd, Jr.

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