The latest attempt at a competitor for the National Football League, the Alliance of American Football, will be kicking off it’s inaugural season the week after the Super Bowl. When those teams take the field, a couple of faces familiar to fans of the Minnesota Vikings will be patrolling the sidelines for two of the eight teams.

Former Vikings’ head coach Brad Childress will be the head coach of the Atlanta franchise in the AAF, while former Vikings’ assistant Mike Singletary will be the head coach of the Memphis franchise.

Childress was head coach of the Vikings from 2006 until mid-2010, most notably leading the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game in 2009. Singletary served as an assistant to Leslie Frazier from 2011 to 2013.

The remaining franchises will be led by a lot of familiar names:

Birmingham - Tim Lewis, former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for several NFL teams.

Orlando - Steve Spurrier, former University of Florida, University of South Carolina, and Washington Redskins head coach.

Phoenix - Rick Neuheisel, former Washington, Colorado, and UCLA head coach.

Salt Lake City - Dennis Erickson, former Miami (FL) head coach, among other college destinations. He also coached the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers.

San Antonio - Mike Riley, former San Diego Chargers head coach.

San Diego - Mike Martz, former St. Louis Rams head coach and offensive coordinator for several NFL teams.

I’m not sure of the quality of football that the AAF is going to provide at this point, but for those of us that want our football fix, the AAF is going to do something about it. As you’d expect for a league that’s going to run starting in February, there are a lot of warm weather cities involved, so I’m not sure how easy it will be for those in colder climes to “adopt” a team in the league. Although I will say that Salt Lake City isn’t exactly a tropical paradise in the winter. . .after all, they did have a Winter Olympics there at one time not too long ago.

Are you excited to see the AAF kick off?

(Hat tip to The Viking Age for digging up this information first.)