Post by njfanatic1 on Dec 24, 2007 6:01:50 GMT -5
PRESCOTT VALLEY - On the eve of the team's first player tryout in Prescott, the Arizona Adrenaline lost its general manager and director of player personnel.
Jim Shipp resigned as GM and Bill Lloyd stepped down as director of player personnel on Friday, leaving the expansion indoor football team to overhaul its front office three months before kicking off its debut season.
"It came down to just different philosophies," Shipp said Friday night. "The direction that I had put together wasn't gelling with where the ownership wanted to go."
Adrenaline co-owner Wade Cunningham confirmed Shipp's departure Friday night, but hadn't yet spoken to Lloyd.
"We are making a change in direction with our GM," Cunningham said. "There was just a philosophical difference where we thought we were going. As a result we felt it was in our best interest to make a change in our direction."
Neither side talked specifics about the differences in approach, but Cunningham says the concerns were off the field.
"It had nothing to do with football per se. It wasn't a football decision. For us it was a business decision," Cunningham said. "It really related to the business side."
The franchise's ownership group announced this past October that Prescott Valley would field a team in the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). The club boosted the AIFA's membership to 16 teams scattered across the country. The Adrenaline is Arizona's first foray into the league.
Also this month, the team announced Andrew Moore, a former player with both NFL and Arena Football League experience, as its inaugural head coach. An announcement that the team would scrimmage the AFL's Arizona Rattlers in 2008 came next, as did the announcement that season ticket packages were up for sale. The team will play its home games at Tim's Toyota Center when the new season opens in March.
The franchise already hosted one round of player tryouts this past weekend in Phoenix. On Saturday, the team will host its second open tryout - and first in Prescott - at Prescott High School starting at 9 a.m.
Then came Friday's sudden front-office shakeup.
"I don't want to hurt the organization at all. I want the team to exist, I want them to win," Shipp added. "Anyone knows when I want to do something, I put my all into it."
Shipp and Lloyd will turn their attention to the state of Arizona's Copper Football League. The 14-team outdoor league opens its season Jan. 12.
Shipp is owner of the Tri-City Titans, a team with roughly 45 players on its roster that is tentatively planning to play its home games at Ken Lindley Field in Prescott. Ironically, the Titans' home finale, on March 29, falls on the same day as the Adrenaline's inaugural game, though it's unclear whether the Adrenaline will open at home in Prescott Valley or on the road. The AIFA is expected to release the 2008 season schedules in the next week to 10 days.
For Lloyd, the opportunity to return to the traditional outdoor game was too much to pass up.
"The outdoor game is where I cut my teeth, where my family cut their teeth, it's where Jim cut his teeth. It's where these young kids that are coming out that need to develop can come to play," Lloyd said Friday night. "My biggest thing is I get to develop young talent now and that's a lot of fun for me."
Cunningham said the current front office staff will absorb much of the duties vacated by the departure of Shipp and Lloyd in the short term but hopes to start lining up candidates to fill the positions after the first of the year.
The Adrenaline will also host two more open player tryouts in January, one in San Diego and another in Phoenix.
Jim Shipp resigned as GM and Bill Lloyd stepped down as director of player personnel on Friday, leaving the expansion indoor football team to overhaul its front office three months before kicking off its debut season.
"It came down to just different philosophies," Shipp said Friday night. "The direction that I had put together wasn't gelling with where the ownership wanted to go."
Adrenaline co-owner Wade Cunningham confirmed Shipp's departure Friday night, but hadn't yet spoken to Lloyd.
"We are making a change in direction with our GM," Cunningham said. "There was just a philosophical difference where we thought we were going. As a result we felt it was in our best interest to make a change in our direction."
Neither side talked specifics about the differences in approach, but Cunningham says the concerns were off the field.
"It had nothing to do with football per se. It wasn't a football decision. For us it was a business decision," Cunningham said. "It really related to the business side."
The franchise's ownership group announced this past October that Prescott Valley would field a team in the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). The club boosted the AIFA's membership to 16 teams scattered across the country. The Adrenaline is Arizona's first foray into the league.
Also this month, the team announced Andrew Moore, a former player with both NFL and Arena Football League experience, as its inaugural head coach. An announcement that the team would scrimmage the AFL's Arizona Rattlers in 2008 came next, as did the announcement that season ticket packages were up for sale. The team will play its home games at Tim's Toyota Center when the new season opens in March.
The franchise already hosted one round of player tryouts this past weekend in Phoenix. On Saturday, the team will host its second open tryout - and first in Prescott - at Prescott High School starting at 9 a.m.
Then came Friday's sudden front-office shakeup.
"I don't want to hurt the organization at all. I want the team to exist, I want them to win," Shipp added. "Anyone knows when I want to do something, I put my all into it."
Shipp and Lloyd will turn their attention to the state of Arizona's Copper Football League. The 14-team outdoor league opens its season Jan. 12.
Shipp is owner of the Tri-City Titans, a team with roughly 45 players on its roster that is tentatively planning to play its home games at Ken Lindley Field in Prescott. Ironically, the Titans' home finale, on March 29, falls on the same day as the Adrenaline's inaugural game, though it's unclear whether the Adrenaline will open at home in Prescott Valley or on the road. The AIFA is expected to release the 2008 season schedules in the next week to 10 days.
For Lloyd, the opportunity to return to the traditional outdoor game was too much to pass up.
"The outdoor game is where I cut my teeth, where my family cut their teeth, it's where Jim cut his teeth. It's where these young kids that are coming out that need to develop can come to play," Lloyd said Friday night. "My biggest thing is I get to develop young talent now and that's a lot of fun for me."
Cunningham said the current front office staff will absorb much of the duties vacated by the departure of Shipp and Lloyd in the short term but hopes to start lining up candidates to fill the positions after the first of the year.
The Adrenaline will also host two more open player tryouts in January, one in San Diego and another in Phoenix.
