After three weeks of the USFL, there is only one team still unbeaten. No, it’s not the Birmingham Stallions, but the New Orleans Breakers, who beat the Stallions 45-31 last Saturday. New Orleans is coached by former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback coach John DeFilippo.
The Breakers are leading the USFL in passing yards per game (263.7), kick return average (29.3), converting third downs (53.8), and yards per game (393).
In addition, his quarterback, two-time Grey Cup champion McLeod Bethel-Thompson leads the league in passing (837), while running back Wes Hills, a Wildwood, New Jersey, native leads the league in both rushing (301 yards) and rushing touchdowns (6). Tight end Sage Surratt leads the league in receiving yards (257), and kicker Matt Coghlin leads the league in kicking points (33).
DeFilippo’s journey in football began when he played college football at James Madison (1996-99) for four years. After college, he went into coaching as a quarterback’s coach at Fordham. Later, he went to Notre Dame as a Graduate Assistant for two seasons, then over to Columbia as a quarterback’s coach for an additional two seasons.
In 2005, DeFilippo became the offensive quality control coach for the New York Giants. He was with the Giants for two seasons before joining the Oakland Raiders in 2007 as a quarterback coach. Then, in 2009, he joined the New York Jets as an Assistant quarterback’s coach before heading back to college at San Jose State in 2010 as the Quarterback’s coach.
In 2011, DeFilippo became San Jose State’s Offensive Coordinator along with remaining the team’s Quarterback’s coach. In 2012, he left for a second stint with the Oakland Raiders as the Quarterback’s coach for three seasons before becoming an Offensive Coordinator for the Cleveland Browns in 2015. After one season in Cleveland, DeFilippo joined Doug Pederson’s staff with the Philadelphia Eagles as the Quarterback’s coach.
DeFilippo was with the Eagles for two seasons, including helping then-starter Carson Wentz and Nick Foles win Super Bowl LII over the New England Patriots 41-33 for the Eagles’ first Super Bowl in franchise history.
Not long after the Super Bowl, DeFilippo became the Offensive Coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings in 2018 but was fired in the same season. In 2019, he was the Offensive Coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars before spending his last two seasons with the Chicago Bears as a Quarterback’s coach and Passing Game Coordinator.
His journey to becoming a head coach was not easy as he did not have a good record in the NFL. However, he is not the only one, there are many coaches out there like Duce Staley and Eric Bieniemy who dream of one-day becoming head coaches but either don’t have a good record or are being overlooked.
Those guys are going to continue to work their way up in hopes of becoming a head coach someday. Eventually, those coaches are going to get tired of it and will look to new opportunities similar to what John DeFilippo did and might consider moving to the USFL.
I believe that there are coaches out there who are not great in the NFL but are excellent elsewhere. One coach that comes to mind is former Montreal Alouettes head coach Marc Trestman. Trestman won two Grey Cups with the Montreal Alouettes in 2009 and 2010 before becoming the Chicago Bears head coach in 2013.
Unfortunately, he was fired in 2014 and later became an offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens in 2015 and was fired in 2016. He returned to the CFL as the Toronto Argonauts’ head coach and won his third Grey Cup championship in 2017. His last coaching gig was with the Tampa Bay Vipers in 2020. The team was 1-4 before the league ceased operations due to the pandemic.
Another person who was having early success with the D.C. Defenders in 2020 was Pep Hamilton. Hamilton coached the Defenders and had them in a three-way tie for first place before the season was canceled.
John DeFilippo is having early success in New Orleans that I think other coaches in the NFL are taking notice. With the USFL expected to expand next season, maybe there are assistant coaches in the NFL right now that might consider taking a shot at being a head coach. In addition, who knows what current coaches in the USFL right now might leave after the season.
The USFL, while not perfect, is slowly growing into a prominent spring football league, and I think as the league grows, there will be more assistant coaches from the NFL that will make their way into the league.
