Gladiators put Dolezel in charge of offense

Adam Candee

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2004 | 9:45 a.m.

Adam Candee

Just as they did in selecting their new head coach, the Las Vegas Gladiators stayed within the organization to find a new offensive coordinator, handing the job on Wednesday to quarterback Clint Dolezel.

Dolezel will serve as a player/coach, but will not have any control over personnel decisions. That power rests with general manager Dan Dolby and head coach Ron James.

He also will not receive additional compensation for the offensive coordinator role on top of his playing salary, reported to be somewhere between $100,000 and $150,000 when he was acquired from Grand Rapids after the 2003 season.

"Clint knows arena football offense as well as anyone in the league," Gladiators spokesman Adam Grant said Tuesday.

Dolezel, 34, has played in the Arena Football League for nine seasons, and won an ArenaBowl with the Rampage. He shared play-calling responsibilities with former head coach Frank Haege in his first season with the Gladiators in 2004. James now turns over the full responsibility to Dolezel, who served in a similar capacity for some of his time in Grand Rapids.

Dolezel ran the Las Vegas offense during Haege's one-game suspension last season. He said at the time that that additional burden is not a heavy one.

"It's no big deal," Dolezel said April 9. "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."

Dolezel's new role continues a heavy makeover of the Gladiators' coaching staff. The team fired Haege in late July and promoted James from assistant head coach to the top job. Las Vegas also added special teams coach Gary Gussman and receivers coach Eddie Brown.