Firebirds' DeBerg Eager To Begin Building a Winner
Matthew Pickut
Thursday August 7, 2003
Then I thought to myself “I need more sleep… a lot more sleep…”
Joe Hennessy’s selection for head coach was not erstwhile pop icon Eldra DeBarge, but former NFL quarterback turned QB coach Steve DeBerg. In retrospect Hennessy’s choice, while not as musically pleasing, is probably the better football decision. New Head Coach DeBerg may not have DeBarge’s carefully coifed hair or top-40 sensibility, but El DeBarge doesn’t have a 17 year NFL career that includes an AFC championship ring, ranking 12th in passes completed in the history of the NFL, or the history of improving QB’s where ever he goes.
As Indiana’s new head coach, DeBerg comes into town without having any AFL experience, but he brings a wealth of quarterbacking experience and an obvious eagerness to learn. “He’s like a sponge,” said Hennessy, “and I have no doubt that when we put some quality coaches around him that he’s going to be out there calling plays the first game with a prolific offense.”
DeBerg, who hopes to have his entire coaching staff in place by September 1st, already has his work cut out for him “First thing [we need] is the coaching staff,” said DeBerg, “second thing is getting out there with the player personnel and we don’t know what’s going to happen with that whether they sign with us or don’t and if they don’t we need to replace them and evaluating positions to see if we need to upgrade them and a lot of time in player evaluation.”
Defensive Coordinator Mike Wilpolt is the one member of the coaching staff staying with the Firebirds and is encouraged by the hire of Deberg. “Steves a good choice,” says Wilpolt, “he’s enthusiastic, and he ready to get going and he’s going to work hard at it and he realizes it’s a different league…. We’re going to keep the defense pretty much the way it is, maybe change some terminology, but were not going to make any drastic changes.”
Wilpolt was given the option of leaving the Firebirds by Hennessy, but choose to stay on anyway, “Joe and I have had discussions since the end of the year and when Joe made the final decision on Coach DeBerg he gave me the choice – he said I want you to be comfortable, we want you to be our defensive coordinator but to be fair we wanted to give you the choice. I never really looked out there, I just got married and we’re building a house so we’ve got some roots here.”
On hand for the reception for DeBerg were free agents FB/LB Leroy Thompson, QB Raymond Philyaw, and OS/WR/LB Eddie Brown who all looked on with interest as Deberg was introduced to the media. The three free agents are not eligible to be signed until Oct 25th but attended the reception as guests of the team.
“He seems eager to put together a team and do well especially,” said Thompson, “like Joe said everyone had a question about him not having any arena experience but my guess is if you surround yourself with good coaches and you’re willing to do some work good things will happen,
Thompson who will begin offseason training soon, remains philosophical about his free agent status, “Every team is an option, but I plan on playing two more years and I’d like to retire as a Firebird. My wife is she works here, she’s an attorney, my son is here, so I’d like to stay here but its something that my wife and I will have to sit down and figure,” said Thompson.”
DeBerg, who most recently spent time working with NFL first round draft picks Byron Leftwitch (Jaguars) and Rex Grossman (Bears), singled out Philyaw for praise, “He has a lot of talent,” said DeBerg. “I think he has what it takes to be successful at arena football, he’s got the intangibles, he seems to be a leader, he seems intelligent, I like the way he throws the football I like everything about him really, I’m going to get some competition for him I think that’s important to have at least two guys who can win for you.”
“For him to say those things about me means a lot,” replied Philyaw, “but just because he said them doesn’t mean I’ll be here, its something Joe Hennessey and my agent have to work out some good numbers for me to stay here, but I’m willing to learn from him he’s got 17 years of quarterbacking to teach me if I’m here, if not I’d still like to learn from him … I want to be here with the Firebirds I don’t want to bounce from team to team, I want to be one of those guys like Eddie who plays his career with one team.”
If Philyaw does stay, he will have to learn a new system as DeBerg will bring in a new playbook based on his own system. “I’m putting together a system,” revealed DeBerg, “an offensive system terminology wise that I’ve been working on for years I just need to smooth it out and get it ready. I actually need to convert it from NFL football to arena football.”
DeBerg and team owner Dave Lageschulte have been friends for 15 years and both DeBerg and Lageschulte are looking forward to this year. “This is also going to be fun for him,” said DeBerg, “because he’s going to have a better connection with the team then he has before because of our friendship. So were both looking forward to having fun this year.”
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.
