Month: November 2023

I’ve always been a fan of the late country singer Jerry Jeff Walker.  He sings a

song (written by Billy Jim Baker .. a professional rodeo Clown –  in the Clown Hall of Fame by the way) called “Contrary to Ordinary.”  Most people haven’t heard the song … nor do they know who Jerry Jeff was – but nonetheless it is a good tune.

In the song there is a line “You live life in episodes.”  I think that is really a great statement.  Because as we bang around life there are segments.  This latest football (mis)adventure in Switzerland is no different.  Just another (mis)adventure or an episode.

Building a new franchise (Helvetic Guards) to compete in the European League of Football is certainly a challenging “episode.”  But, with all challenges there are going to be good times and some … well, not so good times.

So, as we work through the end of the year we have a really good handle on the roster.  We’ve lost a few coaches… but fortunately we have been able to replace them with some quality guys. So, we are feeling pretty good about the foundation of the team.  But… undoubtedly, we have some serious headwinds ahead.

Obviously, with our ownership now in a state of flux we have perhaps the biggest problem a team could face anywhere and in in any league!   Finances.

As in any business – the money is going to define what we can do.  In my opinion it seems like most of the franchises in the European League of Football (ELF) have underestimated how much money it takes to operate a team.

*** (I’m not sure any teams … well, maybe the Rhein Fire and Hamburg Sea Devils break even or are a little ahead… the other fifteen teems appear to be operating in the red…. How long can that be sustained?  ***

Plus, I think the league itself has not paid out the money that was owed to the teams.  Not sure how transparent the ELF is with their finances.  Remember Seth Blatter and the FIFA (soccer) scandals in the late 90’s into the early 2000’s

We can’t possibly play next year if we don’t get this situation corrected.

But, the show must go on until … well … until it can’t.

We continue on with our plan to have a two-day minicamp capped with a February Super Bowl party in Zurich.  One problem is still – we don’t know where we can practice … but Norm Chow and I are assured that it will be handled.

Well … we have to have some trust … or faith I guess.

Norm gets after a practice schedule and planning what is going to go on when we get to Switzerland in February.

Honestly, the Guards are lucky to have Coach Chow.  He is always working on the team.  Constantly trying to create a plan for our start up-club.  It’s hard to get organized when you are literally an ocean away .. and you aren’t sure if this operation will even get off the ground and fly.

Also, a very encouraging sign … the Guards management added Dan Frey to the staff.  Dan is a very good friend who was at one time the president of the Thun Tigers.  He had a lot to do with organizing my association with the Tigers club several years ago.

So, he has experience in two of the problem areas that the Guards would have with the six import coaches and our four American players.  We need extended visas … work permits – and that ever increasing problem of housing for ten Americans and six European imports.

Again … this was my main concern way back in June of 2022.  Here we are six months later and we are still standing on “START” waiting on “GO”!  We don’t have the visas, permits or housing.

Dan knows how to get these things done.   But whether we have the finances to get it done is going to be the issue.

But, one way or another we arrange our flights into the Alps for February and place the rest of the stuff in the hands of our fractured management team.

Later in the week the club held an introductory party in Zurich for the team.  Obviously, we weren’t there but Norm put in a zoom call with the group.

Toni Zöller (acting GM) was excited with the attendance and the interaction of the players.  It sounded like everyone had a pretty good time (not sure where the money came from to pay for this extravaganza??!!)

Now, not to seem like we felt like we were on a rollercoaster ride or maybe feeling like we were “yo-yo’s” Toni tells us Mukka is coming back on board as the chief owner.  Hmmm!  We will see about that.

What…me worry! (Alfred E. Neuman!)

 

 

We get closer and closer to having 50 Swiss players on our roster for our expansion team in the European League of Football (ELF).  Our head coach Norm Chow  and I talk with the management squad and feel we have honed in on the best players we can get from our country in the Alps.

We are feeling pretty good about the Helvetic Guards franchise!

As December rolls around and we work through the first few weeks of the month …things are looking pretty good.  Players are signing and we are zeroing in on a few new coaches to fill our staff.

The guys heading up the management group wants to have a welcoming party for the team in Zurich.  Sounds like Mukka Erdönmez (primary owner) wants to get some publicity about the Guards.

He also wants to inform the players … and perhaps the media… that the US coaches would be coming to Switzerland for a minicamp and also a Super Bowl party in February.  Should be quite an extravaganza!

Well not so fast Kemosabe!

Just a few days before the party is about to take place …  our acting GM Toni Zöller asked Norm and I to join into a zoom meeting.  So, Norm and I join JC Williams, Matt Hammer, Zeki Öztürk with Toni.

Notably missing is Mukka (owner) and another investor Ferhat Kahraman (Director of Administration).

Well here comes the tidal wave of manure!

Toni … quickly gets to the crux of the matter (college phrase by the way).  Our million dollar (supposedly) owner Mukka is going to pull his money out of the franchise.  I nearly get up … not to throw up …but to get another beer out of my refrigerator. (Coors Light of course!)

Now I truly am beginning to regret pulling Norm into this (mis)adventure.  Hell … I am beginning to have some eerily similar flashbacks of the failed league I was involved with in Australia a few years ago!  What a load of BS!

Mukka was supposed to be the golden cash cow.

The guys want to know how Norm and I feel about just hanging on and seeing if we can find some new lead dog for the franchise.  Well, what the hell – it’s no skin off my teeth (seriously what does that phrase mean??).  I say I am in it til we can’t function.  (Remember I have no money invested.)

Norm agrees stay aboard as well.

So… Toni asks us to keep this between our group and not to tell anyone of our problems.  No sense in  exposing Mukka at this point.

He says he has some investors who might be ready to replace Mukka.  We all agree this is best for everyone to keep this quiet.  Why create a problem if we might be able to fix it before it becomes public?

Immediately after our zoom call ends Norm and I get on a phone call here in the US.  To say we are surprised about this occurrence would be an understatement.  We had no clue about this train coming down the track to run us over.

Aside from our trust being eroded… we were just wondering what other fallout would occur. But, we both agreed that we had nothing to lose with hanging on and seeing where the path might lead.

So… we just shut up and continued forward!

As we pushed our way into the latter part of November thru December of 2022 and into January of 2023 the Helvetic Guards roster was nicely coming together.  But unfortunately, we were losing a few coaches from our staff.  But, at the same time we had some logical answers.

Norm had contact with a friend of his … Dave Campo.  Yup, that Dave Campo – formerly the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.  Longtime college and NFL coach.  A very good coach and also a solid guy.

So, Dave and I connected on a call.  He was looking for something to do and Europe sounded like an interesting opportunity.  I explained the situation with the Helvetic Guards and the ownership structure.  So, we agreed to talk about the situation in a few days.

In the meantime, I had a call with a friend – Greg Brown.  I’d known Greg since the 80’s.  He was with the Tampa Bay Bucs when I started in Detroit.  He is a very accomplished coach – mostly working with the defensive backs.  But, he was also a coordinator.

Greg told me he was intrigued because he had thought about going overseas for a little while.  I told him about the job and he had a definite interest.  I also told him about Dave Campo in respect to honesty.  So, he told me about his interest in remaining in coaching in college.

Well, we now had two possibilities for defensive coordinator … plus Bob Palcic had been calling about Jim Ward.  Bob had worked with Jim for a short period in Hungary.  He felt that Jim would be a great fit.

I trust Bob and I did a lot of work seeing what Jim has done as a coach.  Jim has been in Europe for a number of years as a head coach and defensive coordinator.  His resume is really good.  I’m thinking we should move in on him.

However, as per instruction by Mukka Erdönmez (out team owner) we need a defensive coach with NFL experience.  One thing about Mukka … he wants the attention and likes to be in the public eye.

So, unfortunately Jim would have to wait in the background because the first two guys in line for the job were going to be Dave Campo and Greg Brown.  As I said they were both more than capable to be the lead dog for our defense.  In fact, they are superstars on defense.

But, as all of this is going on I was trying to prod our management group into understanding there were a lot of other things that needed to be attended to.  Given Mukka loved his lists … I had one for him.

It was a long list of things that needed to be done to get the franchise ready to roll.  Many things that should have at least been discussed … but hadn’t been.  Mostly because no one in our administration had ever done anything of this scope.

I have to say that Norm told me to dial everything back a little.  He didn’t want this to turn into a acrimonious (college word for my friend Betsy) for our group.  We would have enough problems going forward.  Trust me he would be right!

 Some of my biggest concerns were down to my first several points I had made to my friends JC Williams and Matt Hammer many months ago in June of 2022.

The hardest things to get done were going to be extended visas, work permits and apartments for the coaches.  Here it was more than six months later and we still had no progress made in these area.

As I have said before … what would Alfred E. Neuman of Mad Magazine ask …”What me worry?”

Who cares if we don’t have a city for the team to work out of…no practice field…no stadium and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

The short list of things we need.

• The six US coaches and four American players need extended visas and work permits. (This is difficult to accomplish in Switzerland.
• This same group needs housing. (Apartments are at a premium and expensive in Switzerland)
• Where will this housing be located?
• What about travel from housing to practice and games? Cars, Bus and train pass?
• Where are we going to be located …is it Zurich or is it Luzern. Or will it be elsewhere?  When will it be finalized?
• We still don’t have a practice area.

This field has to be lighted.  Need lights!  We practice at night!

We need goal posts … these are soccer fields throughout Switzerland.

Who will line the field?  (Pro hash marks.)

• Do we have equipment to line the practice field or stadium? (which we don’t have yet.)
• What about practice equipment … dummies, pads, cones, step over dummies.
• We don’t have a stadium.

We need a football scoreboard … soccer scoreboards are way different.

We need a 40 second clock as well.

Goal Posts … these are soccer stadiums.

So no practice area…no stadium – do we even have a team?

• What are the locker rooms like in the stadium. (These are soccer stadiums so the lockers are a lot smaller because of the size of the rosters.
• What about video equipment?
• Do we have cameras? People to take the practice and game day videos.
• Who will upload the video to the computer.
• MEDICAL STAFF … we need to develop and create this group of people.
• We will need to find a bus company. (Finances top get this done.)

 

Gradually the Helvetic Guards football team is coming together.  As we move forward we are seeing other teams build themselves as well.

The Wroclaw (Poland) Panthers have hired Dave Christensen and their head coach and the Paris Musketeers signed Marc Mattioli in a similar position. Other teams continue to add to their coaching staff and roster as well.

John Shoop becomes the first head coach of the Munich Ravens and longtime NFL offensive line coach joined the Fehérvár (Pronounce that one) Enthroners in Hungary as an assistant.  As we move through the year you can see more and more influence from the US.

We also add a coach.  Pete Metzelaars, a longtime NFL tight end became our TE/WR and Special Teams coach.  I had known Pete a long time and he was a welcomed addition.  In addition to being a very accomplished player (16 years as an NFL player) he has a great rapport with players.

Pete eventually became our offensive line coach in our ever-shifting coaching staff.  He was invaluable to the team.  Plus, we shared an apartment and had a hell of a time on our time together.  We traveled extensively throughout Switzerland … made a lot of friends and took in many sights.

Pete had the ignominious (college word Betsy!) distinction of playing for the Buffalo Bills with Jim Kelly in four losing Super Bowls.  When he started coaching he did get to win one with the Indianapolis Colts.  He ended his career playing with the Lions while I coached there.

We added some more players as well.  Filip Kovljenic a big offensive lineman from the Calanda Broncos along with Fabio Rothmund a linebacker from Winterthur who was playing in Germany both signed on.

We added two more linebackers … Adrian Fielder and Timmy Schürmann.  They were both Swiss tags and were playing in Germany for the German Football League champions – the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns.  The Unicorns have been a perennial power in the GFL.

Robert and William Harvey both became members of the team as well.  I had known the Harvey family since 2017 as they played for the Swiss National Team and were players for the Thun Tigers.  Both had been in the US finishing college and agreed to become part of our roster.

One of the best catches was Nils Jonkmans as our kicker.  He would prove to be one of the best kickers in the 17 league conference.  His ‘real” job was as a doctor!  Yes, not only a proficient player … but an MD as well.

As we saw our squad begin to take shape … it was apparent that we faced a lot of problems off the field. Although since early October we had been told … “don’t worry about it”… many things still had yet to be addressed.

We formulated a list of things that needed to be attended to that had nothing to do with the roster.

Not much … if anything had been done to address these issues.

 

 

I have to drop back here for a second in regards to the Helvetic Guards of the European League of Football.  We started off on this “facebookmentary” a few months ago.

Just a reminder … this is a look back at last year and our building of a football franchise in Switzerland.  For instance, a lot of this “chapter” is about October.  BUT, it is October of 2022 … not this current October.  (Think time machine backwards!)

Flashback to October of 2022:

Well, back here in the states Norm and I continue to work closely with our counterparts in Switzerland as we put our team together.  Ninety percent of this team building has to be done by looking at Hudl videos that are basically highlight films put together by the players and forwarded to us via email.

 

…..In case you didn’t know – Hudl is a relatively inexpensive system used by most high schools, small colleges and clubs worldwide.  The major colleges and pro leagues have a much more expansive (and expensive) video system…..

 Hudl is very user friendly and is really an excellent application for clubs that have small budgets….

 

Now, personally I hate highlight videos that are put together by individual players and coaches.  I’d much rather watch a game video that has every play for you to see.  Hell, if you don’t look good on a highlight film you put together well, come on!

Even I could make myself look good on a highlight film … hmmmm …well, maybe not!

It took a little while but we started to get it together as a functioning team model.  So, now that we kind of put together a system for evaluating players with a grading scale we could actually put together our roster.

Norm devised a system to put a “grade” on each player we viewed and we all stated using it.  Norm and I in the US.  Matt and Darius in Switzerland and we started getting help from Brian Bowles in Germany.

We started to build lists position by position … really concentrating on the Swiss players who would be the bulk of our team.  After we developed our offense and defense by category we would forward the names of top players we liked to Toni Zöeller (General Manager) and Mukka Erdönmez (financial guy).

They in turn would figure out how much to pay the guys and keep things straight with the ELF salary cap.  Let those guys figure that stuff out…it was hard enough finding quality players with these “Highlight” films.

We already had Dom Liechti, a very good defensive end from Bern signed up …he was working hard to help us get more players. Much of the early ground work could be attributed to Dominik’s efforts.

Coach Chow had a sold start with two A-Tag players.  He had lined up a very good quarterback in Collin Hill and a hard-working pass rush/linebacker from USC in JR Tavaii.  Great cornerstones to build on … we also had a line on a solid corner and a speedy wide receiver for our other two A-Tag  imports.

Norm was working hard to get Swiss QB Rici Wartmann from the Winterthur Warriors.  He was really interested but was battling a shoulder injury which would eventually cause him to leave the team before we started playing.

All European Defensive End – Tim Hänni was going to sign with us.  This was a very big splash since he had played two seasons in the ELF with the Hamburg Sea Devils (one of the stronger teams in the league).

Then John Falk a fantastic linebacker would “un”retire to play for his homeland.  John (Swiss citizen) had already won a German League championship and coached as a defensive coordinator.  He would join one of his former Bern teammates Andreas Buri to start to build the linebacker position.

Things were also looking good for another Bern Grizzly linebacker Faubian Strahm as well as the Marty brothers from Zurich.  Oli (CB) and David (WR) seemed to be eager to join the squad.  Should all be solid parts for our Swiss roster.

We had also zeroed in on three European (E-tag) players.  Versatile defensive backs Maceo Beard and Chaska Perron from France and Swedish receiver Anton Jallai all appeared ready to get on the Helvetic Guard train.

At the same time all of this going on … we started to see a few cracks.  Otis Smith (one Super Bowl) our defensive coordinator and wide receiver coach Mike Wilson (four time Super Bowl champ) were wavering in committing to coach the team.

Eventually, both would decide to quit and did not sign on to the coaching bench.

Meanwhile we still did not have a practice field, a stadium or equipment for out fledgling team.  It may seem like things that should be easy to secure – trust me that isn’t the case in Switzerland!

Another vital area that I was told “not to worry about” – we still hadn’t found a pathway to extended visas and a work permits for the American coaches and import players.  Oh yeah then there was the small problem of finding apartments in a small country with limited housing.  (“Don’t worry” was beginning to ring hollow.)

For you Mad Magazine fans … think Alfred E. Neuman… “What me Worry?”