Finding the Swiss players:
While we were finding our A-tags and E-tags we certainly were working every single day to find a way to build a Swiss roster. Norm and I were evaluating as many players as we could also getting a lot of help from Matt Hammer and JC Williams. They were awesome.
Then when Darius Willis jumped in … wow we could see some great opportunities.
Unfortunately, we also started to see some cracks in our management team. Our primary owner Mukka Erdönmez never really allowed Matt to design contracts for players. So, here we (Norm and I) were in the US and wondering why we weren’t seeing Swiss players being signed after we wanted them on the roster.
We had developed a grading system so we could have a consistent and effective system of scouting players. Norm and I had been well acquainted with scouting players … we weren’t sure about our compadres across the ocean.
So, we developed our own grading system that was easy to understand. Now, everyone has their own way of scouting players – but we needed something which was simple and could be applied to the athletes we were watching.
Although it was a little rocky … we found some common ground and we also made sure that we would have the final call on the roster. (Now, over the past season we found out that management would not always adhere to that. This caused some frustration amongst the coaches.)
But, anyway we started to work hard on getting 45-50 good players who were “all Swiss!”
Now … we were also building our coaching staff at the same time. We had already signed up Bob Palcic (offensive line) and Bert Hill (defensive line). Still looking for a defensive coordinator and perhaps two other guys.
But, Norm and I decided we would build the roster. None of the coaches (including us) would be paid until we were actually in Europe. So, we didn’t want to involve the other coaches in the scouting because it wouldn’t be fair to ask anyone else to work for free.
Hell, Norm and I had worked for free many times in the past … what is one more time?
First off … I wanted to go after some of the Swiss guys playing in the ELF … then we would look at the Swiss National Team.
The top guy we zeroed in was Tim Hänni. Tim played on the defensive line with the Hamburg Sea Devils – the team that played in the ELF championship game in 2022. He was a gifted athlete – NFL size (6-4+, 280 pounds) and speed and a motor that was amazing. If we could get him it would be a great gain for our roster and it would show the entire country we were serious.
He was definitely interested and we did eventually sign him.
Next up were LB Lukas Rouss (played for ELF team – Rhein Fire) and Basil Weber a huge offensive lineman.
We spent time with both guys … including a face to face with Lukas at our combine held in Switzerland in October.
Weber seemed legitimately interested but later decided to go to play in Austria with the Tirol Raiders.
Rouss, on the other hand was just playing around with us – after years of recruiting you can tell when you are being lead around the tree. He wasn’t really going to come to us.
Well, we got neither … not a problem – move on! (Honestly losing recruits to USC, UCLA of U of A in the 80’s hurt more – these Swiss guys were good – but not that good!)
Next up finding more Swiss players from the National Team and the in-country league the SAFV.