Freeze Lose Assistant

[Free Agent Fan]

This was in todays paper. But fails to mention Paul Penington as an assistant coach.



Freeze lose assistant
BY BOB JARZOMSKI
[e-mail]

In their AIFA bye weekend, the Erie Freeze said good-bye to assistant coach Tom Parry, leaving head coach Dave Arnold with one part-time assistant.

The future of the indoor football team's staff is all linked to ties with area college programs, including former Gannon offensive coordinator Don Holl, the head coach at Cathedral Prep.

Freeze owner Dave Hodas said he wasn't aware Parry had resigned. Hodas also dismissed a rumor that the players had not been paid, saying, "That's not true. All of the players that were supposed to be paid were paid."

Veteran linebacker Roosevelt Benjamin said, "That was strictly a rumor."

Parry resigned from the Freeze on Saturday to take an assistant's position at Division II Kentucky Wesleyan. Parry also coached at Mercyhurst College and Edinboro University. He was an assistant coach along with Arnold under Bill Elias at Gannon until both were let go after last season. New Gannon coach Jim Kiernan was hired by Elias, who resigned to dedicate his full time as the school's athletic director.

Parry is going to coach under Brent Holsclaw, who was an assistant under former head coach Joe Kimball at Mercyhurst for five seasons until taking the head coaching job at the Owensboro, Ky., school in 2003.

That leaves Kimball the only available aide for Arnold. Kimball, who is an administrator in the Erie School District, is going to give Kiernan a hand when the Golden Knights open spring practice in a couple of weeks. Kiernan played for Kimball at St. Lawrence, and was an assistant for the Lakers under Kimball.

"Dave Arnold, Tom Parry and Jim Kiernan are all good friends of mine and fine coaches," Kimball said. "I'm a full-time administrator in the Erie School District, so I'm spreading myself out pretty thin. Football has always been in my blood, and I still enjoy helping out as much as I can."

Benjamin, who was a first-year assistant under Holl last season at Prep, recommended Holl for a consultant post with the Freeze, who are off to a slow start at 1-3.

"Myself and a couple of the players who know Don have suggested he would be a very good guy to have on the staff," Benjamin said. "I worked with Don last year, and we all know he has a great football mind."

Holl said he is interested in assisting Arnold, whom he worked with at Gannon.

"I coached (Freeze wide receiver/quarterback) Darmel Whitfield at Gannon, and he's coming aboard on our staff next season," said Holl, who is the dean of students and discipline at Cathedral Prep. "Indoor football is intriguing to me, and Dave Arnold is a friend of mine. My priority of course is my job at Cathedral Prep, but high schools don't have spring practices like colleges do, and I would be able to afford some time to helping out the Freeze. But I'm not sure what will come about."

Arnold could not be reached for comment.

The Freeze, who were scheduled to resume practice Monday night at the Family First Golf Dome after a week off, host the Reading Express on Friday at Tullio Arena.

BOB JARZOMSKI can be reached at 870-1678 or by e-mail.

[slocoma]

shimadajoe said:

The Freeze, who were scheduled to resume practice Monday night at the Family First Golf Dome after a week off, host the Reading Express on Friday at Tullio Arena.

What? 1-3 with a bye week and they didn't take advantage by practicing?

[TNmike]

slocoma said:

shimadajoe said:

The Freeze, who were scheduled to resume practice Monday night at the Family First Golf Dome after a week off, host the Reading Express on Friday at Tullio Arena.

What? 1-3 with a bye week and they didn't take advantage by practicing?

Most teams on a bye week don't practice. They take the time to take a break and get ready for rest of the season while the coaches look at the past games and see what needs to change and evaluate players.

[slocoma]

Thinking outside the box wins games.

[Un-Frozen Rich]

Slocoma -- I think you are expecting WAAAAY too much from the players to come in for practices on a bye week in a league at this level. Players are making something like $300 per game and don't get anything for the bye week. Spread that out over two weeks and think about how motivated you'd be to get to Erie for practices. I'm sure the coaching staff is using the time to re-think line-ups, develop gameplans etc., so the week off won't be a total waste, plus it gives players time to rest/heal.

The players already put enough on the line on weeks when the are paid, expecting them to essentially do it for half the money is just nonsense.

[slocoma]

You're right.

[justathought]

Ok here's the mind boggle of the week:
So your team is 1-3 and you lose a coach and things are not going so well for your team. What do you do? Well the Erie Freeze decided to take off!
Now i'm no expert and I may just be thinking like a winner, but wouldn't you take everything back to the drawing board, look at some game film (as a team), correct the mistakes you made in the past couple of weeks and sort out all the issues you have. I know there are a lot of things going on up there in Erie but lets be real. To win in this league, you need to practice and improve whenever you get the chance. It's ok to take off 3-4 days during your bye week, but for godsakes the whole week! I mean lets face it, guys in this league shouldn't be in it for the money, it's a stepping stone for the possibility of moving up and if thats not possible, then you take what you can get. But don't expect anything big if you feel you are too good to practice during your bye week, however the best teams do!