Former Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher, who is now President of Football Operations for the Nashville Kats, was named interim commissioner of the Arena Football League on Tuesday.
A group of the league’s owners asked Fisher, 66, to step in and replace Lee Hutton as the commissioner.
The league began showing signs of instability shortly after it kicked off in April. The AFL began with 14 teams. Four have since folded over the past two weeks leaving 10 teams in operation. The Minnesota Myth, the team the Nashville Kats beat to open the season, folded earlier this week. The Philadelphia Soul, Iowa Rampage and Georgia Force folded earlier.
“As things progressed there were some roadblocks along the way and there were some difficulties over the last couple of weeks,” Fisher said. “There’s been a united ownership group that’s headed by G6 Sports (owner of the Arena Football League) and they basically asked if I could help from an interim commissioner’s standpoint to help the league and I told them yes.”
Fisher will continue in his role with the Kats while serving as the commissioner.
Fisher, who spent 17 years as an NFL coach, said he felt equipped to handle the leadership role because of his many years in the sport.
“I don’t have any experience in the league as a commissioner, but I do have experience as I was involved in the Alliance (of American Football), and I was involved the USFL and I moved a couple of NFL franchises (Houston to Tennessee and St. Louis to Los Angeles). So I have that kind of experience,” Fisher said. “And I have relationships.”
Along with his coaching stints, Fisher served in administrative roles as general manager of the Michigan Panthers in the USFL and as a senior advisor on coach Eddie George’s football staff at Tennessee State.
“The bottom line is what I want to bring to this league is integrity and truth,” Fisher said. “I want to provide an opportunity for the parents in those cities that have smaller franchises to be able to continue to walk in on a weekend and watch an indoor football game, an event these kids look forward to all week across the country. I want to preserve that.”
Even with the franchises, which recently folded, Fisher felt the overall status of the league was solid.
“It’s good, everything is really good,” he said. “I wouldn’t be standing up here if the state and the status of this league wasn’t very, very promising. There is tremendous potential out there.”
Along with Nashville, the remaining teams in the Arena Football League include the Albany Firebirds, Billings Outlaws, Orlando Predators, Rapid City Marshalls, Salina Liberty, SW Kansas Storm, Washington Wolfpack, West Texas Desert Hawks and the Wichita Regulators.
The Kats (1-2) next game is Saturday (3:30 p.m.) against Wichita at F&M Arena in Clarksville.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
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