Getty Illinois head coach Ron Zook.
The XFL, which will have its relaunch in 2023, announced key football hires and coaching staff for the league’s eight teams on June 9. Among the hires was one former coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Ron Zook was named as Seattle’s defensive coordinator under head coach Jim Haslett.
Former UF and Illinois head coach Ron Zook and former Hawaii and SMU head coach June Jones have been hired to Jim Haslett’s staff in the XFL. Zook will be the DC and Jones will be the OC.
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Zook’s stint in Kansas City was short-lived. He spent one season on the Chiefs coaching staff in 1999 as the defensive backs coach. The Chiefs went 9-7 that season and finished second in the AFC West under head coach Gunther Cunningham, who spent two seasons as Kansas City’s head coach (1999-00).
Following that season he would be hired as the New Orleans Saints’ defensive coordinator, which is a position he held for two seasons. From there he would become the head coach of the University of Florida (2002-04), the head coach of Illinois (2005-11), an assistant special teams coach (2014) and the head special teams coach for the Green Bay Packers (2015-18), and a senior analyst (2019-20) and special teams coordinator/associate head coach for Maryland (2021), according to Pro Football History.
During his 11 total years as a head coach, Zook accumulated a 99-76-1 record and a 7-6 playoff record.
Brittany Mahomes Honored for Work in Women’s Sports
In other Chiefs-related news, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ wife, Brittany Mahomes, was recognized for her work in women’s sports by the Sports Business Journal.
SBJ acknowledges the leaders in different industries as “Power Players,” and named Brittany Mahomes, as well as KC Current co-owners Angie and Chris Long, as “Power Players” in women’s sports.
“Private equity power couple Angie and Chris Long teamed with Mahomes, a former professional soccer player and the wife of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, to bring women’s soccer back to Kansas City in 2020,” SBJ wrote. “The trio has quickly moved to put down roots for their new club. In addition to a $15 million training facility set to open this year, the Current will soon break ground on a $117 million soccer-specific stadium, the first to be purpose-built for an NWSL team, along the downtown Kansas City riverfront”
Changing the game in Kansas City and beyond.
Owners @cdlong97, @AngieKLong1 and @BrittanyLynne have been named Power Players in Women’s Sports by @SBJ 👏
Not long after the KC Current Twitter account shared the news of Mahomes and the Longs’ being named “Power Players,” the team shared a video of the Current’s new 17,000-square-foot facility, which has two soccer fields directly behind the building.
The new facility is expected to open on June 22.
Player-first with every detail.
⏳ 6.22.22 | #TealRising
Patrick Mahomes Brings $2.7 Billion Franchise to KC
June 7 marked the first day Whataburger opened its doors in Kansas City. This is thanks to Patrick Mahomes, who financially backed the opening of the first branch in Kansas City.
Let’s go!!!! @Whataburger
Restaurant Business valued the burger chain’s revenue stream at $2.7 billion in 2020, ranking Whataburger 26th on its list of the top 500 restaurants. Those figures yielded a year-over-year sales change of 5.6% growth and a year-over-year unit increase of 1.7%.
Compared with some of the other top 25 chains on that list — with other chains’ negative sales and unit change figures — Whataburger appears to be climbing the list.
This is just another example of how Mahomes continues to build up the city he has called home since 2017.
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Ex-Chiefs Coach Hired for New Football League