Rage coach Galen Hall knows how to build a winner.(The Orlando Sentinel)

ORLANDO _ Galen Hall is not exactly what one might have envisioned as a typical XFL coach. He is quiet and reserved, the exact opposite of what the WWF-inspired football league is purported to be about.

But there are a couple of qualifications that make Hall the perfect fit for the Orlando Rage. First off, he knows football, having been a quarterback at Penn State who had a brief NFL career before entering the coaching ranks.

The other thing Hall knows about is winning. He has done it everywhere he's been, first at Oklahoma as an assistant, then as head coach at Florida and most recently in NFL Europe, where his Rhein Fire won World Bowls in 1998 and 2000 and were runners-up in 1999.

So exactly what is this no-nonsense coach doing in this potentially bombastic, bodacious upstart XFL? The same thing he always has done: quietly try to build a championship contender.

"Basically, what we've tried to do is take the players that we have in here and mold them into one unit going for a common goal," said Hall, who led the Orlando Thunder to the World League of American Football title game in 1992. "That's what you have to have, and it's going to take some time to do that."

There's not much time. Unlike the NFL, which plays a 16-game schedule in 17 weeks, the XFL put together a 10-game schedule in 10 weeks for its eight teams, four of which make the playoffs.

Not surprisingly, Hall plucked a handful of players from his Rhein Fire championship teams to serve as the foundation of the Rage. They include running back Derrick Clark, offensive lineman Jeremy Akers, defensive tackle Ken Anderson, defensive back Stephen Fisher, guard Dan Collins, tight end Lawrence Hart and receiver Dialleo Burks.