Tiki Barber rose to prominence as an NFL running back when Jim Fassel was still the coach of the New York Giants. Could the two re-unite in the United Football League?
Barber is now a disgraced former NFL star apparently pining for a comeback four years after retiring from the Giants — at a time he was at the top of his game and many thought he had several productive years left. His television career and personal life are in shambles.
Fassel is now head coach of the UFL Las Vegas Locomotives, and has won titles in the league’s only two seasons. Exiled to the UFL, Fassel has been unable to find an NFL team willing to give him a head-coaching job since the Giants fired him after the 2003 season.
Now, Fassel appears to be offering Barber a landing spot, saying he would be “happy to have him” as a member of the Locomotives if he can’t find an NFL team.
Somehow, that would make sense. The exiled coach still looking for a way back in and the player who has become a pariah hooking up to see if they can once again help each other.
One person not impressed by Barber’s comeback attempt was ex-teammate and former Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce.
"Tiki Barber, the person, the leader, the person in the locker room, he’s not going to do anything for your team," Barber’s former teammate and current ESPN analyst Antonio Pierce said during an appearance on ESPN’s "NFL Live" yesterday.
"If that’s the guy you think you’re bringing in, you might want to look in another direction because, from personal experience, he didn’t do anything to help the Giants the last year, especially in 2006 when he decided to retire in the middle of the season and then months later questioned our quarterback and our head coach."