Gladiators must circle until owner lands

Adam Candee

Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2004 | 10:24 a.m.

The four men scheduled to interview Tuesday in Las Vegas for the vacant Gladiators coaching job:

Ron James

Gladiators assistant head coach

Sparky McEwen

Oklahoma City (af2) offensive coordinator

Kevin Porter

New Orleans VooDoo defensive coordinator

Mike Wilpolt

Indiana Firebirds interim head coach

From unusual in the firing to what they now call "unfortunate" in the hiring, the timing of the Las Vegas Gladiators' head coaching situation is uniquely theirs.

After waiting two months into the offseason to fire Frank Haege, the Gladiators cut their list of finalists to replace him to four -- not including former Arizona head coach Danny White. Gladiators general manager Dan Dolby said Tuesday that both in compensation and in timing, the team could not reach an agreement with White.

White reportedly had strong interest in the Las Vegas job, but Dolby said that White was never the front-runner for the position.

"We had a really deep conversation with not only (White) but his agent," Dolby said. "But unfortunately, the timeline was not conducive to moving it along any faster than we wanted to."

Gladiators owner Jim Ferraro is out of the country and will not return until later this week. And while Dolby had the OK to select the four finalists, he could not move deep into negotiations with any coach without Ferraro's involvement. White is also being pursued for the vacant head jobs in Grand Rapids and New York.

Coming in for interviews next Tuesday are: Gladiators assistant head coach Ron James; Oklahoma City (af2) offensive coordinator Sparky McEwen; New Orleans defensive coordinator Kevin Porter; and Indiana interim head coach Mike Wilpolt. That group will meet with Dolby and Ferraro, who will be in town for the Aug. 17 meeting of the Arena Football League board of directors.

All will interview next Tuesday and the team wants to make its final decision within a couple of days afterward.

In addition to White, eliminated from consideration from the Gladiators' initial list of eight were: Gladiators defensive coordinator Stan Davis; Oklahoma City head coach Gary Reasons; and Carolina interim head coach Ron Selesky.

Dolby marked the four finalists as progressive thinkers with innovative ideas for scheming arena football games.

"Our four candidates are what I consider the up-and-comers," Dolby said.

Dolby also wants a coach willing to fall in line with an organizational philosophy to place greater emphasis on the running game offensively and to adapt to changing schemes defensively.

"They've been able to hide coverage and mask what we're trying to do," Dolby said of the finalists. "From an offensive standpoint, they've been able to open up the game a little bit."

The offensive game plan will likely be a joint effort with quarterback Clint Dolezel, who effectively shared play-calling duties with Haege last season and served as offensive coordinator for a year in Grand Rapids and during Haege's one-game suspension last year.

Dolezel is publicly backing McEwen, with whom he worked in Grand Rapids, but Dolby said that the quarterback is only one factor in a choice.

"Will it weigh more in Sparky's favor than the others? No," Dolby said.

Dolby denied that the team feared a personality clash between the strong wills of Dolezel and White, but also emphasized that the Gladiators will consider any coach's relationship with their marquee player.

"The chemistry that Clint is going to have with whoever the head coach is going to be will have to be on a pretty high communication level," Dolby said.