Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Fill-in coach faces tough task

Saturday, 7 p.m., America West Arena. Radio: ESPN-920 AM

The phrase "Moscow Giants" conjures images of imposing historical figures like Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin. About the last thing that comes to mind is professional football.

Yet the last time Ron James served as a head football coach, it happened in the Russian capital in 1993, when James was a player-coach for the Giants of the European Professional League.

But after 18 years in the business, James feels more than ready to lead the Gladiators into Saturday night's game at Arizona. Normally the Gladiators' assistant head coach, James is filling in for Frank Haege, who is serving his league suspension for throwing a tirade after being ejected in Las Vegas' Mar. 14 win over the Rattlers.

"(It's) a situation I'm very comfortable in, to be honest with you," James said. "I've been coaching for this long; it's just a natural progression. I've been a coordinator on each side of the ball."

Las Vegas (3-6) needs a change of some sort after dropping its last three games, reaching a disheartening bottom with last week's 57-55 home loss to Chicago on a desperation pass with no time left.

James is providing some of that by breaking from the normal practice routines. The Gladiators practiced at the Thomas & Mack Center this week and James pumped in noise over the stadium speakers to simulate the hostile conditions at Arizona (4-5). The team practiced Thursday with a boombox blaring hip-hop music.

"I noticed that early in practice, we were dragging a little bit," James said. "I wanted to lighten the atmosphere."

Not much is light and easy for the Gladiators right now, not with 14 teams ahead of them in the race for eight playoff spots and just seven games remaining.

The injuries keep coming as well. Already missing starting offensive specialist Terril Shaw, lineman Joe Burch and defensive back T.J. Hill, Las Vegas placed linebacker/wide receiver Maurice Bryant on injured reserve on Thursday. Bryant, who torched his former Arizona team for three touchdown catches in March, will miss his third consecutive game with a strained quad muscle. He became the sixth Gladiator on injured reserve.

The loss at the buzzer combined with the continuing loss of manpower is enough to batter the psyche of a team -- a danger of which James is well aware in Las Vegas' season of bad bounces and missed opportunities.

"You can really be in a situation where you say, 'Whoa, we're snakebit, we don't have any luck, whatever,' " James said. "You could start doubting yourself and what we told them was, you have to persevere, you have to keep after it. The breaks will come your way if you just keep pounding at it."

Sympathy for injuries, new personnel and bad luck never earned a team an exemption into the playoffs.

"You've got to fight through it," Dolezel said. "The bottom line is, yeah, we're not getting many breaks, but we've got to make plays to get breaks."

Haege's absence is just the latest in that long string of changes this year for Las Vegas. James is consulting with Haege throughout the week, although Haege is barred from attending any team practices or from having any contact with the team while suspended.

"We talk every day," James said. "It's his team and when we come back, he'll be running the show again. There aren't any drastic changes. We talk over personnel and plays and everything."

Haege will travel to New York during next week's bye to meet with Arena Football League commissioner David Baker, and the coach will likely return with his two-game suspension reduced to one, readying him for Las Vegas' April 25 game against Detroit.

Haege, relegated to sharpening his basketball skills this week, usually works with quarterback Clint Dolezel to call the Gladiators' plays. Most of that responsibility will fall to Dolezel against Arizona. The AFL veteran is used to the task, having served as his own offensive coordinator while in Grand Rapids. James said he will act only as a "conscience" for Dolezel in calling plays.

"It's no big deal," Dolezel said. "I've done it for three years. I've run meetings for three years. I've put guys in the right situations for three years, so this is just falling back on what I did last year a little bit."

A win against Arizona would keep Las Vegas' slim playoff hopes alive. After the bye, the Gladiators take on four teams with records currently at or below .500. They also face tough games against division foes San Jose and Los Angeles.

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