FanHouse Jim Haslett

Whether the UFL succeeds in the long run became irrelevant Thursday for the Florida Tuskers, who will forever own the accomplishment of an undefeated regular season after a 34-27 victory over the California Redwoods at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

The main focus for the league has been its search for fan interest, a place in the crowded sports landscape, and thus the ability to stay solvent the way other similar alternative professional football leagues did not.

As a result, the particulars of the UFL's play on the field -- and the Tuskers' success -- have been a sidebar, though not to Florida coach Jim Haslett.

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. -- It was another easy victory Thursday for the unbeaten Florida Tuskers, who defeated the winless New York Sentinels 24-6.

It was more of the same for the UFL at Rentschler Field, where a sparse crowd of 5,201 turned out to watch the lopsided win for Florida, which has already punched its ticket to the UFL Championship Game on Nov. 27 in Las Vegas.

That wasn't the story, though, for those that watched and listened closely. Here is a collection of the best moments from the other Thursday Night Football contest.

-- Tuskers coach Jim Haslett beamed after his club improved to 5-0, though he thought the team could have played better. Either way, Haslett admitted that his experience in the UFL has allowed him to witness those who have brought joy back to football.

"They are having fun," Haslett said of his players. "It feels like when I played in the early '80s. Guys hung out and did things together. That's what the feeling is. Somehow, if you could take this feeling and bring it back to the National Football League, I think football would be a lot more fun for people."

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey -- The UFL plans to add two more teams and four games to each club's schedule next season, according to Rick Mueller, general manager for all four of the league's teams.

Mueller, speaking exclusively to FanHouse on Thursday, said that "it looks good" for expansion in 2010. He said that there is enough talent for the league to field six teams, start the campaign in September and play a 10-game season.

Los Angeles, a city currently without an NFL team, has been rumored as a frontrunner. Mueller did not say for sure whether a deal was in place to bring professional football back to L.A. and would not mention any other locations specifically.

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The Florida Tuskers continued their dominance of the UFL. Despite the easy nature of their wins, coach Jim Haslett is confident his team has remained motivated.

Brooks Bollinger threw two touchdown passes and back-up Chris Greisen tossed one more as Haslett's Tuskers thoroughly dispatched the California Redwoods, 34-7, at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida on Thursday night.

"They know this is their last stop and that, if they want to get back to the NFL, they need to play at a high level, and have fun doing it," Haslett said. "And they understand that, so I don't need to harp on them."

The coach certainly had nothing to get on them about last night in the lone contest in Week 3 of the UFL's inaugural season.

Marcus Maxwell, Jayson Foster and Andrew Pinnock each had a TD grab, while Taye Biddle had five catches for 133 yards for Florida, which has won its first three games to start the season -- all in convincing fashion.

Ever since Michael Vick headed from prison to house arrest, everyone has been looking for a team, any team, that would admit they are interested in signing him.

We finally have one, but there's only one catch -- it's in a league that has yet to play an actual game.

On Tuesday we noted a report that former Stanford, Notre Dame and Washington head coach Tyrone Willingham had accepted a new job as an assistant coach in the upstart United Football League. But now it appears that Willingham won't be a UFL assistant after all.

The St. Louis Rams will have a new head football coach in 2009, as interim coach Jim Haslett has been notified he is no longer a candidate for the full-time gig. Though he was said to have interviewed well for the job, I can't see how this is much of a surprise. He went 2-10 after taking over for Scott Linehan, including 10 consecutive losses to end the season.

Delving through the extraneous information (and the egregious typo in the title) in the article, it would seem Leslie Frazier is the front-runner, though Steve Spagnuolo is reportedly close to Frazier on the Rams' wish list. Other candidates presumed to still be in the mix are Rex Ryan, Jason Garrett, and Jim Fassel.

Twelve months ago the Rams had just put the finishing touches on a 3-13 effort. If the team had fired head coach Scott Linehan and replaced him with Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, I think most fans and media types would've praised the move.

As I've mentioned before, Garrett's star lost some luster after a seemingly indifferent Cowboys offense went through the motions these last four months. Of course, Tony Romo missing time with a pinky injury didn't help, but that doesn't explain the late-season implosion that kept Dallas out of the playoffs.

What it does explain is the tepid response from the St. Louis Dispatch's Bryan Burwell, who admits that names like Rex Ryan, Jim Haslett, Leslie Frazier and Steve Spagnuolo fit within general manager Jim Devaney's "publicly stated description of meat and potatoes' football guys and strong leaders of men," while Garrett, well, does not.

Last week, we mentioned a report that former San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan was on the verge of becoming the Green Bay Packers' new defensive coordinator.

That report appears to have been premature, as Nolan is headed instead to Denver to run the Broncos' defense under new head coach Josh McDaniels.

With Nolan apparently out of the picture, the Packers now have to move in a different direction.

The St. Louis Rams interviewed Jim Haslett -- who served as the interim head coach when Scott Linehan was mercifully let go after four games -- Monday for their head coaching vacancy. I think we can all agree that it was a token interview. Sure, the Rams have a billion holes to fill, and Steven Jackson was hurt for much of the second half of the season, but Haslett didn't really do anything to distinguish himself. He stormed out of the gate with two victories, but then lost the Rams' last ten games -- many in embarrassing fashion.

Two very intriguing names are on the Rams' radar, though. They plan on interviewing 32 year-old Josh McDaniels for the job, and they have received permission from the Patriots. He's currently their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Obviously the work of Mr. Matt Cassel has made this young coach a hot commodity. We know the Patriots offense could score points, so the Rams could do much worse.