Post by Banana Cat on May 18, 2011 22:25:04 GMT -5
McCoy put a nice spin on this, but both Ponder and Davis illegally recruited players that they KNEW were signed with other teams and also offered money under the table. Business as usual for the majority of teams at this level. They were just stupid about how they went about it and got caught.
www.theindependent.com/articles/2011/05/18/sports/danger/doc4dd3575d69ae7858472322.txt
www.theindependent.com/articles/2011/05/18/sports/danger/doc4dd3575d69ae7858472322.txt
Danger working through coaching situation in state of flux
By Bob Hamar / theindependent.com
May 18, 2011
Mike Davis is still the head coach for the Nebraska Danger.
He’s just not the head coach right now.
That’s how general manager Mike McCoy explains the situation concerning Davis, the Danger and the Indoor Football League.
“Coach Davis right now is the director of football operations and the assistant general manager and he’ll remain in that capacity until the end of the year,” McCoy said. “He’ll be our head coach next year. He just can’t be the head coach right now.”
The whole thing stems back to what McCoy calls “recruiting violations” early in the season. McCoy said Davis made contact with players who were already signed by other IFL teams. Now the Danger is being cautious, making sure that Davis and the team doesn’t run into any more trouble with the league.
“Mike is in a situation now where he just has to be real careful from here on what he does,” McCoy said. “We all make calls. We all make contacts with players and sometimes you don’t know if they’re already signed with another team or not because they don’t tell you. When they don’t call you, you don’t know. In our enthusiasm to reach out to as many people as we could early, we stepped on a couple of toes.”
So Davis sits in the stands during games and stays in the office during practices working on other team business. This week he helped McCoy make travel plans to Bloomington, Ind., for Saturday’s game against the Bloomington Extreme.
Basically, he’s learning the business side of the business.
“It’s been a learning situation for him,” McCoy said. “He’s really had a chance to watch and let his coordinators coach. You hate when that happens, but it’s a situation we all learn from. He didn’t do anything bad or crazy. It’s just a minor technicality.”
Pat Pimmel, who was assistant head coach and defensive coordinator, is now the acting head coach for the Danger. He gets help from Grand Island Senior High coach Mike Tomlin, who works with the offensive and defensive lines, and Dave Breugman, who helps with the defensive line and special teams.
“We have all the confidence in Coach Pimmel,” McCoy said. “He’s done an incredible job. We shouldn’t really skip a beat. It’s like when you self-impose like some colleges do. We’re not self imposing. But we’re erring on the side of being too careful.”
Pimmel has also taken over the duties of offensive coordinator after Corey Bethany resigned on Thursday for personal reasons.
It was just more adversity for the first-year franchise to try to overcome. The Danger has certainly had its share this season.
The Danger’s first head coach, Sean Ponder, left for family reasons after just a short time on the job. That’s when Davis was announced as the Danger head coach.
Earlier this season, Pimmel fell on the ice and suffered a partially collapsed lung, four or five cracked ribs and a shoulder injury. That slowed him down for a couple of weeks.
And then Bethany left just two days before the game against the Colorado Ice.
“There are hiccups that happen during the year,” McCoy said Saturday night after the Danger’s 47-39 loss to Ice. “There are things that occur. Bottom line is we’ve had our share. But the guys are battling hard. We were eight points away from the best team in the west. Those things happen the first year.”
McCoy said the Danger probably won’t replace Bethany for the remainder of the season because there isn’t that much teaching done this time of the year.
“Now we have four games left,” he said. “The guys we have on staff are doing the best they can. Coach Tomlin has been helping and he’s doing a very good job. Coach Breugman is doing a very good job too. Everybody has stepped up quite a bit. Those things happen during a season. You just have to make the best of it and go on.”
By Bob Hamar / theindependent.com
May 18, 2011
Mike Davis is still the head coach for the Nebraska Danger.
He’s just not the head coach right now.
That’s how general manager Mike McCoy explains the situation concerning Davis, the Danger and the Indoor Football League.
“Coach Davis right now is the director of football operations and the assistant general manager and he’ll remain in that capacity until the end of the year,” McCoy said. “He’ll be our head coach next year. He just can’t be the head coach right now.”
The whole thing stems back to what McCoy calls “recruiting violations” early in the season. McCoy said Davis made contact with players who were already signed by other IFL teams. Now the Danger is being cautious, making sure that Davis and the team doesn’t run into any more trouble with the league.
“Mike is in a situation now where he just has to be real careful from here on what he does,” McCoy said. “We all make calls. We all make contacts with players and sometimes you don’t know if they’re already signed with another team or not because they don’t tell you. When they don’t call you, you don’t know. In our enthusiasm to reach out to as many people as we could early, we stepped on a couple of toes.”
So Davis sits in the stands during games and stays in the office during practices working on other team business. This week he helped McCoy make travel plans to Bloomington, Ind., for Saturday’s game against the Bloomington Extreme.
Basically, he’s learning the business side of the business.
“It’s been a learning situation for him,” McCoy said. “He’s really had a chance to watch and let his coordinators coach. You hate when that happens, but it’s a situation we all learn from. He didn’t do anything bad or crazy. It’s just a minor technicality.”
Pat Pimmel, who was assistant head coach and defensive coordinator, is now the acting head coach for the Danger. He gets help from Grand Island Senior High coach Mike Tomlin, who works with the offensive and defensive lines, and Dave Breugman, who helps with the defensive line and special teams.
“We have all the confidence in Coach Pimmel,” McCoy said. “He’s done an incredible job. We shouldn’t really skip a beat. It’s like when you self-impose like some colleges do. We’re not self imposing. But we’re erring on the side of being too careful.”
Pimmel has also taken over the duties of offensive coordinator after Corey Bethany resigned on Thursday for personal reasons.
It was just more adversity for the first-year franchise to try to overcome. The Danger has certainly had its share this season.
The Danger’s first head coach, Sean Ponder, left for family reasons after just a short time on the job. That’s when Davis was announced as the Danger head coach.
Earlier this season, Pimmel fell on the ice and suffered a partially collapsed lung, four or five cracked ribs and a shoulder injury. That slowed him down for a couple of weeks.
And then Bethany left just two days before the game against the Colorado Ice.
“There are hiccups that happen during the year,” McCoy said Saturday night after the Danger’s 47-39 loss to Ice. “There are things that occur. Bottom line is we’ve had our share. But the guys are battling hard. We were eight points away from the best team in the west. Those things happen the first year.”
McCoy said the Danger probably won’t replace Bethany for the remainder of the season because there isn’t that much teaching done this time of the year.
“Now we have four games left,” he said. “The guys we have on staff are doing the best they can. Coach Tomlin has been helping and he’s doing a very good job. Coach Breugman is doing a very good job too. Everybody has stepped up quite a bit. Those things happen during a season. You just have to make the best of it and go on.”