Indiana Knows What To Do, But Can They Do It?
Matthew Pickut
Sunday May 18, 2003
“I think a lot of it has been the personnel in the game. There have been times when we thought we were at a full complement with receivers who were our number one guys mostly early in the year. We had Brett Bech, Terrence Blackwell and Eddie (Brown) all healthy and Raymond (Philyaw) was healthy,” said Indiana head coach Mike Dailey.
“Throughout the whole season, it’s been Raymond out of the lineup for an extended period of time and then the receivers out of the line up and Jeremy moving to OS and Eddie moving to be a two-way player and Evan Hlavacek moving from defense to offense and then back. So I think a lot of it has been not having consistency in personnel, and a lot of that has been out of necessity. No matter what level of football you play, you try and get the best people out on the field, but sometimes it doesn’t lend itself to a lot of consistency.”
That lack of consistency is foreign to the Firebirds’ organization, a team that has only missed the play-offs twice in their existence. “Its something we are proud of [making the play-offs]. I think it comes from having a solid organization,” said Dailey. “The Firebirds are one of those organizations that have been in the league for a long time. And we’ve been a steady program for a lot of years and we always had a lot of successes but obviously there are lean years. Hopefully we can get ourselves in this year and keep ourselves moving in the right direction.”
While making the play-offs is expected every year, Dailey knows the challenges that come from trying to take a team to the championship level are different every year. “If you have that team that’s going into the playoffs with great confidence that you’re going to carry on and have the long run to the championship, there can be some great disappointments, and that has happened to us.
“I thought in 1998 we had one of the best teams in the Arena Football League, and we lost in the first round of the playoffs,” remembers Dailey. “We felt like we were one of the better teams and had great expectations that we would get to the championship game. Situations like the one we are in now, where we are fighting through a tough season to be in the situation where we are now to have a chance at the playoffs, I think you are more grateful, more thankful, for anything that happens.”
This year’s inconsistency and injuries offer an interesting environment to examine the effects of the new 16-game season. “I think it’s awfully hard on the team, particularly coming off a short offseason. I think they have handled it admirably, but I’m sure they are physically and mentally tired. And with our situation, we practice on Astroturf every day and we play all of our games on Astroturf, and it puts a lot of wear and tear on you physically,” said Dailey of the two extra games.
“It actually changed the way I approached coaching them early. I think I didn’t do quite as much early in the season as far as banging them and beating them up [in practice] because I was thinking that we’d need them later in the year over the long haul. And I really felt good about it, coming out and going 3-0, thinking, ‘Hey, we did all the right things.’ But then later here in the season, it’s kind of been back to where it’s been other years. But if you ask the coaches you always wish you had more time to work on something here or there, but you have to be smart about it and not beat them to death.”
After 15 games the Firebirds need help to continue the drive to the ArenaBowl. They must win against Chicago and Las Vegas has to beat Buffalo in order to make the playoffs as either the 11 or 12 seed. Dailey hopes he will have a reason to root for the Gladiators. “We’ll be traveling back after the game, so someone will probably be keeping in touch with us by cell phone,” said Dailey. “I just hope were in a position where it matters. The key for us is that we need to win, and that will be a difficult struggle against Chicago.”
Matthew Pickut is a pastor in northern Indiana and a long time AFL fan. He also writes for his own website: The Brown Paper Blog. He graduated from Taylor University in Upland Indiana (class of `96) with degrees in Biblical Literature and Sociology as well as a healthy respect for the medicinal properties of coffee.
