John Blanchette: Shackleford has tough act to follow

Adam Shackleford is the guy who gets asked, “What do you do for an encore?” after someone else’s concert.

He’s the one assigned to make sure the flag that somebody else planted on the moon stays there.

He’s the one who has to copy the Rembrandt with different brushes and new colors on the palette.

He’s the guy who’s following The Guy, which is supposed to be the biggest misstep in sports.

But the new coach of the Spokane Shock simply doesn’t see it that way.

In fact, as impressed as he is with the Shockmania that continues to bubble up around the phenomenon of indoor football in our town – latest example: fans lining up an hour in advance of Tuesday night’s team meet-and-greet – he can also be properly amused by it.

“Someone said the other day that we have a tradition of winning,” he said. “Well, it might be little too soon to call it a tradition. But we’ll certainly do our best to hold up our part and keep the winning going.”

No, one year does not a tradition make.

A rigorous precedent and unreasonable expectations, perhaps, but not a tradition.

Year 2 of the Shock begins Saturday night at the Spokane Arena with new af2 rivals and a rejiggered division, 7,700 season tickets sold and a big block of brass and walnut on the counter of the team’s new headquarters out on Eden Road. And the new coach.

These Shock are Shack’s.

OK, there are seven who came aboard with coach Chris Siegfried for the team’s first season and wound up winning 17 of 19 games, including a 57-34 rout of Green Bay in the ArenaCup. But roster churn being what it is in arena football’s minor league, it’s always about starting over. In Spokane, it’s just a little bit less than other places – which is why Shackleford is here.

“I had several opportunities to be a head coach,” said Shackleford, the offensive coordinator last year for the Louisville Fire. “This was the only one I felt was a reloading process rather than rebuilding. The organization was obviously sound in the front office, which made it appealing. I knew some of these guys would be back. And I knew that with the town and all the talent on the West Coast, I’d be able to attract more good players here.”

The biggest difference, obviously, is in who’s calling the plays.

In Siegfried, the expansion Shock hitched their wagon to a coach who would become the winningest in af2 history. Shackleford, by contrast, is a rookie at being in charge – though he’s certainly at ease with the concept. Maybe that’s because he combined his OC duties at Louisville with handling the player personnel decisions, as well – or maybe it’s because he’s been prepping for the job most of his life.

That started in earnest as an offensive lineman at Moeller High School, the Cincinnati football factory that sent Gerry Faust to Notre Dame, Ken Griffey Jr. to the Mariners and five teammates Shackleford’s senior year to Division I scholarships.

Shackleford himself was more realistic – “a 5-foot-10, 240-pound center wasn’t going to play big-time football” – so he landed at Division III Anderson University of Indiana. There he watched the football team go from 8-2 his freshman year to 0-10 as a senior – and decided he was destined to coach.

“It didn’t sour me at all,” he said. “I learned a lot about adversity and the ways coaches should motivate players, and without that experience my style would be a good deal different. Every coach or player at some point has gone through a low point like that, if they’ve been in it long enough, but you still look for the positives. That’s your job. You can never make it seem as bad as it is.”

He coached the offensive line at Anderson for eight seasons after finishing his eligibility, segueing into af2 in the off-season four years ago with the Cincinnati Swarm because he “knew somebody who knew somebody.” To that point, his only experience with the indoor game was watching the old Cincinnati Rockers of the Arena Football League back in 1992 – when Art Schlichter was quarterbacking between stints in gambling rehab.

Now he can hardly watch anything else.

“The outdoor game is so slow to me now that I struggle at times watching it on television,” he admitted.

He’s paid the minor league dues – 22-hour bus rides and motel rooms with no locks and doors that wouldn’t close. And he’s endured the looks of skeptics who wonder what an old grunt lineman knows about fast-break football.

“I think they expect that skinny former quarterback to be calling the plays,” he laughed. “But if you understand the game, how to attack defenses, know what works – that’s all that matters. (Mark) Stoute, who coached at Green Bay last year, was a kicker. He was a tremendous OC.”

Now he’s the head coach at Laredo, but the bar isn’t set nearly as high – the last Laredo af2 entry folded.

Shackleford’s assignment seems considerably more daunting.

“Hey, the reality is, 17-2 is tough to repeat,” he said. “So our goal will be to beat Stockton on Saturday night and then set a new one. I’m guessing last year’s team went about it the same way.”