Wolfley Finds Unlikely Role in Arizona
Patrick Daly
Monday January 26, 2004
A year ago, he might have thought twice about coaching. Now, in his first season on the Rattlers coaching staff, Wolfley is sure to leave his mark. After all, in just the first few minutes of talking to him you can’t help but be affected by his tremendous energy—an energy that’s as impressive as it is infectious.
Before talking about that energy and emotion, let’s start with how he became the fullback/linebacker coach after initially being named as a pass rush coach earlier in the month.
“At first they were talking to me about being the pass rush coach and I was a little uncomfortable with that, to tell you the truth, because I have been a fullback my entire life,” said Wolfley. “So it’s going to be a little difficult; I felt a little unconvicted talking about that. So then, all of a sudden, we talked about me being a fullback/linebacker coach and helping out on special teams as well. Now, I felt like that was in my wheelhouse. I felt that was the stuff that I could possibly bring to the table for some of these guys—my experience as a fullback in the NFL and being able to flip the way that I thought around and say ‘what did linebackers try to do to me to really hose me when I was trying to pass protect?’
“That was a very easy progression for me to make. And then of course the special teams stuff—I love that. There’s no greater play in all of football than a kickoff coverage. To me, I felt like that was something I was a lot more comfortable with. And I think it’s important that a coach is convicted. He knows what he is trying to get across. By moving me to the fullback/linebacker position I feel convicted.”
That conviction, along with his intensity and energy, will carry Wolfley a long way and should rub off on the players, even if that’s not his primary purpose. Although, before you build a picture in your mind of Wolfley standing in front of his group of players motivating them to play harder, that’s not where he believes success lies.
“This is an emotional game, more than me trying to give them emotion, because that comes very close to motivation,” said Wolfley. “I don’t want my guys to be motivated by me, because they won’t remember that when they have blood running out of side of their mouth and they’ve got a 300-pounder that just punched them right in the face. They’re not going to remember coach motivating them. I want self-motivators. If I can take my passion for the game and love for it, and respect for it, and I can make this guy see it, he’s going to be a self motivator right now.
“And that’s what I want my guys to be: self-starters. The greatest football players who have ever played have all been self-starters. I don’t care who you want to throw out there and talk about. Even Randy-freaking-Moss, when he wants to play, is a self-starter. I don’t want guys I need to motivate. You’ll be doing it until you’re blue in the face. It doesn’t work.”
You don’t have to look far on this Rattlers team to find self-motivators, especially in the group of fullback/linebackers on the current squad. The best example is Frank Trentadue, who’s gone from giving up a good job to chase his football dream to living in a shelter while playing af2 ball to making some key plays in Arizona’s run to last season’s ArenaBowl, including earning defensive player of the week honors in the Wild Card round last season.
In just a short amount of time, Wolfley has also developed a bit of admiration for a position that often doesn’t get much respect, especially when the focus is often downfield after a receiver has found paydirt on a big pass play.
“The most brutal position in all of football is the fullback/linebacker position in Arena Football,” said Wolfley. “It’s linebacker pickup every play. 90% of the time you’re just standing there, two guys, eight yards and may the best man wins. That is brutal.
“I have so much respect for these guys it’s not even funny. I think maybe they’ll see that sincerity when I talk to them about what they do. They epitomize the game of football.”
But even in a game as brutal as football, it’s not necessarily the physical aspect that determines the winner.
“Most guys who come out here don’t understand, their biggest weapon is right here [head] and right here [heart]. They don’t understand that. They want to get bigger, stronger, faster. OK, that’s great. Get bigger, stronger, faster and you’re still going to play like Jane. Come out here, change how you think and your work ethic, how you feel. So your attitude and your work ethic has changed, and all of sudden you’re your opponents worst nightmare, because you will never quit and you are going to play like the dogs of Hades are chasing you.
“You’ve got to have an attitude and it has to come from within. If I can impart that knowledge to these guys, and let them see what it is they need to do to get better, now all of a sudden we’re coaching with real results.”
That is an attitude that has driven a number of players throughout the history of the AFL. Many players who were told they didn’t fit the NFL mold, have found their niche in the AFL, where sheer determination can separate the men from the boys.
While Wolfley is on the field with the players during the week, he’ll remain in booth during game broadcasts, which has its pros and cons.
“This is great for me, because I’m still going to work in the booth on game day. It kind of sucks because I don’t get the payoff. I love doing the radio stuff because of Kent Derdivanis, the guy I work with, and the fact that the Rattlers have been a great organization to me. I like still being able to do the call of the game, but it’s going to help me in the booth a lot more than it’s going to help me here [on the field]. Coming down here and doing this made me realize just how much I don’t know.”
In addition to holding down the coaching position with the Rattlers and the radio job, Wolfley has also taken over as head coach at local Phoenix College. As a head coach, Wolfley finds it to be a whole new ball game.
“It’s a different mentality, being a head coach,” said Wolfley. “I think you almost have to have a little bit of a wall. I’m the head coach, you’re the player, talk to the hand—a mentality where there’s got to be that air of separation. Bill Parcels, Bill Belichek, they probably do it better than any other head coach I have ever seen. They keep their players uncomfortable and, therefore, motivate just by how they act.”
Wolfley didn’t really plan for either coaching position, but, as it has for many current and former coaches, the job seems to have snared him.
“I just had no real desire to coach, and last year I helped out at Phoenix College and I got bit. You tell this 19-year-old kid—his tongue’s bouncing between his knees, can’t wait to do whatever you tell him—to run through the wall and he tries to do it. That’s a pretty cool feeling right there. I got bit and I do love this game, and to maybe see a young guy have the light bulb go off over his head and he goes, ‘you know what coach, I think you’re right about how to approach this game.’”
Does that mean he sees himself doing more coaching down the road?
“I have no expectations whatsoever right now,” said Wolfley. “The way I’m looking at this is that it is a one-year thing. It’s a one-year opportunity for me to come down here and get my feet wet coaching. A year ago if you would have told me I’d be where I am right now I would have said you were crazy.”
But he’s here now and anyone who doesn’t listen to what he has to say would most definitely be crazy.
Patrick Daly has been an Arena Football League enthusiast since he first stumbled across the late-night ESPN broadcasts and has followed the Arizona Rattlers since their inaugural season in 1992. He graduated from Arizona State University with an engineering degree and is currently a member of a web development team for Direct Alliance in Tempe. Patrick currently resides in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Arizona with his beautiful wife, son and a very large football helmet collection.
