Tampa Bay Storm add two coaches
Tuesday February 22, 2011
John Kaleo and Donnie Abraham Join Coaching Staff
TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Storm are pleased to announce two new members to the coaching staff, John Kaleo as offensive coordinator and Donnie Abraham as defensive backs coach.
“Were excited to have John and Donnie join the coaching staff,” said Ewart. “Each one of them brings a unique talent and a wealth of experience to draw upon. I have known John and Donnie for a long time and they have high football IQ’s. Our team got better today.”
Kaleo joins the staff as the offensive coordinator. He led the Storm to an ArenaBowl Championship in 2003 and retired as a member of the Storm in 2007 after a 14 year career in Arena Football during which time he amassed 35,355 passing yards and 581 touchdowns. Kaleo was a two-year starter at the University of Maryland where he set single-season passing records with 3,392 passing yards, 286 completions and 3,472 total yards. In his senior season he led the nation in total offense with 305 yards a game and was named MVP of the Blue-Grey Senior Bowl.
Prior to his two years at Maryland he attended Montgomery-Rockville Junior College (MD) where he led the team to the 1990 NJCAA Championship Game and earned NJCAA Player of the Year and First Team All-America honors while leading the nation in every statistical passing category. He was inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame in 1998.
He spent the past two seasons (2009-2010) as the quarterback coach and pass game coordinator for Townson University (MD) in the Colonial Athletic Conference. Prior to that he spent two seasons (2008-09) as the offensive coordinator at Iona College (NY) where they won a Metro Atlantic Conference title.
Kaleo began his coaching career in 1993 as a student assistant at his alma mater UMD. He then moved on to become the co-offensive coordinator at Montgomery-Rockville J.C. He continued to coach at the high school level while playing in the AFL with stops at Berkley Prep H.S. and Tampa Catholic H.S. (Tampa, FL).
“I am excited to join the staff; this organization has been kind to myself and my family for the past 10 years,” said Kaleo. “I have some big shoes to fill, I learned a lot about this game from Tim Marcum and hope that I can pick up where he left off and reach the level of success he attained on the field.”
Abraham joins the staff as the defensive backs coach. He and Dave Ewart first met at East Tennessee State where Abraham played collegiately and Ewart began his coaching career. Abraham went on to have a successful nine-year career in the National Football League with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1996-2001) and New York Jets (2002-04). He finished his career with 38 interceptions in 132 games and a trip to the Pro Bowl in 2000.
He spent the past two seasons (2009-10) as the head coach at Gibbs H.S. (St. Petersburg, FL) and the previous four seasons he worked as the defensive backs coach at East Lake H.S (Palm Harbor, FL) with head coach Bob Hudson.
“I am very excited for this opportunity and look forward to reuniting with Dave,” said Abraham. “I look forward to getting to know the guys. The Arena game is new to me but football is football, I can’t wait to get in there and teach the young guys and learn from Dave.”
The Storm continue with training camp this week at Skyway Park (3901 George Road) in Tampa week from 8:30 AM to 12:30PM. The team will play two preseason games, first in Jacksonville against the Sharks on Monday, February 28 at 7:00 PM and then at home (St. Pete Times Forum) against the Orlando Predators on Thursday, March 3 at 7:30 PM.
The Storm are universally recognized as one of the leading teams in the Arena Football League, setting numerous attendance records in its 23 years. The team won world championships in 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996 and 2003, winning the last championship in front of a sell-out crowd of 20,496 at the St. Pete Times Forum.
Fans can purchase season tickets for the 2011 Tampa Bay Storm season by calling 813.301.6600 or visiting tampabaystorm.com. Season ticket packages start as low as $75