 the michigan panthers were a professional american football team that played in the united states football league in the mid-1980s. ==team history== the michigan panthers were named as a charter member of the united states football league (usfl) on may 11, 1982. a. alfred taubman, one of the nation's leading real estate developers, headed the ownership group that included judge peter b. spivak and max m. fisher. the panthers named former cfl executive, jim spavital as their general manager on august 26, 1982. michigan then hired jim stanley as their head coach on november 18, 1982 after george perles decided to coach at michigan state. stanley was head coach at oklahoma state university. stanley brought a wealth of coaching experience, with stops at smu, utep, oklahoma state, navy, and on the professional level with the cfl's winnipeg blue bombers, and nfl's new york giants and atlanta falcons, mainly as an assistant coach. stanley would be the club's only head coach. the coaching staffed was rounded out by larry coyer, pete rodriguez, and dick roach (defensive coaches). george dickson, bob leahy, and kent stephenson were the offensive coaches. the pontiac silverdome (cap. 80,638) was the home of the panthers. the usfl's first collegiate draft was held on january 4, 1983. the panthers selected wisconsin ss david greenwood with their first round (10th overall) selection. they also tabbed michigan wr anthony carter in the usfl territorial draft â a process whereby usfl teams could protect up to 25 graduating seniors from a series of local universities. the panthers had territorial rights to the university of michigan, michigan state, eastern michigan, central michigan and northern michigan. the panthers used this draft to select two placekickers. one was novo bojovic, and the other was michigan's ali haji-sheikh. s
American_football_teams_in_Detroit,_Michigan Defunct_American_football_teams Sports_clubs_disestablished_in_1984 Sports_clubs_established_in_1983 United_States_Football_League_teams