Joe Haering was the defensive coordinator of the USFL’s Denver Gold in 1984. As is the case with most coaches, Haering had several stops in his coaching career, but it was with the Gold that he formed a particularly close friendship with two others on the Denver staff: head coach Mouse Davis and offensive coordinator June Jones.

New SMU linebackers coach Joe Haering last worked with June Jones when they were defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator, respectively, for the USFL's Denver Gold in 1985 (photo by SMU athletics).

“June and I, and Mouse, worked together, and June and I became friends, and we kept up our friendship through all those years,” said Haering, who was named SMU’s linebackers coach last week. “Whenever he went someplace, or I went someplace, we were always friends, and when he got the (head coaching) job in Atlanta, I went to the Falcons with him. When we left the Falcons, he always said ‘we’re going to get back together again after the Falcons.’ I was trying to get my pension, the 15 years — which is really the thing you’d like to have — in the NFL, so I kept saying that as soon as I got that, I’d work with him again when there was an opening. The timing had to be right, but we wanted to work together again.”

As it turned out, now is the right time.

“We were always going to work together again — it was just when it was going to be,” Haering said. “So it happened that I was available this year, and he had an opening. Last year, I wasn’t available because I wanted to get my 15 years in the NFL for my pension. When he was in Hawaii … same thing.

“There’s the other thing — I wanted to end my career coaching, and I really enjoyed (scouting), but I had promised myself after the Falcons that I was never going to work for anyone other than Mouse or June, because I didn’t want to end my coaching career with somebody that I didn’t like, or didn’t know. I wanted to be in a situation with people that I trust and I know are good football coaches. There’s only three guys in America I’d work for: Mouse, June or myself.”

Haering is not alone in his admiration of Jones. Four other SMU assistant coaches followed Jones to Dallas from their previous jobs at Hawaii. Former special teams coach Frank Gansz said Jones was the only coach for whom Gansz would un-retire. Such loyalty makes perfect sense to Haering.

“Besides being a good coach, he is one of the best and nicest human beings I’ve ever been around,” Haering said. “He’s honest and he’s loyal, and he lets you coach. What else do you want? He has his own way about him, which is different, but he’s an outstanding football coach and an outstanding man.”

After earning all-conference honors as a linebacker at Bucknell University, in Lewisburg, Pa., Haering served a couple of years as a company commander in the Army in Vietnam. When he returned, he began his coaching career at his alma mater before working at Kentucky, Boston University and Kent State. He coached linebackers and special teams with the New York Jets in 1978-79 and then became the offensive coordinator of the Hamilton TigerCats of the Canadian Football League. Haering coached for three teams in the USFL, including a year in Chicago as defensive coordinator under Pro Football Hall of Fame coach George Allen and his stint in Denver with Jones, and in the Arena League before returning to the NFL to coach on Jones’ staff in Atlanta. After leaving the Falcons, he stayed in Atlanta, scouting the Southeast United States for the Buffalo Bills for the last 12 years.

“The only reason I left scouting and the Buffalo Bills is because I wanted to end my career coaching,” Haering said. “I’m here to win. There’s three reasons why I’m here: June, to end my career coaching and winning. It was either June, Mouse or nothing.”

At SMU, Haering is charged with leading a linebacker group in transition that includes a former outside linebacker (Pete Fleps) and a former backup Chase Kennemer playing inside in the Mustangs’ new 3-4 defense, and a pair of converted defensive ends (Youri Yenga and Patrick Fleming) at the outside spots, as well as a slew of freshmen hoping to crack the rotation. To a coach who prides himself on his ability to teach, the challenges ahead are nothing out of the ordinary, and in an era in which players preach the value of spring workouts, Haering is unfazed by the fact that he was hired after spring workouts had concluded.

“George Allen told me this one time: ‘did it set Ted Williams back when he went to the Army for three years?’ No,” Haering said. “You know why? Because he could hit. And I can coach.

“It doesn’t matter if I was here 10 years or got here today. The first day of practice, they’re going to get in a stance and learn how to take the first step. I’m going to assume they know nothing … and I’ve done that in the NFL, too. I’ve coached some All-Pros, and I coached the guy who I think played more snaps at linebacker than anybody in the history of the league: Clay Matthews. On the first day, what did we do? Got in a stance and learned how to take that first step. You’d better assume they know nothing, but you also want them to know what you want out of them.

“It’s very important to get the best players and coach them to do the things they do best. Here’s the deal: football is a simple sport — it really is. Coaches sometimes try to make it out like they’re some sort of mad scientist, but I’m going to tell you this: all these years I’ve been around football, and I’ve scouted, I’ve coached in the pros … the team that tackles the best usually wins. It’s fundamental. “

Haering said he learned much of his defensive philosophy when coaching under Pro Football Hall of Famer George Allen (photo by SSMG).

Much of what Haering will ask of his new linebackers came from Allen, who Haering said rivals Jones as the coaches from whom he has learned the most.

“I worked for George Allen (in 1983 with the Chicago Blitz of the USFL), and he and June are the most intelligent football people I’ve ever been around,” Haering said. “George Allen is in the (Pro Football) Hall of Fame. I always tell June he’s like George Allen, but the opposite side of the spectrum. George was the hardest guy I ever worked for, and not that June is easy, but he makes you feel comfortable — he lets you coach.”

Haering said that he benefited greatly from his time away from coaching, when he scouted for the Bills, in part because it allowed him to observe and learn from others coaching around him.

“Coaches coach,” he said. “I’m the same person I was when I coached in my first camp. (Scouting) has let me step back and watch other coaches, and what I’ve found over the last 10-12 years is that there are a lot of coaches who don’t coach. They don’t coach fundamentals. Everybody’s out there to put those X’s and O’s out there and they don’t get down to the fundamentals and coach what football’s all about: blocking and tackling. Ask George Allen, because that was what he preached every day. That’s what I hope that I can add here. In my position here as linebackers coach, that’s what my role will be.

“Along with June, George Allen was the most intelligent football person I’ve ever been around — in terms of personnel and coaching. He was a genius. Crazy — completely out of his mind — but a genius. He was so smart. You talk about learning personnel … he taught me so much. And then coaching, as his defensive coordinator … it wasn’t so much the X’s and O’s as it was philosophy, learning what you need to do when you make a gameplan. What are you trying to accomplish? Some people have these elaborate gameplans, and they have no understanding of why they’re doing that. He is somebody that taught me a lot about football, and I was lucky to be around him.”

Haering also considers himself lucky to be around Jones again, in part because his new boss remains one of his best friends, and because Jones will let him coach the SMU linebackers his way.

“I’m going to coach the same way I did back at Bucknell, and the University of Kentucky, because that’s me,” he said, “and I found this out, through all of my personal experiences: you always coach ‘who you are.’ If you’re a yeller, you yell. If you’re a soft-spoken guy, you coach that way. Whatever you are, be yourself.”

Haering said his time away from coaching, while scouting with the Bills, should benefit him, the players and the rest of the recruiting staff, because it sharpened his eye for talent.

“(Scouting) makes me understand who’s playing,” he said. “I mean, I’ve seen the best of the best. LSU, Florida — both were national champs — so it also lets me see what it takes to be the best college players, and the best pros. What (scouting) will do for us, I hope, is (help us) evaluate personnel, which I have done — besides being a scout in the NFL, I was a head coach in the Arena League, and I was my own personnel director. In the USFL, on the defense, I was my own personnel director. So I was in personnel, even when I was in coaching.

“The only reason I left scouting and the Buffalo Bills is because I wanted to end my career coaching. I’m here to win. There’s three reasons why I’m here: June, to end my career coaching and winning. It was either June, Mouse or nothing.”

After his tenure as a scout, Haering said he is grateful to be reunited with Jones, and is eager to get back on the field, working with the SMU linebackers. He has no preconceived notions about who will start or receive the bulk of the playing time.

“I’ll make the decisions about these guys when I see them in pads, live, doing the things I coach them to do,” he said. “When we step out on the field, I’ll be ready. The players — I’m going to make sure they’re ready, too.

“But I know I’ll be ready.”