The Pittsburgh Maulers are a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team based in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. The Maulers compete in the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL) North division. Founded in 2021, the Maulers are one of the eight inaugural teams for the re-launch of the original

, which ceased operations in 1986. They currently play their home games at

Protective Stadium Protective Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium owned and operated by the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Authority in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. Its naming rights are provided by the Protective Life company, which will pay $1 million p ...

and

Legion Field Legion Field is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States in Birmingham, Alabama, primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but occasionally used for other large outdoor events. Opened in 1927, it is named in ho ...

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, which also hosts the

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...

Blazers.

History

The Pittsburgh Maulers were one of eight teams that were officially announced as a USFL franchise on ''

The Herd with Colin Cowherd ''The Herd with Colin Cowherd'' is a sports radio, sports talk radio show hosted by Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio and Fox Sports 1. The show features commentary on the day's sports news, perspective on other news stories, and interviews with ce ...

'' on November 22, 2021, Their first head coach was announced on January 20, 2022, when it was announced on ''

'' that former NFL running backs coach

Kirby Wilson Kirby Keyes Wilson (born August 24, 1961) is an American football coach who has previously served as a running backs coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons. He coached for the New England Patriots, Washington Commanders, Wash ...

was named the Head Coach and General Manager of the Maulers. Wilson revealed on February 9, 2022, that

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Ha ...

Defensive Coordinator Jarren Horton would become the Defensive Coordinator for the Maulers, while Wilson would call the offense. They made their first draft pick in franchise history, selecting QB

Kyle Lauletta Kyle James Lauletta (born March 17, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League (USFL). He played college football at Richmond and was drafted by the New York Giants in the fourth ...

7th overall. They drafted 35 players from February 22–23 in 2022. The team begun the season 0-4, but defeated the Houston Gamblers 21-20 behind an off the bench effort by newly signed QB Vad Lee

Logo and Uniforms

The colors orange and purple are slightly different from what was used by the Pittsburgh Maulers team in the original

USFL The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

, as they used red and purple. In any event, the colors are a radical departure from the city's traditional sporting colors of black and gold and are more or less of an ode to the original Maulers franchise. The logo depicts a worker swinging a large hammer, as an ode to the steel workers that Pittsburgh's history is known for. The current jerseys are a different design than the originals, with the home being purple with an orange bar across the shoulders and the away being white with a purple bar along the shoulders.

Personnel

Current roster

Initially, each team carried a 38-man active roster and a 7-man practice squad, but the rosters were increased to 40 active players and 50 total in May, 2022.

Staff

References

2021 establishments in Alabama American football teams established in 2021 Pittsburgh Maulers (2022) American football teams in Birmingham, Alabama United States Football League (2022) teams {{amfoot-team-stub