The Firenze Red Lions of the American Football League Europe (AFLE) have hired Bart Andrus as their inaugural head coach.
Andrus served as the head coach for the Toronto Argonauts in 2009, a season that was widely considered a disaster. The team went 3-15 and perennial all-star Arland Bruce III was traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats after publicly criticizing Andrus.
The native of Logan, Utah has since served head coaching stints with the UFL’s Omaha Nighthawks, Feather River College, The Spring League, the USFL’s Philadelphia Stars, and the ELF’s Frankfurt Galaxy. His longest head coaching stint occurred from 2001 to 2007 with the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe, who won World Bowl XIII in 2005.
The AFLE was recently established after several teams splintered off the European League of Football (ELF). The league has teams based in Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
Several Canadian players have recently signed contracts with teams in the league, including defensive back Justin Howell and linebacker Harold Miessan.
The inaugural AFLE season is scheduled to start on May 23.
