Post by Banana Cat on Mar 25, 2011 6:19:55 GMT -5
www.siouxcityjournal.com/sports/football/amateur/article_dae98c96-9e8a-5473-bf27-a33990009273.html
New coach, new league? Same old, same old for Bandits
By Michael Brauer / Sioux City Journal
March 25, 2011
SIOUX CITY - Butch Faulkenberry had a new playbook cobbled together, even before the Sioux City Bandits' first spring practice.
It didn't take long for him to scrap it.
"I think 15 minutes into the first day of practice, I thought I might as well just cut the whole thing up because I knew it wasn't going to work," said the Bandits' new head coach, who admitted he's still learning the ins-and-outs of arena football. "When you're talking about X's and O's, you're talking about an entirely different way of running a defense."
A revamped playbook seems relatively minor, compared to the vast amount of other changes facing the Bandits in 2011.
With a roster full of fresh faces playing in a different league under a new head coach, Sioux City went through an indoor football facelift. And for the Bandits, another offseason full of change is about the only thing that hasn't.
Tonight, Sioux City opens its inaugural campaign in the American Professional Football League by hosting the two-time defending champion Iowa Blackhawks. "They're going to try and welcome us to the league -- this is personal to them," Faulkenberry said. "I guarantee you they're playing the ‘respect' card within their camp. They don't want an old IFL (Indoor Football League) team coming in and thinking they're going to just walk through their league."
Tonight's kickoff will signify much more than the Bandits' first step toward forgetting a strained, two-year relationship and eventual departure with the IFL.
It will also mark a fresh start under Faulkenberry -- a former high school coach at Galva-Holstein who directed the minor-league Iowa Sharks to two championships over the past three summers.
Faulkenberry is the Bandits' 10th head coach in 11 seasons of existence, not counting interim coaches, and he'll take over a team joining its fifth different league since the franchise began.
New league? No problem, said Faulkenberry, whose Sharks played in a different one every summer he coached.
"If you think arena football is shaky with keeping teams up and running, go to minor league football where guys play for free and teams are opening, folding, dropping and quitting year in and year out," he said.
Faulkenberry is more concerned about those X's and O's -- mainly, the fact that there's three less of each than he's use to.
That's why the coach brought in former Bandit John Zevenbergen, or 'Coach Z,' to direct the defensive backs. He eventually gave Zevenbergen control of the entire defense.
"You realize pretty fast that defensive coordinating in arena is pretty much coaching the secondary," Faulkenberry said. "Between (veteran linebacker) Spetlar (Tonga) and Z coordinating it, the defense just took shape.
"I said, ‘You know what, Z, you're running the D.' It was just senseless for me to act like I could do a better job than he could."
Zevenberg played for Sioux City from 2006-08 and is second all-time in Bandits history with 14 interceptions. He'll round out Faulkenberry's staff that includes tenured Bandit assistants Jarrod DeGeorgia (offensive coordinator) and Erv Strohbeen (line coach).
The Bandits haven't had a winning season since 2005 when they finished 13-2 and lost to Sioux Falls in the United Indoor Football League Championship. Since then, the Bandits have posted a 23-50 record.
Faulkenberry thinks the organization overlooked its local talent pool; something he said is partly to blame for the team's recent struggles.
His plan was to stockpile area athletes - which fell right in line with APFL regulations requiring the majority of a team's players to come from within a 90-mile radius. The Bandits' final 2011 roster features players from Briar Cliff, Buena Vista, Morningside, South Dakota and Wayne State.
"The '05 team had a strong core of area athletes, specifically the Wayne State kids, and it seems like that kind of got lost as the Bandits went out and tried to get more talent," Faulkenberry said. "It's not that the talent they had wasn't good. It's just there wasn't that connection with the community. And we've got that again."
They've also got a whole bunch of first-year players, which means plenty of inexperience when it comes to arena football. For most of the Bandit rookies - head coach included - tonight will be their first game on the indoor gridiron.
"It's still football, but the field's tiny and the game is a whole lot faster, everything's just ‘boom, boom, boom,'" said Drew Prohaska, a former Briar Cliff Charger making the switch from wide receiver to running back. "Coach says it's like playing football in a shoebox."
It's hard to imagine a much tougher first test for Prohaska and company than the Blackhawks, who are coming off a 10-1 record. Iowa capped last season by beating the Mid-Missouri Outlaws 31-28 in overtime for its second straight APFL championship.
"We kind of have a target on our back as the new guys in the league, so we're coming in with a chip on our shoulder and they're going to be coming in with two trophies behind them," Prohaska said. "What better way to start off then by playing the two-time defending champs?"
By Michael Brauer / Sioux City Journal
March 25, 2011
SIOUX CITY - Butch Faulkenberry had a new playbook cobbled together, even before the Sioux City Bandits' first spring practice.
It didn't take long for him to scrap it.
"I think 15 minutes into the first day of practice, I thought I might as well just cut the whole thing up because I knew it wasn't going to work," said the Bandits' new head coach, who admitted he's still learning the ins-and-outs of arena football. "When you're talking about X's and O's, you're talking about an entirely different way of running a defense."
A revamped playbook seems relatively minor, compared to the vast amount of other changes facing the Bandits in 2011.
With a roster full of fresh faces playing in a different league under a new head coach, Sioux City went through an indoor football facelift. And for the Bandits, another offseason full of change is about the only thing that hasn't.
Tonight, Sioux City opens its inaugural campaign in the American Professional Football League by hosting the two-time defending champion Iowa Blackhawks. "They're going to try and welcome us to the league -- this is personal to them," Faulkenberry said. "I guarantee you they're playing the ‘respect' card within their camp. They don't want an old IFL (Indoor Football League) team coming in and thinking they're going to just walk through their league."
Tonight's kickoff will signify much more than the Bandits' first step toward forgetting a strained, two-year relationship and eventual departure with the IFL.
It will also mark a fresh start under Faulkenberry -- a former high school coach at Galva-Holstein who directed the minor-league Iowa Sharks to two championships over the past three summers.
Faulkenberry is the Bandits' 10th head coach in 11 seasons of existence, not counting interim coaches, and he'll take over a team joining its fifth different league since the franchise began.
New league? No problem, said Faulkenberry, whose Sharks played in a different one every summer he coached.
"If you think arena football is shaky with keeping teams up and running, go to minor league football where guys play for free and teams are opening, folding, dropping and quitting year in and year out," he said.
Faulkenberry is more concerned about those X's and O's -- mainly, the fact that there's three less of each than he's use to.
That's why the coach brought in former Bandit John Zevenbergen, or 'Coach Z,' to direct the defensive backs. He eventually gave Zevenbergen control of the entire defense.
"You realize pretty fast that defensive coordinating in arena is pretty much coaching the secondary," Faulkenberry said. "Between (veteran linebacker) Spetlar (Tonga) and Z coordinating it, the defense just took shape.
"I said, ‘You know what, Z, you're running the D.' It was just senseless for me to act like I could do a better job than he could."
Zevenberg played for Sioux City from 2006-08 and is second all-time in Bandits history with 14 interceptions. He'll round out Faulkenberry's staff that includes tenured Bandit assistants Jarrod DeGeorgia (offensive coordinator) and Erv Strohbeen (line coach).
The Bandits haven't had a winning season since 2005 when they finished 13-2 and lost to Sioux Falls in the United Indoor Football League Championship. Since then, the Bandits have posted a 23-50 record.
Faulkenberry thinks the organization overlooked its local talent pool; something he said is partly to blame for the team's recent struggles.
His plan was to stockpile area athletes - which fell right in line with APFL regulations requiring the majority of a team's players to come from within a 90-mile radius. The Bandits' final 2011 roster features players from Briar Cliff, Buena Vista, Morningside, South Dakota and Wayne State.
"The '05 team had a strong core of area athletes, specifically the Wayne State kids, and it seems like that kind of got lost as the Bandits went out and tried to get more talent," Faulkenberry said. "It's not that the talent they had wasn't good. It's just there wasn't that connection with the community. And we've got that again."
They've also got a whole bunch of first-year players, which means plenty of inexperience when it comes to arena football. For most of the Bandit rookies - head coach included - tonight will be their first game on the indoor gridiron.
"It's still football, but the field's tiny and the game is a whole lot faster, everything's just ‘boom, boom, boom,'" said Drew Prohaska, a former Briar Cliff Charger making the switch from wide receiver to running back. "Coach says it's like playing football in a shoebox."
It's hard to imagine a much tougher first test for Prohaska and company than the Blackhawks, who are coming off a 10-1 record. Iowa capped last season by beating the Mid-Missouri Outlaws 31-28 in overtime for its second straight APFL championship.
"We kind of have a target on our back as the new guys in the league, so we're coming in with a chip on our shoulder and they're going to be coming in with two trophies behind them," Prohaska said. "What better way to start off then by playing the two-time defending champs?"