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By: Bill Grandt
Every year teams head into the offseason with the coaching and scouting staff being the frst order of business. Coaches have contracts up, new coaches are coming up the ranks, and you never know who will land where. This year we saw it all, including some old faces returning, and even division rivals swapping head coaches.
Perhaps the biggest news was what would happen to Imperial Bowl coaches Britt Hatcher and Howie Mooberry, both with expired contracts. Well, as could have been expected both teams made strong bids to retain them and did just that. Norfolk will see, head coach the last four years, stay with them for another five. And Britt Hatcher, head coach of Oakland for the last three years since coming over from Vancouver, will be looking to take Oakland back to the Imperial Bowl sometime over the next three years of his new deal. Another big re-signing of a coach was in Vermont, where Rico Sprouse has improved his team every year over the last four, and has another 5 now to keep his team climbing towards a championship. Louisiana will also bring back their coach, 66 year old Alfred Carswell, who has had a winning record each of his three seasons with the VooDoo, and got his first division crown in 2006.
Other head coaching news saw a couple old faces return from years past. Freddie Cristal, who saw his record get worse each year during his three years with Fresno, returns to the coaching ranks after a year off, as head coach of the Madison Demons. And in Houston, Kris Ludwig, who has one 7-9 year with Boston back in '03 on his resume, will take over the job of trying to break the strangle hold St. Louis and Louisiana have on the AFC South Perhaps the most interesting moves came in the AFC North divsion. After four years of slowly improving his Montreal Firebird team, and getting them a Wildcard birth this year, J.B. Elliot ran off to division rival Wichita for nearly $5 million a year over the next five years. Well, in the scramble for a head coach after losing Elliot, the Firebirds looked to now former Wichita Outlaw coach Lester Mineo. Mineo fell out of favor in Wichita after his 2004 division title, by winningonly 10 games the last two years. Mineo will have to earn a stay in Montreal though, as he was only given a one year deal.
The lone 'promotion' this year goes to Ethan Vera. Vera was offensive coordinator in Albuquerque and Norfolk over the last two years. Looking to bring a winner in, the Murfreesboro Mules paid top dollar to give Vera a chance at deveopling young QB Peterson over the next tree years.
Down in the coordinator ranks, teams are never afraid to plunder the talent of others. So Vermont can consider themselves lucky to have completed the resigning of their whole staff, by re-uping OC Drew Russle and DC Ryan Terry. And some consistency will be kept in Madison, as new HC Cristal will keep longtime Demon DC Trevor Fisk on the staff. Another guy staying put was the highly touted OC from the Lansing Ogres. Edward Cicci will remain there for another 5 years and make more then many head coaches. Also, West Virginia retained 39 year old DC Maurice Compton for atleast two more years.
Where things got moving was down in Albuquerque, who will change both coordinators this year, not something they wanted to really do after their successful season. DC J.B. Romo took off for the more mild climate of division rival Portland. David Henson, who is back as a coordinator after a two year hiatus, will be the new Matador DC. Henson was the DC for Hartford back in '03 and '04, the most successful years of that franchise. The new Matador OC is a bit of a surprise as they bring in Dakota's defensive coordinator of the last four years, Travis Wick, to lead the offense. Wick was needed to replace Vera, who left to be head coach in Murfreesboro. Both guys are on short term deals.
Some new and old faces are getting chances to be coordinators this year. The old would be B.J. Burke and Leonard Suszkowski. B.J. Burke was DC in Salt Lake City from '03-'05, and will old the same position in 2007 with Dakota after his year off. Suszkowski has not been seen as a coordinator since 2003, when he was the OC in Columbia. After several years off, he has resurfaced in Houston as a very able DC. The new faces belong to those of Daryl Riggs and Beau Brown. Riggs will be the DC in Cleveland as they look to take advantage of his ability of working with youngsters. And in West Virginia you will see Beau Brown as offensive coordinator. The 39 year old Brown was considered a good candidate for a OC or DC position, and the well rounded coach could be a head coac down the line. You may recongnize Beau Brown. The Maryland native started 39 games for the Columbia Fire from 2003-2005 at SLB. He had a successful career, with 255 tackles, 57 assists, 11.5 sacks, and 5 INTs over his three years with the Fire. He is now the second Fire player from the 2003 team to have moved up the coaching ranks at lightening speed. He joins Lansing's Jake Lentz, who is going into his third year as the Ogre head coach.
Moves that saw coordintaors switching teams include Joey Bauer. The former Boston OC spent the last 3 years in Reno, and now takes the OC job in Murfreesboro under new HC Vera. William Keen, the Mules OC for the last four years, then moved over to division rival Houston to take the same position. Houston then hired Suszkowski, as we stated before, because they lost long time DC J.R. Hummell to the Anchorage Lynx. The Lynx also had a play in Beau Brown getting his job, because they snatched away the West Virginia Beast OC James Klemm. Now here's a good one for you; when the Mules signed Reno's Bauer and Houston signed the Mules' Keen, that left Houston OC Dennis Schulz out of a job. The logical place for him was of course Reno, where he signed a five year deal to be OC. And with the Anchorage make over of their staff, that left thier DC Sean Berry free to go to the Vancouver Killer Whales.
And if you think that had some story lines, we are already looking ahead to next year. When head coaches like CBA's Marty Pearson, REN's Grant Roberson, TEX's Eugene Poston, TUL's Bill Earle, and WVA's Rico Flannery will all be on the open market, among others. The hot coordinators will be REN's DC Rob Shelton, DAK's OC Harris Naffis, LOU's OC Joel Kooiker, PIT's OC Jumbo Kellenberger, STL's OC Ed Donaldson, and MNT's DC Victor Worthen. All of these guys will be able to name thier price, and one or two could possibly be head coach candidates.
Every year teams head into the offseason with the coaching and scouting staff being the frst order of business. Coaches have contracts up, new coaches are coming up the ranks, and you never know who will land where. This year we saw it all, including some old faces returning, and even division rivals swapping head coaches.
Perhaps the biggest news was what would happen to Imperial Bowl coaches Britt Hatcher and Howie Mooberry, both with expired contracts. Well, as could have been expected both teams made strong bids to retain them and did just that. Norfolk will see, head coach the last four years, stay with them for another five. And Britt Hatcher, head coach of Oakland for the last three years since coming over from Vancouver, will be looking to take Oakland back to the Imperial Bowl sometime over the next three years of his new deal. Another big re-signing of a coach was in Vermont, where Rico Sprouse has improved his team every year over the last four, and has another 5 now to keep his team climbing towards a championship. Louisiana will also bring back their coach, 66 year old Alfred Carswell, who has had a winning record each of his three seasons with the VooDoo, and got his first division crown in 2006.
Other head coaching news saw a couple old faces return from years past. Freddie Cristal, who saw his record get worse each year during his three years with Fresno, returns to the coaching ranks after a year off, as head coach of the Madison Demons. And in Houston, Kris Ludwig, who has one 7-9 year with Boston back in '03 on his resume, will take over the job of trying to break the strangle hold St. Louis and Louisiana have on the AFC South Perhaps the most interesting moves came in the AFC North divsion. After four years of slowly improving his Montreal Firebird team, and getting them a Wildcard birth this year, J.B. Elliot ran off to division rival Wichita for nearly $5 million a year over the next five years. Well, in the scramble for a head coach after losing Elliot, the Firebirds looked to now former Wichita Outlaw coach Lester Mineo. Mineo fell out of favor in Wichita after his 2004 division title, by winningonly 10 games the last two years. Mineo will have to earn a stay in Montreal though, as he was only given a one year deal.
The lone 'promotion' this year goes to Ethan Vera. Vera was offensive coordinator in Albuquerque and Norfolk over the last two years. Looking to bring a winner in, the Murfreesboro Mules paid top dollar to give Vera a chance at deveopling young QB Peterson over the next tree years.
Down in the coordinator ranks, teams are never afraid to plunder the talent of others. So Vermont can consider themselves lucky to have completed the resigning of their whole staff, by re-uping OC Drew Russle and DC Ryan Terry. And some consistency will be kept in Madison, as new HC Cristal will keep longtime Demon DC Trevor Fisk on the staff. Another guy staying put was the highly touted OC from the Lansing Ogres. Edward Cicci will remain there for another 5 years and make more then many head coaches. Also, West Virginia retained 39 year old DC Maurice Compton for atleast two more years.
Where things got moving was down in Albuquerque, who will change both coordinators this year, not something they wanted to really do after their successful season. DC J.B. Romo took off for the more mild climate of division rival Portland. David Henson, who is back as a coordinator after a two year hiatus, will be the new Matador DC. Henson was the DC for Hartford back in '03 and '04, the most successful years of that franchise. The new Matador OC is a bit of a surprise as they bring in Dakota's defensive coordinator of the last four years, Travis Wick, to lead the offense. Wick was needed to replace Vera, who left to be head coach in Murfreesboro. Both guys are on short term deals.
Some new and old faces are getting chances to be coordinators this year. The old would be B.J. Burke and Leonard Suszkowski. B.J. Burke was DC in Salt Lake City from '03-'05, and will old the same position in 2007 with Dakota after his year off. Suszkowski has not been seen as a coordinator since 2003, when he was the OC in Columbia. After several years off, he has resurfaced in Houston as a very able DC. The new faces belong to those of Daryl Riggs and Beau Brown. Riggs will be the DC in Cleveland as they look to take advantage of his ability of working with youngsters. And in West Virginia you will see Beau Brown as offensive coordinator. The 39 year old Brown was considered a good candidate for a OC or DC position, and the well rounded coach could be a head coac down the line. You may recongnize Beau Brown. The Maryland native started 39 games for the Columbia Fire from 2003-2005 at SLB. He had a successful career, with 255 tackles, 57 assists, 11.5 sacks, and 5 INTs over his three years with the Fire. He is now the second Fire player from the 2003 team to have moved up the coaching ranks at lightening speed. He joins Lansing's Jake Lentz, who is going into his third year as the Ogre head coach.
Moves that saw coordintaors switching teams include Joey Bauer. The former Boston OC spent the last 3 years in Reno, and now takes the OC job in Murfreesboro under new HC Vera. William Keen, the Mules OC for the last four years, then moved over to division rival Houston to take the same position. Houston then hired Suszkowski, as we stated before, because they lost long time DC J.R. Hummell to the Anchorage Lynx. The Lynx also had a play in Beau Brown getting his job, because they snatched away the West Virginia Beast OC James Klemm. Now here's a good one for you; when the Mules signed Reno's Bauer and Houston signed the Mules' Keen, that left Houston OC Dennis Schulz out of a job. The logical place for him was of course Reno, where he signed a five year deal to be OC. And with the Anchorage make over of their staff, that left thier DC Sean Berry free to go to the Vancouver Killer Whales.
And if you think that had some story lines, we are already looking ahead to next year. When head coaches like CBA's Marty Pearson, REN's Grant Roberson, TEX's Eugene Poston, TUL's Bill Earle, and WVA's Rico Flannery will all be on the open market, among others. The hot coordinators will be REN's DC Rob Shelton, DAK's OC Harris Naffis, LOU's OC Joel Kooiker, PIT's OC Jumbo Kellenberger, STL's OC Ed Donaldson, and MNT's DC Victor Worthen. All of these guys will be able to name thier price, and one or two could possibly be head coach candidates.
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