When we started the week we didn't know what to think. I was planning on coming
up with a better gameplan for the Rome Renegades by myself. We had Sunday
through Tuesday off again. On Wednesday I went into the office about 1pm or so
and there were news stations there. Now I'm thinking, "Uh oh, what is going on
now??"
I heard that Steve hired a new coach. So I started watching film and not too long
after that he came in and introduced himself. His name is Tony Wells. Once we got
to talking, I could already tell that he was going to be a good coach. The one big
thing that he had was some Arena and indoor experience. He has played in the
Arena league for about 8 years and then coached in the Arena leagues. At the start
of this season he was coaching for the Miami Morays who are also in our NIFL.
(That just happens to be the same franchise that H.P. is also involved with.) He left
the Miami team because he felt it wasn't right and something else was going to open
up.
He said he has already watched part of the Fayetteville game film and saw a team
that didn't put a lot of effort out on the film. He also said that it took a lot of guts
and courage to go through what we did and still make the trip to Fayetteville. He
said this team has courage and wants to learn and get better. That was not the case
about the team in Miami.
I was the first player that got to talk to Coach Wells and told him where I thought
we needed to get better. I told him that we needed to be motivated because it has
been a while since we have really gotten fired up for a game. We lost direction
when the H.P. stuff started to shake down around Week 6. I think our team plays
really well when we are motivated and we have reason and direction. Coach Wells is
the perfect person to come in turn this team around.
Coach Biles and the old coaching staff were doing so much damage control before
Steve got here that there was no room to coach or teach. I could tell that he was
really excited to get a hold of our team, because he saw a great potential in us and
we had a lot of talent we just needed direction, leadership, and motivation.
I spent all day in the offices on Wednesday going over Coach Wells' offense and our
old offense. I was incorporating his offense into ours for this week. Then hopefully
for the next week we would be able to use his system entirely. Wednesday's
practice was just a team meeting with Coach Wells to get familiar with him and his
philosophies. The team spirits were high because we could tell that he cared and
wanted this team to succeed. He wasn't just here to finish the season, he made it
clear that we had more talent than any team in this league and he wanted to win the
championship this year.
On Thursday, we got our equipment back and we were like kids on Christmas
morning. I had already been in the office all day coming up with a gameplan with
Coach Wells. The practice that Thursday was the most intense practice we had since
training camp. Coach Wells taught the entire practice. Our guys had a sense of
urgency on their faces and they wanted to learn. I knew our team was in good
shape.
On Friday we put the finishing touches on our gameplan. We only had about 18
plays total in for the game. We were just going to keep in simple and put the ball in
our best guys' hands.
Coach Wells also switch some guys' positions because they were playing in the
wrong spot. Tim Daniels moved to linebacker, he was playing defensive line. That
was the biggest change for us; some other guys moved positions but are also playing
in their old spots too.
Our confidence was high but we were playing a red hot Rome Renegades. Could our
offense get it done with only 18 plays in the gameplan? Find out here.