Post by fwp on Mar 19, 2010 4:54:09 GMT -5
www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/mar/18/not-your-average-expansion-team/?sports
Picking the first head coach for an expansion team is a very important decision, to say the least. For the Wenatchee Valley Venom, they went with Keith Evans, an experienced coach who has made his mark all over the state’s football landscape.
Evans is a former star running back for Ingraham High School and Spokane Falls Community College. He broke into indoor football in the 1990s, then coaching in the early 2000s.
His résumé is peppered with several coaching jobs, including a stint as an assistant with the Tri-Cities Fever and a year as head coach of the Indoor Football League’s Alaska Wild.
The World sat down with Evans after a practice on March 9 to discuss his team, philosophies, and expectations for the Venom’s inaugural season.
Wenatchee World (WW): Wenatchee has been trying to get a pro football team for a while. What are fans in store for?
Keith Evans (KE): Some fast-paced, high-scoring, high-energy football. There’s a lot of hitting going on. You can’t run out of bounds … that wall’s undefeated. They can look for a lot of wins out of this team. There’s no doubt about it, we have some of the best-skilled players in this league.
WW: This is an expansion team, but it really doesn’t seem like that’s the way you’re approaching this season.
KE: We’re a new team, but we’ve got a bunch of experienced players. It’s not like a start-up team. We have players that could be playing anywhere in the arena leagues, guys that could have been on the other side of the field from us trying to beat us. I did a really good job getting the best players in here, which is huge. We got top-notch players that chose to be here because they know it’s a top-notch organization and I’m a man of my word. It’s a good situation for the guys.
WW: What are the team’s strengths and weaknesses?
KE: Our strengths are at the skill positions, receivers and DBs right now. We don’t have any weaknesses. There are really no weaknesses in our game. It’s just a matter of everybody getting here, but these are proven players that I can throw right into the fire.
WW: Passing is a big part of the indoor game. How do you feel about the way quarterbacks Ronnie Simpson and Devin Hollins are working with the receivers?
KE: Good. Ronnie, this is his third year of playing indoor football, so he’s a veteran at this. The receivers and the quarterbacks are really coming together. We have a lot of experience at those positions, which is huge in this game. Especially in this indoor game with the passing, if you don’t got a clue, you’re in trouble. And we’ve got more than a clue (laughs).
WW: There’s a lot of excitement about wide receiver Phil Goodman. What does he bring to the table?
KE: Phil brings a lot of things. He’s a leader out there, and somebody that really knows this game. He brings the whole package — the jump ball, the tough blocking. He’s a guy that DBs, after they try to tackle him a few times, they won’t want to tackle him anymore, because he’s too big for DBs in this arena game. One-on-one, they lose about 95 percent of the time (to Goodman), and they get tired of getting stepped on, and then watch him walk into the end zone. He’s not the fastest guy in the world, but he’s a precise route runner. The whole package is there.
WW: Who are some other guys to watch?
KE: Defensively we have two top-notch DBs — Kofi Amoah and Ruschard Dodd-Masters — that are DI players that have played this game at a very high level. These are guys that, if we’re in (man-to-man defense), they can take a receiver out of the game. Isaiah Wily is having a good camp at linebacker, and he showed us something at fullback, so I think he’s going to be able to help us there, too. Another player that is looking really good is Dewayne Patterson out of Washington State University. You’re talking about a guy with a 45-inch vertical leap — he’s a freak of nature at linebacker with that jumping ability.
WW: How many of the players do you think are CFL-caliber, or even NFL-caliber?
KE: I would say I have about half a dozen CFL, potential NFL players. The CFL loves Ronnie Simpson’s film, Phil Goodman’s definitely somebody who could play in the CFL in my opinion, and our top two DBs (Amoah and Dodd-Masters), cover-wise, could definitely play in the CFL.
WW: What’s the general philosophy of the coaching staff? What style of play are you guys emphasizing?
KE: Offensively, I want discipline and precise route running. But at the same time we’re going to go up top with the deep ball. We’re going to take what the defense gives us. Defensive philosophy-wise, I don’t want to speak for (defensive coordinator Brian Smith). (Evans calls Smith over).
Brian Smith: We want to bring pressure up front and man coverage in the back. Very simple. I need guys that can run and hit. That’s what we do on D — violence, discipline, hard work and execution.
KE: See, that’s why I didn’t want to speak for him (chuckles).
WW: Who are some of the other teams to worry about in the league?
KE: San Jose — they have a lot of talent to pull from. You only got Cal, Stanford, San Jose State, all those junior colleges, Sacramento State around there. Then Wyoming, of course — you don’t want to count out the two-time Western Division champs. But San Jose is my concern. My feeling, and most people’s opinions, is it’s going to come down to us and San Jose, because we’re the teams that have the real athletes. Wyoming knows how to play together, but they don’t have the speed and athletes that we and San Jose have.
WW: What is the team’s goal for this season?
KE: We want to make a run right now for a championship. The time is now, and with the athletes we have ... there’s no excuse.
WW: How do you think Wenatchee is going to take to the team?
KE: We’re expecting a sellout that first home game. There is no doubt this is a football town, and it’s been that way. We’ve never had pro football here, but I remember when I played at Spokane Falls, there was always 5,000 at the Apple Bowl every time Wenatchee Valley (College) played. Once people see this, after we jump on Yakima pretty good, people are going to go crazy.
Picking the first head coach for an expansion team is a very important decision, to say the least. For the Wenatchee Valley Venom, they went with Keith Evans, an experienced coach who has made his mark all over the state’s football landscape.
Evans is a former star running back for Ingraham High School and Spokane Falls Community College. He broke into indoor football in the 1990s, then coaching in the early 2000s.
His résumé is peppered with several coaching jobs, including a stint as an assistant with the Tri-Cities Fever and a year as head coach of the Indoor Football League’s Alaska Wild.
The World sat down with Evans after a practice on March 9 to discuss his team, philosophies, and expectations for the Venom’s inaugural season.
Wenatchee World (WW): Wenatchee has been trying to get a pro football team for a while. What are fans in store for?
Keith Evans (KE): Some fast-paced, high-scoring, high-energy football. There’s a lot of hitting going on. You can’t run out of bounds … that wall’s undefeated. They can look for a lot of wins out of this team. There’s no doubt about it, we have some of the best-skilled players in this league.
WW: This is an expansion team, but it really doesn’t seem like that’s the way you’re approaching this season.
KE: We’re a new team, but we’ve got a bunch of experienced players. It’s not like a start-up team. We have players that could be playing anywhere in the arena leagues, guys that could have been on the other side of the field from us trying to beat us. I did a really good job getting the best players in here, which is huge. We got top-notch players that chose to be here because they know it’s a top-notch organization and I’m a man of my word. It’s a good situation for the guys.
WW: What are the team’s strengths and weaknesses?
KE: Our strengths are at the skill positions, receivers and DBs right now. We don’t have any weaknesses. There are really no weaknesses in our game. It’s just a matter of everybody getting here, but these are proven players that I can throw right into the fire.
WW: Passing is a big part of the indoor game. How do you feel about the way quarterbacks Ronnie Simpson and Devin Hollins are working with the receivers?
KE: Good. Ronnie, this is his third year of playing indoor football, so he’s a veteran at this. The receivers and the quarterbacks are really coming together. We have a lot of experience at those positions, which is huge in this game. Especially in this indoor game with the passing, if you don’t got a clue, you’re in trouble. And we’ve got more than a clue (laughs).
WW: There’s a lot of excitement about wide receiver Phil Goodman. What does he bring to the table?
KE: Phil brings a lot of things. He’s a leader out there, and somebody that really knows this game. He brings the whole package — the jump ball, the tough blocking. He’s a guy that DBs, after they try to tackle him a few times, they won’t want to tackle him anymore, because he’s too big for DBs in this arena game. One-on-one, they lose about 95 percent of the time (to Goodman), and they get tired of getting stepped on, and then watch him walk into the end zone. He’s not the fastest guy in the world, but he’s a precise route runner. The whole package is there.
WW: Who are some other guys to watch?
KE: Defensively we have two top-notch DBs — Kofi Amoah and Ruschard Dodd-Masters — that are DI players that have played this game at a very high level. These are guys that, if we’re in (man-to-man defense), they can take a receiver out of the game. Isaiah Wily is having a good camp at linebacker, and he showed us something at fullback, so I think he’s going to be able to help us there, too. Another player that is looking really good is Dewayne Patterson out of Washington State University. You’re talking about a guy with a 45-inch vertical leap — he’s a freak of nature at linebacker with that jumping ability.
WW: How many of the players do you think are CFL-caliber, or even NFL-caliber?
KE: I would say I have about half a dozen CFL, potential NFL players. The CFL loves Ronnie Simpson’s film, Phil Goodman’s definitely somebody who could play in the CFL in my opinion, and our top two DBs (Amoah and Dodd-Masters), cover-wise, could definitely play in the CFL.
WW: What’s the general philosophy of the coaching staff? What style of play are you guys emphasizing?
KE: Offensively, I want discipline and precise route running. But at the same time we’re going to go up top with the deep ball. We’re going to take what the defense gives us. Defensive philosophy-wise, I don’t want to speak for (defensive coordinator Brian Smith). (Evans calls Smith over).
Brian Smith: We want to bring pressure up front and man coverage in the back. Very simple. I need guys that can run and hit. That’s what we do on D — violence, discipline, hard work and execution.
KE: See, that’s why I didn’t want to speak for him (chuckles).
WW: Who are some of the other teams to worry about in the league?
KE: San Jose — they have a lot of talent to pull from. You only got Cal, Stanford, San Jose State, all those junior colleges, Sacramento State around there. Then Wyoming, of course — you don’t want to count out the two-time Western Division champs. But San Jose is my concern. My feeling, and most people’s opinions, is it’s going to come down to us and San Jose, because we’re the teams that have the real athletes. Wyoming knows how to play together, but they don’t have the speed and athletes that we and San Jose have.
WW: What is the team’s goal for this season?
KE: We want to make a run right now for a championship. The time is now, and with the athletes we have ... there’s no excuse.
WW: How do you think Wenatchee is going to take to the team?
KE: We’re expecting a sellout that first home game. There is no doubt this is a football town, and it’s been that way. We’ve never had pro football here, but I remember when I played at Spokane Falls, there was always 5,000 at the Apple Bowl every time Wenatchee Valley (College) played. Once people see this, after we jump on Yakima pretty good, people are going to go crazy.