Anyone else been keeping up with the AAFL football? Arkansas has an unnamed team and plans to host their first game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock in April of 2008. Just found out that some of the Hawgs former players are returning to Little Rock to play for Arkansas..here is the story:
Former Razorbacks quarterback Clint Stoerner is returning to football in Arkansas by way of Tampa, Fla.
Stoerner, along with former Hogs J. J. Jones, Chrys Chukwuma and Anthony Brown, signed contracts with Arkansas’ unnamed All American Football League franchise Saturday at War Memorial Stadium. The contracts guarantee each player a slot at the AAFL’s Tampa-based training camp and will place each in Arkansas should they make the 42-man roster.
The AAFL, which is scheduled to begin its inaugural season next spring, has teams from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas.
While Stoerner, Jones, Chukwuma and Brown each walked away with an invite, there were far more players still working to catch the league’s attention. More than 200 athletes were invited to work out at War Memorial Stadium on Saturday, including 59 from in-state colleges.
Jimmy Dunn, the AAFL’s director of player personnel, said the results of Saturday’s workouts will be placed in a database used by league coaches for draft and roster-assignment purposes.
Coaching staffs have not yet been hired, though Dunn and AAFL board member Jack Lengyel said league officials are reviewing applications from interested coaches.
Stoerner, who quarterbacked the Razorbacks from 1996 to 1999 and holds the school’s all-time mark in career passing yards, has logged time in the NFL and the Arena Football League, but said the in-state draw is what led him to sign on with the AAFL.
“It’ll be fun, and I want to be a part of it,” Stoerner said. “I was at a crossroads. I didn’t want to keep giving up the things I was giving up to play arena football.”
Chukwuma, a running back, was playing semipro football and working in the business sector when he caught word of the league. He said he felt good about his chances of making it through training camp and returning to War Memorial Stadium with some former teammates.
“This is what I call the alumni stadium of Arkansas,” Chukwuma said. “The Hogs really don’t play many games here anymore. After you graduate, you come home to Little Rock. This is the place where you come to hang out.”
One former Razorback who didn’t sign but felt good about his combine showing was former defensive tackle Jermaine Brooks. Brooks was a success athletically and academically at Arkansas, but was also arrested in 2004 for selling drugs.
Brooks, who had a stint on the Dallas Cowboys’ practice squad and played in one regular-season game, said his memories of Arkansas weren’t tainted by his brush with the law, and that he hoped to land a spot on the hometown team.
“Other than that, it was pretty solid there,” Brooks said. “It’s always good to come home and show some Arkansas love.”
Players weren’t the only ones hoping to catch the eye of league officials. Former Cowboys fullback Robert Thomas, who played at Jacksonville and Henderson State, was on hand to look into the possibility of catching on as a coach.
“I have a lot more knowledge,” Thomas said. “I want to walk away from this game the same way I came into this game.”
Thomas said he was attracted to the AAFL because of its college degree requirement, something he said could help stem the number of college football players who quit school after their senior seasons.
“Guys are four to six hours away [from degrees ] and they say, ‘To heck with this. I’m going to make these millions and go to the league,’” Thomas said. “And then the league doesn’t want them. It’s very prevalent. It happens all the time.”
Here is the story on the new head coach of the AAFL Arkansas team:
The coaching and frontoffice structure of Arkansas ’ All American Football League franchise disappeared in a flash Sunday night, only to be recreated Monday morning.
Former Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback Ron Calcagni will be named the team’s head coach in a news conference at 4 p. m. today at War Memorial Stadium. Calcagni initially was named team president a little more than a week ago, but agreed to take over the coaching reins Monday after his initial choice for head coach informed him he would not take the job.
Alicia Cooper, who formerly served as CEO and owner of Arkansas Specialty Care — an orthopedic care organization — will take over as team president.
“I truly believe in the model of the AAFL,” Cooper said. “I’ve always been attracted to startups and clean-ups [reviving businesses ]. We can make this work.”
Calcagni said he had finalized a deal with former Razorbacks assistant and Henderson State Coach Jesse Branch, who recruited Calcagni as a high school quarterback from Ohio while coaching at Arkansas. Branch said Monday he decided to pass on the job Sunday night after having dinner at Calcagni’s home.
“It was just one of those things that I decided was not best for me,” said Branch, who had been working as a television commentator for the Gulf South Conference.
Calcagni said Branch was still committed to the job when the two met Sunday evening.
“He was all excited and everything was good,” Calcagni said. “He was looking for his last hurrah, basically. I guess it just came over him. I think he was a little bit nervous, a little bit scared.”
Calcagni had agreed to coach quarterbacks and receivers under Branch, but now will head a staff that he says will be made up of six to eight coaches. As of Monday, only one assistant coach — former Youngstown State quarterback Ray Isaac — was set to serve on Calcagni’s staff, likely as a quarterbacks or receivers coach.
As a coach, Calcagni brings more 20 years of experience to the AAFL, having formerly served as an assistant at Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tulsa, Houston and Arkansas State.
Calcagni said Monday he hadn’t examined his contract with the league closely enough to determine how much of a salary cut, if any, he will absorb by making the move from president to head coach.
“I know my marketplace,” Calcagni said. “I know Arkansas. I have expertise in coaching and relationships. It’s time to start evaluating players. It’s time to get it going.”
One of those players is former Arkansas quarterback Clint Stoerner, who signed a contract with the team Aug. 18. Stoerner said he’s only “crossed paths” with Calcagni, but he likes the idea of having a head coach with an offensive background.
“There’s a mutual respect there,” Stoerner said. “He’s been there and done it.”
Stoerner, who has been appearing in local television ads promoting the league, said having another former Razorbacks quarterback as head coach should help the franchise as season tickets become available.
“Let’s not be hardheaded,” Stoerner said. “If you don’t put people out there with names people know, it’s going to be tough.”
If guns kill people, then pencils are to blame for all of my spelling errors.
Alabama's team will be a mixture of UA and AU players. The team president is former Barn runner Joe Cribbs and they are talking to Jackie Sherrill about the head coaching job.
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