Spokane embraces Siegfried

Roughly a year ago, Chris Siegfried was on the verge of being fired and the Spokane Shock were just a gleam in Brady Nelson’s eye.

Think things have changed a little bit since then?

Siegfried has guided the expansion Shock to an arenafootball2-best 7-1 record and he’s closing in on becoming the coach with the most wins in league history. Nelson, the team’s majority owner, is sporting a wide grin as the top-ranked Shock play in front of crowds of 10,000 at the Arena.

It’s been a near-perfect match – that nearly didn’t happen.

Siegfried was fired last summer as head coach at South Georgia after the team slipped to 2-8. He considered other career paths, but he sent his resume to several af2 expansion teams that were searching for a new coach.

“One of the things that piqued my interest was that they replied so quickly, literally within a couple hours after I sent my resume,” Siegfried said. “And from the first minute we spoke, they were definitely interested in me and they kept harping on the significance of family.”

So much so that team officials insisted Siegfried’s wife, Tammi, accompany him to Spokane for the face-to-face interview.

“When they first talked to me, they asked if my family would move with me,” Siegfried said. “My first thought was, ‘I don’t think they’ll come,’ but they basically told me, ‘we want you to interview, but only if your wife comes with you.’ That told me they were concerned with the happiness of my family.

“Within the first 24 hours of being in Spokane, we had met the entire ownership group, their wives, their kids and we’d been in each of their homes.”

Nelson had been advised by arena football inventor Jim Foster to hire somebody with af2 coaching experience. Siegfried came with 40 career af2 wins, which has risen to 47 this season, third on the league’s all-time list behind Kevin Guy’s 52 and Bobby Humphrey’s 51. Neither are active af2 coaches.

Nelson knew he had the right man during the interview, but he was recruiting more than just a coach.

“We watched some of his game tape and how he carried himself on the field and he had a lot of confidence in the interview process, so we knew if we hired him we would win,” Nelson said. “He’s just turned out to be a great person, a family guy and he fits in with our organization.

“Winning is the most important thing and he doesn’t play favorites. He understands the business aspect of the team and marketing and knows there’s more to it than just coaching.”

One of Siegfried’s problems in South Georgia was that there was so much more to it than just coaching. He was ordering uniforms, washing uniforms and fixing helmets. He was without a cell phone until the start of training camp, which made recruiting players difficult. The grass at the outdoor practice facility was rarely mowed and there were no lines painted on the field.

Siegfried had led Cape Fear (N.C.) to three successful seasons before the franchise was sold and moved to Albany, Ga. A start of 0-4 was the beginning of the end for Siegfried in South Georgia, but management told him and his players at midseason that his job was safe. He was fired about 10 days later.

“It was a difficult situation,” he said. “The picture that was painted when I was hired and the actuality of the situation were two different things.”

While he was disappointed that ownership didn’t fulfill promises, Siegfried said he assumes the majority of the blame. He said he should have voiced his concerns sooner.

“I was kind of commuting between Albany and Orlando,” he said. “I think the biggest thing was the ownership group wasn’t committed to me and I don’t think I was 100 percent committed to them.”

After Siegfried was fired, several players asked to be released, including Rob Keefe, who has become a defensive standout with Spokane. Antwone Savage, a South Georgia castoff, has found a home at receiver with the Shock.

“I don’t think it would have mattered who coached there,” Savage said. “The other coach came in and things didn’t go too well. To me, it was the way the organization was treating the players. It didn’t let the players play up to their abilities.”

Siegfried did some soul searching and wondered if he wanted to stay in the profession.

“I got over taking it personally in a few weeks and then it was a matter of choosing to let it affect me negatively or learning from it and being the best coach I can be,” Siegfried said. “I had some other options – I had been involved in real estate in Orlando and I was very close to getting back involved in that – but when you love something like arena football and it’s in your blood you have to keep pursuing it.”

His pursuit ended with the interview in Spokane, but he was still pleasantly surprised when he showed up for his first day.

“Before I came out, (general manager) Adam Nebeker asked me what I needed for my office,” Siegfried said. “I said, ‘A desk, computer, dry-erase board, maybe a filing cabinet. I came out for one of the tryouts in October and it was all set up. If I’ve needed something – not if I’ve wanted something – but if I’ve needed it, they’ve got it for me.”

In return, Siegfried all but assembled the roster and coaching staff that have helped Spokane to its fast start. His goal is to coach in the AFL, but he couldn’t be happier at present.

“He wanted guys that go all out and I think with the 15-20 guys we have on this team and with his system, it’s a great equation,” Keefe said.

And a considerable change from a year ago.

“Everybody wanted us here,” Siegfried said, “and it’s a great feeling to be wanted as much as we were. We feel like we’ve hit a home run.”