New Coach Left with Old Problems
Andrew Mason
Tuesday May 22, 2001
Over a decade later, the Oilers no longer exist under their old name and address. And in the city that franchise now calls home, Lyles and his Avengers were left with a couplet of pains – growing and defeat – following a 64-27 defeat at the hands of the Nashville Kats, the franchise’s eighth consecutive setback dating back to last season.
For Lyles, it was his team’s second loss since assuming the head coaching reins on April 28 following the dismissal of Stan Brock. But for 26 minutes, it looked like it might be his first win, as the Kats and Avengers exchanged scores, keeping Los Angeles within 21-20.
Then, in a devastating four minutes, the Alley became every bit the house of pain the Astrodome was, as Nashville went on a 23-0 run. Los Angeles never drew closer than 17 points after that.
“(The players) didn’t come out and do what they were supposed to do,” Lyles glumly assessed. “They didn’t come out and do what they were coached to do, so I’ll have to find a way to correct that so they can come out and perform the way they can perform, and not just for one quarter or two quarters, but four quarters straight.”
Among those not doing what he was coached them to do was quarterback Todd Marinovich. After showing the same flashes of brilliance that he demonstrated in a promising rookie AFL season last year, his frustration bubbled over following a safety on an intentional grounding call with 1:57 remaining in the half.
Under pressure in the end zone, Marinovich desperately heaved a pass that bounced three yards short of Mel Miller near the right side boards. Penalty flags flew, and the safety that resulted put Los Angeles more than one score behind for the first time.
If that was the worst of it, it would have been damaging enough, but as Lyles pointed out afterward, such circumstances are merely “a part of football.” Sadly for the Avengers, it wasn’t.
Marinovich promptly protested the call, drawing two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that led to ejection from the contest. He continued to protest as Lyles held him back before finally leaving the field. Erik Wilhelm, like Marinovich a former NFL passer, took over and directed the team to just one second-half touchdown.
“(The ejection) hurt us. It hurt our morale. It hurt our togetherness,” Lyles said. “But we still have to overcome that. There’s still players out there playing; it didn’t have an effect on them doing their jobs.”
Ejections are fairly common in Arena Football. Ask the Kats, who saw Tyronne Jones draw the thumb in the loss to the Orlando Predators just five days earlier and saw lineman Pat Downey kicked out in a donnybrook that took place just 2:42 before Marinovich’s ejection. That disagreement also saw Avengers fullback/linebacker Travis Pearson make an early exit.
However, it’s difficult to recall any quarterback ever being tossed.
In the wake of the ejection, Lyles was non-committal regarding his first-string passer’s status for Week 7.
“I don’t know,” he said. “We’re going to go week-to-week, and we’re just going to go day-to-day right now, just to see what we’re going to do.”
Which is just what the rookie head coach will do himself as he continues to both learn the nuances of his new position and fix what ails the club.
“One week it’s this, one week it’s that. That’s the challenge. You’ve got to find a way to control it, curtail it,” Lyles said. “At least once it’s happened, and you’ve dealt with it and corrected it – then if it happens again, you know what to do in order to handle the situation. Right now, that’s the thing I’m learning.”
Painful lessons, to be sure, but ones that will likely serve the former Oiler well.
Andrew Mason was at the Tampa Bay Storm`s first home game on June 1, 1991 and has followed the game ever since. While in college, he served as content editor and co-founder of The Storm Shelter, a Web site which covered the Tampa Bay Storm on the Internet from 1996-99. He also volunteered with the team`s media relations department in 1998 and currently contributes to ColoradoCrush.com. He's covered the NFL for various on-line outlets since 1999.
