AFL Coaching Carousel Continues To Turn
Adam Markowitz
Thursday August 18, 2011
On Tuesday, the Iowa Barnstormers settled their head coaching vacancy by signing Mike Hohensee, one of the storied coaches in the history of this league. As reported by Bright House Sports Network on Thursday and later confirmed by the team, the Orlando Predators will be announcing Bret Munsey as their head coach on Friday. The Preds needed to scramble to find a new head coach when former coach Pat O'Hara moved on to the New Orleans VooDoo. With Hohensee moving to Iowa, unnamed sources are expecting former Georgia Force Head Coach Doug Plank to head to the City of Brotherly Love.
This has definitely been an interesting offseason in the coaching carousel. In the end, Plank and Munsey will come into the league, while the VooDoo and Barnstormers replace last year's coaches, Jon Norris and JT Smith, who replaced the fired Derek Stingley and John Gregory respectively.
For the past few seasons, the Predators have been mired in a bit of mediocrity, as they have consistently been the second or third best team in the Sunshine State. Now, Munsey is expected to come in and bring a championship pedigree to the team.
Munsey had spent a ton of time with the Predators in his career. He was a player with the team in the early-90s, and he ended up becoming an assistant coach from 2003-2005. Munsey left the Preds in 2006 to become the head coach of the Soul, where he led them to the ArenaBowl XXII title in 2008.
When the AFL went on hiatus, Munsey moved on with the man that used to be the head coach that he served under with the Preds, Jay Gruden. Munsey and Gruden went together to the UFL's Florida Tuskers, where they were one of the best teams in the UFL before moving to Virginia. With the UFL's future in doubt, Munsey took the opportunity to come back to where his AFL career really got kick started in Orlando. He also did serve a year as an assistant coach with the Carolina Cobras and was an af2 coach as well.
In Munsey, the Preds pick up a coach who has a great pedigree. This is really something that is unusual for the franchise. In fact, this is just the second time that the team has ever hired a coach with any head coaching experience.
Philadelphia struggled this year with Hohensee calling the shots, finishing 6-12 in a year in which many thought that it would be the ArenaBowl favorites. This was the first year back for the Soul after the hiatus in '09 and taking a year off in 2010.
Should Plank return to the AFL, he'd be coming back after taking three years away from the league. He coached the Georgia Force from 2005-2008, winning Coach of the Year honors twice. He coached in the ArenaBowl in 2005, a game that the Force lost to the Colorado Crush on a last second field goal.
Since leaving the AFL following the 2008 season, Plank has served as an assistant coach for the New York Jets and a football program assistant with the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Adam Markowitz is an accountant living in Orlando. Adam is an old school AFLer, having followed the AFL since 1991. He attended or covered well over 200 games, including 17 ArenaBowls. Adam worked for the Arena Football League for two years as a columnist and historian before retiring in 2017 when the 50-yard indoor war left the Sunshine State. Adam still muses about the AFL on ArenaFan from time to time, and you can follow him on Twitter @adammarkowitzea.
