Quad City Assistant To Face Old Friends
Michael Vergane
Wednesday May 30, 2001
The Silver Lake, Kansas native was the head coach of the IFL Wichita Warlords in 2000 leading them to a 4-10 record. This season he finds himself as an assistant for the defending af2 champions.
Biladeau was a high school quarterback who led his team to a state championship his senior season. It was then that he realized coaching was in his future. “We ran the run and shoot offense and I got to call my own plays”, said Troy. “That was my first experience with coaching. I was only 17 years old but I knew that was something that I wanted to get into to. “
After high school, Biladeau attended Fort Hays State in Kansas where he played and was a student coach his final year. During that season he coached and played with a future Steamwheeler, Xavier Patterson.
Shortly threafter, Troy moved on to Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. It was there that he met Peoria Pirate Head Coach Bruce Cowdrey and his connection to the IFL. “Cowdrey’s team came into Topeka to play one night”, said Troy. “I went to the game and talked to him. He gave me the ‘heads up’ that there was going to be an IFL expansion team the next year in Wichita and that I really ought to check this thing out. Bruce was really big and influentual in the IFL, so he was the one that got me interested in this.”
Biladeau applied and ended up getting the head coaching job. Although in hindsight, he didn’t realize the enormity of the job.
“I was 27 years old at the time and I quickly found out there was a lot I needed to learn. In the IFL, the GM takes care of the business end and the head coach is in charge of everything else. I had total control of all of the football operations. The only person I answered to was Keary Ecklund (the owner of the IFL)”.
That meant Troy also had the unofficial title of director of football operations. Which included the signing of players, recruiting and the hiring of coaches. Which by the way, he had to do more than once.
“We lost our first game in Casper, Wyoming and after we got back from our 13 hour bus ride we had three coaches quit. It was pure misery”, said Troy now able to laugh about it. “It was the longest two days of my life!”
The Warlords also went through three general managers in 2000. And while everything appeared to be falling apart at the seams, Biladeau was caught by surprise at the demise of the Warlords and the IFL.
“At the end of the season I went up to the IFL Championship Game between Peoria and Bismarck and I talked to Keary Ecklund. I was set on coming back to Wichita. I never got fired from Ecklund and he never let on he was selling the league. As far as I knew, I was coming back this year. Then in September, my brother in Topeka told me he saw in the paper that the IFL was going to be sold to the Arena League and I figured out then that I probably wasn’t going to be re-hired.”
The Oklahoma Wranglers own the Wichita franchise. Troy thought that this might be to his advantage as the Wranglers Head Coach, Bob Cortese, was his coach back at his alma mater, Fort Hays State. Adding to his chances was the fact that his defensive coordinator with the Warlords, Mike McCoy, was named the Stealth’s GM.
The Stealth ended up hiring Land Jacobsen and Biladeau began to pound the pavement looking for a new job.
One month before training camp opened, Quad City Steamwheeler Defensive Coordinator Chuck Goodwin quit his position with the team. Head Coach Frank Haege promoted Brian Schwartze to Assistant Coach leaving a vacancy on the staff. The opportunity to coach for the af2 Champions intrigued Biladeau.
“In the coaching fraternity you hear stoies about a lot of people and I heard good things about Coach Haege. I knew that they went 19-0 and I rationalized that if I’m going to be an assistant, I want to work for someone who I could work for and I want to go to a winning team. I respect Coach Haege and I am really learning a lot. As I look back on it – and a lot of people will think I’m just saying this – I really think it is better for me to come here and learn what I have learned and then go for a head coaching job. Because that is what I want to do again.”
This Saturday, the Wichita Stealth visit the Quad City Steamwheelers. On that squad are a few of his Warlord players including starting QB Zach Siegrist and Kicker Jon Cooper.
“This game means a lot”, said Biladeau. “My parents, my best friend and my girlfriend are all coming up. But I think it will be real interesting when we go down there on July 14th. I’ve had that circled on the calendar for quite a while.”
Michael Vergane was a writer for ArenaFan Online from 2000 to 2002.
