Jim Haslett

James Donald Haslett (born December 9, 1955) is an American football coach and former linebacker who was most recently the head coach of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL.

He played college football for the IUP Crimson Hawks before being drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the second round of the 1979 NFL Draft; he went on to be named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Haslett attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and was selected in the second round of the 1979 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills.

He was named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year for 1979.

Haslett's coaching career began in the late 1980s, with him rejoining the NFL by the mid 1990s.

He was a linebacker for the Buffalo Bills through 1985; he broke his leg during a 1986 preseason contest, ending his time with the Bills.

He made a brief comeback with the New York Jets in 1987.

Haslett began his coaching career at the University at Buffalo in 1988 as a linebackers coach before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 1989.

After three seasons with Buffalo, Haslett became the defensive coordinator for the Sacramento Surge of the World League of American Football for the team’s inaugural season in 1991.

The league suspended operations after the 1992 season.

Haslett began his NFL coaching career as a linebackers coach for the Los Angeles Raiders in 1993.

After two seasons with the Raiders, Haslett was hired as linebackers coach for the New Orleans Saints.

He was promoted to defensive coordinator for the 1996 season.

After head coach Jim Mora quit during the season, Haslett was offered the interim head coach position, but he declined, and was not retained by new head coach Mike Ditka for the 1997 season.

Haslett was then hired as the defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he coached for three seasons from 1997-1999.

In 2000, he was hired as head coach of the New Orleans Saints and was named the NFL Coach of the Year.

He has also served as head coach for the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League (UFL).

In January 2000, Haslett was named head coach of the New Orleans Saints.

He was reportedly hired to a three-year contract.

That season, he guided the Saints to a 10–6 regular-season record, their second NFC West division championship, and the first playoff victory in franchise history (defeating the St. Louis Rams; they lost to the Minnesota Vikings the next week).

As a result of the Saints' turnaround from their previous 3–13 season (under his predecessor, Mike Ditka), Haslett was named NFL Coach of the Year.

This was the only playoff appearance in Haslett's six years in New Orleans.

They would only notch one other winning record in 2002.

That year, the Saints started 9-4, but three consecutive losses, including to the 1-14 Cincinnati Bengals, resulted in them missing the playoffs by a single game.

In a 2005 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Haslett admitted to using steroids while playing for the Buffalo Bills.

Haslett went on record saying that "everybody tried it" to gain a competitive advantage against opposing teams.

In 2005, the Saints crashed to a 3–13 record.

The season was marred by Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans.

This forced the franchise to temporarily relocate to San Antonio, playing three of their 'home' games in the Alamodome.

Another four home games were played in Baton Rouge at LSU's Tiger Stadium, and one took place at Giants Stadium in New Jersey (against the New York Giants).

Haslett was fired after the 2005 season.

He finished his six-year tenure as the head coach of the Saints with the second most head coaching wins in franchise history, with a regular season record of 45-51.

Haslett became the St. Louis Rams' defensive coordinator to start the 2006 season.

On September 29, 2008, Haslett was named the interim head coach of the Rams after Scott Linehan was fired.

The Rams gave Haslett an interim coach's contract, containing a clause that promised him the permanent head coach's job if the team won at least six games that season.

Within a few weeks, this clause was nullified by the NFL, because it violated the league's "Rooney Rule".

He won his first game as interim head coach of the Rams with a 19-17 victory over the 4-1 Washington Redskins.

That win was followed by a 34-14 drubbing of the Dallas Cowboys on October 19, 2008.

This brought the Rams to a 2-4 record.

The team would lose their final 10 games, leaving Haslett with an interim record of 2-10 on the year.