| | Associated Press
CHICAGO -- Dick Butkus has never been a coach, but he's
played one on TV.
He was a lovable basketball coach on a children's sitcom. As for
football, he did coach one game against Al Pacino in an Oliver
Stone movie, "Any Given Sunday."
|  | | NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus' blood-and-guts mentality should work well in the newly formed XFL. |
All that was good enough for Vince McMahon, the chairman of the
World Wrestling Federation, whose new football league, the XFL,
debuts in February.
On Wednesday, McMahon introduced Butkus as the head coach of
Chicago's XFL team.
"Dick Butkus is the personification of the XFL," said McMahon,
whose league doesn't have any other coaches and whose Chicago
franchise doesn't yet have a name.
Butkus, the Hall of Fame Chicago Bears linebacker, was still
wearing the familiar buzz cut that reminds longtime Bears fans of
one of the most ferocious players in NFL history.
He had McMahon beaming with his talk about body parts -- guts and
heart. And Butkus had him positively glowing when talked about the
tough-guy football he promised his team would play.
"We're gonna have people hitting people if I can help it,"
Butkus said.
Butkus, who turned to acting after he retired from football in
1973, has spent a lot more time on "Fantasy Island" and in
"Night Court" and pitching Miller Lite than worrying about passes
and blitzes in recent years.
But Butkus seemed unconcerned about the fact that he hasn't
"coached in awhile, or at all."
"How difficult is it?" Butkus said. "You just get the guys
there and demand (they) work hard and let the chips fall where they
may."
As for his own time commitment, Butkus said he has completed
taping his Saturday morning TV show, "Hang Time." He guessed he'd
be done with any other non-XFL duties by about November.
Coaching "is not going to be a mail-in type deal," he said.
Nor, apparently, is it going to take a round-the-clock
commitment.
"I don't believe that we have to sleep in our offices to get
our work done," he said. "But we're going to put in a good
effort." | |
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 Dick Butkus will always remain a fan of the Bears.
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Vince McMahon says that Dick Butkus personifies the XFL.
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Dick Butkus on being the coach of the XFL's Chicago franchise.
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