Put me in (as) Coach

Players aren’t the only ones moving on to the NFL—with both leagues now focused on the offseason (nearly enough for the NFL, with 30 of 32 teams done for the time being), coaching transactions have been hitting the wires for weeks now, with some faces being put up on the Billboard of Success, and others adorning the metaphorical Milk Carton of Obscurity. The Colonials themselves have lost some coaches over the past few weeks and now have some holes to fill. In no particular order…

Tony Sparano Jr: Junior moves from the position of assistant defensive line coach with the Colonials to something called the “offensive quality control coach.” It’s a move that’s understandable in some ways, but looks a little peculiar in others. We’ve no way of knowing what the paycheck difference might be like, but the lure of an NFL salary is a powerful force, as is that of a family bond. Presumably both of these were part of the equation.

Sparano Sr. says,  "I once coached a team this big!"

It is a little strange to see a coach flip sides of the ball, from defense to offense in this case, but Sparano Jr. is young and has some time to develop. The worst part of this is the room for heartbreak; Sparano the elder looked to be on the chopping block after disappointing back-to-back season in Miami, and could still be on the hot seat if the Dolphins come out of the gate cold, or if he can’t net them a playoff spot, which either means leaving Tony Jr. employed for the organization that fired his father (very awkward, from personal experience), or out of a job.

Osia Lewis: Lewis was the Colonials’ defensive coordinator in 2010, and prior to that was a defensive line coach, and then linebackers coach, for the University of New Mexico’s Lobos. I’m not an avid watcher of college ball and can’t really comment on his coaching career at that level. For the Colonials? It’s hard to say. Hartford’s passing defense was modestly successful, but the running D was second to last in the league in term of yards given up. You can’t even argue that teams were running to wind down the clock; Hartford frequently went into the half with a lead, and most games were fairly close. Furthermore, the stats show that the Colonials defense was the only one giving up at least 4 yards per carry.

But even worse is that Hartford was dead last in stopping opponents in the red zone. Goal line operations are heavily dependant on the defensive line, which frequently failed to stop runners or get any pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The Colonials had the fewest sacks of any team in the league. Poor showings at the goal line and a noticeable lack of pressure are not good signs for a coordinator has significant experience with the front seven. These things should be strengths.

It’s hard to gauge a coach after only a single season, but I don’t feel that the team is at any great disadvantage for having lost Lewis.

Kevin O’Dea: O’Dea. Ooooo’Dea. O’Dea come then he want to go home (to the Bears, where he was ST coordinator between ’06 and ’07). O’Dea has plenty of pro experience and its not surprising that the NFL would come calling again. His tenures with the Jets and Bears put up average to above average numbers in the return games, both for and against. Hartford was last in yards per punt return, but I’d place that more on unreliable return man Syndric Steptoe then on O’Dea’s ST units. Kev did a respectable job in Hartford without much to work with, and while Hartford’s poor yards per return (against) average was a bit high, much of that was Aaron Woods’ TD return, and returns are fluky business. Hopefully a good replacement can be found.

The Colonials have their work cut out for them finding suitable candidates for these positions. Lewis and Sparano didn’t make any waves with the defense, and if there’s a bright spot in any of this it’s that their replacements aren’t likely to do any worse.

Endangered Species

So there are a lot of UFL fans who've reacted with hostility towards the Tuskers "move" to Virginia, and I can understand that. I can't picture myself writing this blog  if the Hartford Colonials became, say, the Manchester New Hampshire) Maples. But the time has come to put all the negativity behind us. What's done is done, and who's to say that there can't be any good to come out of a situation like this? Virgina gets a strong team and hopefully that helps bolster the fanbase.

Not that it's exactly the same situation, but I'll admit that I wasn't too happy when the Redwoods became the Mountain Lions. I mean there aren't too many sports franchises named for trees, or plants. I'll be blunt: it took serious balls to name a football team after what is, after all, a tremendous vegetable. Whereas teams named for predatory animals, particularly for large cats, particularly wild cats, can be found in every sports league ever invented. There's a bowling team out there in Camden New Jersey named the Wildcats; their star is a 244-pound plumber named Ed, and they're gearing up to crush the NJRBL (New Jersey Regional Bowling League) so that Ed can go back to coaching his son's little league team, the Wildcats. That way his wife can stop doing that and go back to her bridge club... the Lady Wildcats.

In other words, I'm not too impressed with the name Mountain Lions.

But it did spawn something awesome. The revamped Sacramento team has this.

Don't even dare suggest that the California team went from one endangered species to another. Mojo the Mountain Lion is basically a blender made of fur and fuzz and would end you for looking at him the wrong way. An avid contributor to the UFL Access forums, Mojo talks more trash than the rest of the UFL mascots combined and could likely take them all in a fight, possibly picking one up and beating the rest to death with it. If nothing else, he's been seriously entertaining, which is good because that's pretty much the point of the mascot.

You know what sort of mascot you would have ended up with if the Redwoods has stuck around? This.

I'm Woody the wood sprite! Go team!

So there is some good to come out of relocation.

Blizzard Conditions

Over the past couple of days it snowed around here. A lot. When I went to clean off my car this morning I took one look at the pathetic red snow brush I'd taken out and tossed it into a snowbank by the car. The stuff on the roof was piled so high that it was easier to just pick up huge clumps of it and toss it into the empty (of vehicles at least) space adjacent.

Seems like that's pretty much what the week has been like for the UFL and its fans: the skies opened up and a ton of news dropped on us, and none of it good. Between Joe Moglia being inserted into the Nighthawks head coaching job, the folding of the Florida Tuskers and Mark Cuban's impending lawsuit for the five million dollars he apparently only loaned the league, things are looking rough, and it's hard to say if the fledgling UFL will be able to dig its way out of all of this.

Few fans I've heard from are fond of Moglia as the coach of any team. Understandable, given the Joe's last coaching experience came in 1983. Assuming that there still is a 2011 season, the Nighthawks will be playing in TD Ameritrade park, so named for the multimillion dollar brokerage firm where Moglia was once a chairman. The situation looks as if the former businessman bought his way into a head coaching job, and fans are not happy.

With the Tuskers closing up shop, it's looking possible that 2011 could end up being played with only five teams, with six still a possibility, but eight--which the UFL brass seemed confident they would have for this year--looks like a dream. The Florida franchise recorded the league's lowest attendance in the 2010 season, and perhaps it was an unfortunate necessity to remove it rather than spending even more money developing a market that wasn't receptive, but contraction is never a good sign and still feels hard to take.

Mark Cuban has been one of the league's most vocal supporters, or at least, has seemed like such in the early days. With the recent development that the $5 million dollars he invested in the league was merely a loan, and that said loan is now past due, it not only spells financial distress for the UFL, but could indicate the loss of a very valuable investing partner in the future.

What should we take away form all of this? 2011 should be the year that finally tells us whether or not the league is truly viable. Scarcely two weeks in, the forecast is looking grim. I'll continue to be a UFL supporter even should the league melt away, but I hope it'll stay solid for a long time yet.

Patriotism

I’m rabidly pro-New England in just about every way imaginable—Vermont’s cheddar is better than any from Wisconsin; our mountains are just as pretty as those anywhere else along the Appalachians; Boston is just as fun a city to visit as New York (there, I said it)—I’ve never been a Patriots fan. I love my home region, and I’ve lived in spitting distance of Gillette stadium for over six years now, but unlike my father, the team just never caught my attention.

            (For what it’s worth, the Randall Cunningham led Eagles were the team that tackled my eleven-year-old mind. Specifically through the game Tecmo Super Bowl. But that’s another story.)

            But for much of my young life I used to live in Hartford County. East Hartford, to be exact. Home of Rentschler Field. And I was one of many residents who were disappointed when the Patriots deal fell through and the stadium plan was reduced and brought to good ol’ EH. I don’t want to say that its poisoned me against the Pats—admittedly I have a sort of “Jekyll and Hyde” attitude towards them as they remain the team that used my home as leverage in a better deal, but they are the NFL team for this region, the team that my father follows and, frankly, one hell of a football club in the past decade.

           

            But I wasn’t a Pats fan to begin with, right? So why should I care? Well, looking back, I never felt like Rentschler Field added much to our community, and I couldn’t help but imagine what a pro sports team might have brought to an embattled city like Hartford. It’s never been the biggest town or the nicest, but its my home and I want to see good things happen to it. I’m probably one of the biggest Colonials homers you’ll meet because their landing in Hartford feels like the fulfillment of a dream that got tossed by the wayside. I think about what it could mean for the city should the team (and the UFL) succeed on the long term: jobs, a boost to the economy, civic pride and identity. We lost that when the Pats left but we have a chance at it again.

            I’m a New Englander through and through, but Hartford is closer to my heart than New England, and the Colonials feel more like the home team to me now, even if I live closer to a different one.