Experienced Siegfried Sets Season Expectations
Keith Murphy
Wednesday April 17, 2002
A season later, Siegfried has traveled a few hundred miles to the East and is piloting the surprising 2-0 Cape Fear expansion franchise. Siegfried, however, wants Cape Fear fans to stay rooted in reality. “Don’t expect us to go 16 – 0. We’re an expansion team and we will make some mistakes.” Siegfried explained that a main reason for the Wildcats’ 2 – 0 start has as much to do with his team’s strength as it does with the fact that both of the teams Cape Fear faced were struggling and that the Wildcats are “making our mistakes aggressively.” “Win or lose, the next few weeks will tell the tale. We really haven’t proven that much yet. We are not as impressive as some have made us out to be.” Siegfried points to this weekend’s game against Augusta as a real test which will show the team’s true strength. Even though Cape Fear is an expansion team, Siegfried expects them to be, at the very least, competitive with the top teams.
The odyssey which led Siegfried to the Carolina shores includes seasons playing for the Orlando Predators and Miami Hooters of the AFL, the UFL’s Taipei Dragons, the CFL’s Baltimore Stallions as well as a run on the television show American Gladiators. As Offensive Coordinator for the Macon Knights, Siegfried ran a unit that averaged 51 points a game. The most difficult part of the transition for Siegfried has been the “non-football related work. Getting players jobs. Doing everything I can for the players. The extra-curricula’s are the biggest adjustment.”
Siegfried credits others with the apparent ease of his transition from assistant to head coach. First he graciously gives a great deal of credit to his assistants, Matt Storm and Troy Biladeau, saying that hiring them was the best thing he has done because they lift a great deal of the pressure from his shoulders. He also credits Macon skipper Kevin Porter: “Kevin Porter is the reason I am where I am. He’s been tremendous to me. That’s where the credit lies for me. Kevin is the only reason I would have stayed in Macon. I love the Olsons – It pained me to see the organization torn apart – but he (Porter) is the reason I’ve got a head coaching job.”
Dr. Murphy has nearly 20 years of media experience ranging from radio to the Internet. He has served as webmaster for two AF2 teams and the football team at Fort Valley State University. He is a professor at FVSU and directs www.bunniwerks.org, a non-profit rabbit rescue organization. He has been commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel. Murphy is also serving as a first party editor of af2 stories for ArenaFfan. For more information about Dr. Murphy see: www.keithmurphy.info
