Holding Steady
Macon Knights rookie head coach Mike Hold hopes to take his team back to the af2 ArenaCup.

 

04.15.04 -- In what was believed to have been an epic rematch of last year's ArenaCup, the Week 2 game between the af2's Tulsa Talons and Macon Knights instead finds both teams having one thing in common, the need to rebuild. The head coaches of both teams have moved on and found success in the AFL. The Talons' Skip Foster is now the head coach of the AFL's Austin Wranglers and former Knights' head coach Kevin Porter is the defensive coordinator of the New Orleans Voodoo. Still, as the Macon Knights enter the 2004 season, one thing has been on the minds of the team's fans; beat Tulsa.

After coming up short in last year's title game, the fans of Middle Georgia have been eagerly awaiting a grudge match.

The pressure of this task falls squarely on the shoulders of Macon's new head coach, Mike Hold.

Hold comes to the Knights after serving as the head coach of the Carolina Cobras of the Arena Football League during the 2003 season.

Mike brings 15 years of Arena Football experience to the Knights and began his Arena Football coaching career with the Augusta Stallions of arenafootball2. He led the Stallions to a combined record of 22-10 in two seasons (9-7 in 2001 and 13-3 in 2002) and qualified for the playoffs in 2002.

Before serving three seasons as a head coach, Hold enjoyed a 12-season career as a quarterback in the AFL. He began his career in the AFL's inaugural season in 1987 with the Chicago Bruisers.

Hold also participated in training camps with the Denver Broncos (1986) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1987, 88). During the NFL strike in 1987, Hold played three games with the Buccaneers completing 8-of-24 passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns.

As he prepares to enter his first game as head coach of the Knights, Mike Hold shared his thoughts on the upcoming 2004 season.

Q: You've been in Macon for about six months now, how have you enjoyed your time here so far?
Mike Hold: It's been great. The support has been wonderful and I'm just excited about being part of such a class organization and I'm looking forward to Saturday night (opening game).

Q: The Knights began training camp three weeks ago, how did the preseason go and how has practice been this week?
Hold: Camp was good. It was very competitive and I thought the moral was great, but it was a typical preseason where there are a lot of mistakes going on because you're learning a lot. This week of practice has been up and down. I think everybody is kind of like me; we're just tired of practicing and want to take what we've learned and put it into action.

Q: What areas do you see for improvement?
Hold: We've just got to polish things. At this point we've got guys that can play the game, it's just mental. We've just been stressing the mental end of it, trying not to make the mental mistakes and that has been our biggest focus this week.

Q: What are the strengths of this team?
Hold: We're hoping the strong points will be our line. You win or lose up front and it doesn't matter what you do at the skill positions. If you don't win the battle in the trenches, you're not going to be successful.

Q: What goals has the team set?
Hold: Win – bottom line. Everything. I hate to say we're going to win the championship, because that sounds pompous sometimes, but none of us are here to lose or finish second. So our goal is to win and that's going to take us to where we need to be.

Q: What can the fans expect to see from this team?
Hold: Hustle. (Another) goal is to have a team that is energetic and gives 100 percent on every play. If you do that, you're going to put yourself in position to make big plays and win ball games.

Q: You've got a good mix of rookies and veterans on the team, how has everyone gotten along so far?
Hold: First and foremost, we've got good people on this team and that was our goal in the beginning; to bring good people in that will represent the community well. We've accomplished that. We've got a lot of veteran-team guys and we've got seven back from last year's team. I think that when you combine that with the rookies, we've got a good mix.

It's hard to teach this game. The best way to learn the game is to experience it and if you've got a lot of guys out there that know how to play this game, that's what teaches the young guys. We've got a lot of veterans that have played Arena Football before and that makes our jobs as coaches easier.

Q: Who are some players that fans can expect to see an immediate impact out of?
Hold: It'd better be at least 18 of them. I always say that because I think the only true backup is your backup quarterback. Other than that, all 18 guys are going to contribute, so we expect all 18 guys to be impact players.

Q: There are a lot of new faces on the Knights roster, as well as the Talons roster, but to a lot of people this is still a rematch of last year's ArenaCup Championship game. What have you learned about Tulsa and what will the game be like?
Hold: It's hard to say. There's so much turnover in af2 every year. When you take two teams to the championship, obviously the reason they got is because they're talented. So you've got to expect they are going to lose players who move up, and that has happened. In all reality it's going to be two different teams you're going to see out there.

Bottom line is tradition is still there. Tulsa's been good over the years and so has Macon. Hopefully we're going to put a lot of points on the board, hold them to not many and come out on top. But again, it's hard to get caught up in previous years, and games, because there's much turnover. You can't really compare this year's team to last year's team or Tulsa's to last year's team.

Editor's note: Led by two receiving touchdowns from Mitch Allner, the Tulsa
Talons (1-1) defeated the Macon Knights (0-1) by a 49-40 score, on April 10 at the Macon Coliseum.

Allner caught five total passes for 79 yards and he scored on a nine-yard fumble recovery late in the fourth quarter. The Talons took advantage of five Knights turnovers in the game, scoring on four of them.

Miacah Cooper and Jamaal Garmen proved to be two bright sports for the Knights. Cooper caught eight passes for 110 yards, while Garmen scored three times on five receptions for 43 yards.

 

 

 

 

Top Stories | Business | Media | Basketball | Baseball | Hockey | Football | Your Takes | Editor's Rave | | MLN Store | Maps |
| Jobs | Contact Us |

copyright ©2001-2004 MLN Sports Group LLC. All rights reserved. See our privacy policy.