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Oakland Press, Oakland, Ca. -- How do I say it? There is something really right, something quite natural, something rather appropriate, fitting, just plain good about Hatcher's coaching the Assassin's again, representing the franchise -- with his presence at Tuesday morning's NFC coaches/media breakfast and every day through his persona -- again. Hatcher's return is all those things not just for Oakland but for the league, for the game.
Some of the hires this offseason, you might call them head scratchers. Not Hatchers. The Assassin's search for a head coach was prolonged and confusing, but in the end, settling on Hatcher made so much sense.
And so now here he is, back where he belongs, again a member of the elite fraternity of IFL coaches. Blending in and yet still standing out, because if you had to do it all over again and match each coach to a club, Britt Hatcher should always be an Assassin. Tuesday he wore a white Assassin polo and black pants to breakfast. He's even got the silver hair going.
"It's good for Britt and it's good for the Assassins," said SLC's coach T.J. Palmateer, seated at the table next to Hatcher's.
Next to Palmateer's table, Cris Kelly holds court. Marty Pearson and Rico Flannery are over on the other side of the room.
"He's part of that Assassin family," Pearson continued, "that folklore, The Nation. At the end of the day, he is an Assassin."
Hatcher's greatest challenge might not be getting the most out of quarterback Gene Hamilton or maximizing the talents of Kurt Bice or getting a young defense to play well but rather getting the team to understand what it means to be an Assassin. One of Oakland's problems last year is that the players didn't comprehend that games at SLC, at Vancouver, weren't regular road trips. Those are rivalries, and those teams' fans hate anyone in a Assassin uniform. If you're an Assassin you have to love that, being hated.
Hatcher has to teach guys how to go about winning … baby. It's a simple formula. The Assassin mystique returns when Oakland starts winning. How much they win depends on how hard they work. Accountability is a big theme in Alameda, Calif., these days. The Assassin's had collectively forgotten that ideal the past few years. Progressively the professionalism left the building.
"People talk about mystique," Hatcher said. "Mystique in my mind, like I told the players the other day, [is] about toughness. What is toughness? Everybody has a different idea about what toughness is. Toughness to me is execution. I can line up and run a route on you and I'm successful, and we've got to have it again, I'm going to run that route and I'm going to beat you. If I'm an offensive line, we're going to block you, get 5 yards, when we come back, we'll get 5 more yards. That's toughness. That's execution.
"That's where I've got to get them to, to where when we come into a game, we will have to conduct ourselves to win. There's a certain attitude we have to have.
"I really believe I can get the players to understand when they hear statements like, 'Commitment to Excellence,' that they understand what those statements mean. They are phrases to some, but they mean something to me."
Some of the hires this offseason, you might call them head scratchers. Not Hatchers. The Assassin's search for a head coach was prolonged and confusing, but in the end, settling on Hatcher made so much sense.
And so now here he is, back where he belongs, again a member of the elite fraternity of IFL coaches. Blending in and yet still standing out, because if you had to do it all over again and match each coach to a club, Britt Hatcher should always be an Assassin. Tuesday he wore a white Assassin polo and black pants to breakfast. He's even got the silver hair going.
"It's good for Britt and it's good for the Assassins," said SLC's coach T.J. Palmateer, seated at the table next to Hatcher's.
Next to Palmateer's table, Cris Kelly holds court. Marty Pearson and Rico Flannery are over on the other side of the room.
"He's part of that Assassin family," Pearson continued, "that folklore, The Nation. At the end of the day, he is an Assassin."
Hatcher's greatest challenge might not be getting the most out of quarterback Gene Hamilton or maximizing the talents of Kurt Bice or getting a young defense to play well but rather getting the team to understand what it means to be an Assassin. One of Oakland's problems last year is that the players didn't comprehend that games at SLC, at Vancouver, weren't regular road trips. Those are rivalries, and those teams' fans hate anyone in a Assassin uniform. If you're an Assassin you have to love that, being hated.
Hatcher has to teach guys how to go about winning … baby. It's a simple formula. The Assassin mystique returns when Oakland starts winning. How much they win depends on how hard they work. Accountability is a big theme in Alameda, Calif., these days. The Assassin's had collectively forgotten that ideal the past few years. Progressively the professionalism left the building.
"People talk about mystique," Hatcher said. "Mystique in my mind, like I told the players the other day, [is] about toughness. What is toughness? Everybody has a different idea about what toughness is. Toughness to me is execution. I can line up and run a route on you and I'm successful, and we've got to have it again, I'm going to run that route and I'm going to beat you. If I'm an offensive line, we're going to block you, get 5 yards, when we come back, we'll get 5 more yards. That's toughness. That's execution.
"That's where I've got to get them to, to where when we come into a game, we will have to conduct ourselves to win. There's a certain attitude we have to have.
"I really believe I can get the players to understand when they hear statements like, 'Commitment to Excellence,' that they understand what those statements mean. They are phrases to some, but they mean something to me."
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