Florida Tuskers done with Orlando and moving to Norfolk

Norfolk Destroyers General Manager Doug Williams will receive relocation Florida Tuskers

The Florida Tuskers organization announced they were relocating from Orlando to Norfolk Wednesday afternoon. The Tuskers (5-3) advanced their second consecutive UFL championship game this season, where they lost to the Las Vegas Locomotives.

Norfolk was originally announced as an expansion team for the UFL, but will now be treated as a relocation with Orlando being the lucky team.

According to a former spokesperson for the Tuskers, Tuskers coach Jay Gruden will remain the head coach. Gruden doesn’t have to look far for a Florida connection as Norfolk’s general manager is former Tampa Bay Buccaneers pro scouting coordinator Doug Williams. Former Florida Tuskers President and Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann will serve as a consultant to the UFL.

Jay Gruden to Coach the Virginia Destroyers of the United Football League

Gruden’s move comes as a result of the UFL ceasing operations in Orlando and the coaching vacancy that was created when JOE MOGLIA was named head coach of the Omaha Nighthawks. Gruden plans to retain the Tusker’s protected players and bring them to Virginia, which became the league’s newest expansion market in 2010.

“We will bring quality entertainment and the basis of a solid roster that has reached the last two Championship Games to excite the fans in Virginia,” said Coach Gruden. “I expect to bring back a lot of the guys who have helped make the team a success and believe we will be competitive again.

“I am excited about going up to Virginia to lead the Destroyers, though there is a bittersweet element as well. We have enjoyed success on the field with the Tuskers and I would like to thank the fans in Florida for their support.”

HBCU Players on Current Team Roster

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Owner of local UFL team ousted

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - In a surprise move Friday, officials of the United Football League took away ownership of the Hampton Roads franchise from Jim Speros and the league will run the team until a new group of owners is found.

In an exclusive interview with WAVY-TV Sports Director Bruce Rader, UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghue told Rader, “The league has decided to take control of the Hampton Roads team ourselves. The league is going to own the team initially.”

“League Vice President Ed Reynolds is now the president of the team, Doug Williams will still be general manager, and we will make an announcement September 1st about the venue.”


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Hampton Roads moves closer to UFL

NORFOLK, VA — Professional football moved one step closer to Hampton Roads with the head of a recently-formed league in town to give his blessing officially and the team owner saying that he is likely to select a stadium in a month.

Michael Huyghue, commissioner of the fledgling United Football League, removed the "conditional" tag from the start-up franchise awarded to the area last month after fully vetting team owner Jim Speros and receiving assurances that a suitable playing facility could be secured.

"I wanted to bring the league in and get comfortable," Speros said Monday during a presser at downtown Norfolk's World Trade Center, "so people don't think we're trying to play this (area) against Richmond or Raleigh. That's over with. We put the stake down today. We're coming here, we're going to play football here in 2011, and the venue will be announced soon."

Speros, who spent weeks crisscrossing Hampton Roads, said that he will choose from Old Dominion's Foreman Field, Norfolk State's Dick Price Stadium, Harbor Park and the Virginia Beach Sportsplex for a game venue, though he intends to hold scrimmages and practices all over the area.

"The good news is right now that the league is comfortable with us," he said. "We have a home. All the mayors want us, the community wants us, the business leaders want us. There's nobody (who has) told us that they won't embrace it and help us be successful."



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UFL adding team in Norfolk, with former Redskins great Doug Williams as GM

Grambling State University and Washington Redskins legend Doug Williams has been named General Manager of the new Norfolk UFL franchise.

The United Football League board has agreed a conditional approval for Norfolk, Virginia, to host the league’s sixth team that will commence play in 2011.

Meeting at the Cornell Club in New York, the board agreed that Virginia businessman Jim Speros will become the provisional Tidewater region team’s owner. Speros was a founding owner of the Baltimore Stallions, the only American-based team to win a Canadian Football League Grey Cup in 1995.

From 1993 to 1997 he was the President and owner of the Stallions and the Montreal Alouettes and was the vice chairman of the CFL and chairman of its US expansion committee. Speros played college football at Clemson University and was the youngest full time assistant coach in the NFL under Joe Gibbs at the Washington Redskins before moving into team ownership.

Washington Redskins and Grambling State University legend Doug Williams, the MVP of Super Bowl XXII and the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, will take on the role of General Manager of the Norfolk team.

“I am very fortunate to be able to bring a pro football team to the state of Virginia and especially to the Tidewater region,” said Speros. “There is already a lot of football history in this area and I believe Norfolk will become the shining star of the United Football League.

“Virginia is a great state, but it does not have a professional sports team. It has the legendary 757 area code that has produced the likes of Bruce Smith and Michael Vick and is truly a hotbed for football. The fans are knowledgeable, there is a military presence here and I am sure they will all enjoy the opportunity to watch quality football.”

Williams, reached Monday night, said he has fond members of the Norfolk area, having played Norfolk State in football when he was quarterback at Grambling under the legendary Eddie Robinson. "It was like a rivalry when Dick Price was the coach there," William said of the former Spartans coach whose name now graces the NSU football stadium. Williams said that NSU also played Grambling in Louisiana as well in New York in the Urban League's Whitney M. Young Classic. "I also used to come to the Norfolk Scope for the CIAA all the time," Williams said, referring to the popular basketball tournament put on by the Hampton-based Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghue added: “We are delighted to welcome Norfolk, Virginia, and the Tidewater region as our sixth city and are excited to have a successful team owner in Jim Speros and a proven winner in Doug Williams on board to lead the team.

“Like Omaha, which came on board as an expansion team in April and has already generated considerable excitement, Norfolk fits the ideal UFL model of having a passionate fan base that we believe deserves a professional football team.”

The Norfolk team will face the Florida Tuskers, Hartford Colonials, Las Vegas Locos, Omaha Nighthawks, Sacramento Mountain Lions and additional potential expansion teams when the third United Football League season kicks off in 2011. Football fans eager to learn more about the UFL and buy tickets for the 2010 season can visit the www.UFL-Football.com website.

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