Year off helps Fitzgerald
Andy Lopusnak
Thursday February 21, 2008
He decided to leave the game at his peak to pursue an opening for the head coach of his hometown arenafootball2 franchise – the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz. At the same time, his wife had the couple’s first child, making the move from quarterback to coach even more desirable.
“Everything just lined up perfectly,” said Fitzgerald. “It was a great opportunity for me and my wife to be at home with our son and still be involved with Arena Football.”
With the Yard Dawgz, he molded the offense into the league’s second best unit in terms of total yards and passing yards. He also took them to the playoffs, but he missed playing the game and jumped at the chance to return when Kansas City head coach Kevin Porter called about playing for the Brigade in 2008. Porter and Fitzgerald knew each from the 2004 season when they helped drive the expansion New Orleans VooDoo to the best record in the AFL (tied 11-5 with four other teams) and a Southern Division title. Fitzgerald was the starting quarterback and Porter was the team’s defensive coordinator.
“Once it’s in your blood [playing football], it’s hard to get it out,” said Fitzgerald on his return to the game. “If I was closing in on 40, I wouldn’t have come back, but I’m 32 and physically I feel better now than any time in my career. The year off, gave me time to rest my body. It was a blessing in disguise.”
This is not the first time an AFL quarterback has left the game to become a coach only to return to the field once again. In 1996, AFL Hall of Fame quarterback Jay Gruden retired from the game after winning ArenaBowl X to become the offensive coordinator of the expansion Nashville Kats. A year later, he was named head coach of the Orlando Predators.
After four years, three ArenaBowl appearances and two ArenaBowl champions as the Predators’ head coach, Gruden returned to the field for the 2002 and 2003 seasons. In both seasons, Gruden led the Predators to within a game of the ArenaBowl and had one of his finest seasons in his final year when he tossed 49 touchdowns to just two interceptions with a 10-0 regular season record.
On February 19, Fitzgerald once again put on a uniform. Unlike that May 2006 day when his team lost in the playoffs, Fitzgerald led his team to victory against the San Jose SaberCats, albeit in a preseason scrimmage. Though Kansas City had scrimmaged with Dallas last week, it wasn’t in actual game uniforms or in an arena in front of fans – over 2,500 were in attendance in Stockton to see Kansas City and San Jose scrimmage.
This scrimmage was unlike a traditional game and featured four 14-minute quarters with a running clock. Both teams played their starting units for about two series. Fitzgerald, however, played the entire first half.
“We had success and did some things well,” Fitzgerald said, “but it’s still just preseason – it doesn’t really matter. We’ll see when we have to strap it up for real next week.”
It may have just been preseason, but Fitzgerald's performance certainly didn't look like he had spent an entire season off the field. He completed eight of his 15 pass attempts for 166 yards with three TDs, while leading his team to scores on five of his six possessions under center (four TDs, one field goal). His eight completions averaged nearly 21 yards apiece, and included touchdowns of 34, 19 and 47 yards. When he called it a night, the Brigade was up 31-14 and eventually “won” the scrimmage 58-35.
He credits this early 2008 success to his year away from the game. Not just from a full season of being hit and the fatigue associated with that, but to a year of learning and watching the game as a coach.
“You don’t truly know something until you coach it to someone else. Having the opportunity to coach last year is going to make me a better player. There are things about the game that I had to focus on more as a coach that I never realized as a player.”
Calling Fitzgerald a journeyman is an understatement. His team roll call reads like the lyrics to a Johnny Cash song, “I've traveled every road in this here land! I’ve been everywhere, man.” Including the Brigade, various practice squads and training camps, Fitzgerald has been with nine different AFL teams in eight seasons: Tampa Bay, Grand Rapids, Houston, Carolina, Indiana, Dallas, New Orleans, Austin and Kansas City.
“I’ve been around quite a few places, but Kansas City is a unique situation for me. Home is just four hours down the road and I have a fond respect for Coach Porter – those were major deciding factors in my signing [with the Brigade].”
Has this everywhere journeyman finally found a home? He thought about the question for a second before heading out on the field for pre-scrimmage warm ups and said “I think so” as he slipped on his helmet, snapped the chinstrap and jogged away.
Andy Lopusnak is an 11-year AFL front office veteran, spending time with the Tampa Bay Storm, San Diego Riptide and Grand Rapids Rampage. He works as a statistician for NFL and college sports for CBS Sports and is a freelance photographer. Lopusnak received two Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of South Florida and has been a fan of ArenaBall since its inception.
