Keeping the Line in Line
Charliy Nash
Wednesday August 1, 2001
“Pat contacted me and asked what I thought about it and gave me about three weeks to think about it,” Kronenberg told me during the preseason, “I decided this was what I wanted to do. I knew that, I just didn’t know when. It was a good opportunity to go right then and there.”
Ili encouraged Kronenberg to take the position and advised him not to be afraid to work the players hard.
 Bob Kronenberg puts the Kats` line through their paces Image courtesy of Charliy Nash |
Kronenberg and Papsedero had a chance to discuss the transition during a preseason coaching clinic in Orlando. Papasedero recalls some advice he gave. “I basically told him it’s very easy to become a liar when you’re a coach. Situations come up and it’s easier to get out of them by not telling these guys [players] the truth, but it makes it much easier from day one if you tell them the truth. They might be angry at you, but later on it doesn’t come back to haunt you.”
Later in the season I asked Kronenberg how his new career was going. “I’m really enjoying it,” he responded, “At this stage I’m having fun and I come to work every morning doing what I want to do.”
He was making the adjustment to life on the sidelines. “The hardest thing for me is once you get out on the field you have no control over the situation anymore. You can’t do anything about it. Hopefully they bought into what you’re trying to teach them and they go with it.”
Arena Football presents an additional coaching challenge because linemen are expected to play both offense and defense. For defensive players, conditioned to attack as soon as the ball is snapped, the difficult part of offense is learning to be more patient. “That’s the biggest thing,” Kronenberg observed, “You see a lot of defensive linemen leaning [on offense] and they want to get their hands on people. The first thing you have to teach them – you’ve got to sit back, you’ve got to be patient, you’ve got to react. But at the same time that you want to be patient you’ve got to be aggressive. You can’t sit back and take on blows. We’ve got to teach our offensive linemen to be patient, but when it’s time to punch, punch.” Still he believes it’s harder to teach defense. “Rushing the passer is an athletic thing. A lot of times I don’t even think you can teach it. It’s something you either have or you don’t.”
The veteran linemen on the Kats have made his job a lot easier. “The good thing about our team is that guys like James Baron, Robert Gaddy, William Gaines, Pat Downey – we have veterans. They [new players] look up to the them. They watch what they’re doing. That’s what makes our team so strong. Those young guys just move right in and see how things are supposed to be done and they do it.”
The veterans respect Kronenberg and credit him with improving their game. “It’s like we’re playing against two teams every week,” joked Bruce McClure, “No, he’s a great coach. He really knows his stuff, teaches us really good techniques.”
Injuries and off-field distractions like the possible sale of the team have made this an unusual season for the Kats, but Bob’s background with the Las Vegas Posse of the CFL gives him a unique perspective on the difficulties. “I’ve never been on a football team where there’s no complaining. Someone’s always got some kind of complaint, but these guys who have never been in a bad situation don’t know how good this situation is,” he laughed, “The first [Posse practice] facility was in the parking lot of the Riviera. It was grass, but it wasn’t very good grass – it was half gravel and half grass. It was bad.”
Entering the postseason, it looks like Sperduto, a former lineman himself, made a good choice in selecting Kronenberg. “Bob’s a technical guy who knows what he’s doing,” said Sperduto, “I’ve been very lucky to have the luxury of having a guy like that step in and basically take charge and make things happen. The bottom line is you look at production: we led the league in sacks, and we led the league in fewest sacks allowed. That’s a credit to him and [fullback] coach [Brennen] Booth for grooming the linebackers and linemen to produce, and they have.”
Charliy Nash has covered both incarnations of the Nashville Kats, and now has make the 2 hour drive to Huntsville for an Arena Football fix. He also covers the Tennessee Titans as a blogger for nfl.com and still hopes this will eventually lead to a paying gig.
