Post by barrefan1 on Jan 22, 2010 13:00:06 GMT -5
By Anna Grearson TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: January 22, 2010
Vermont Frost Heaves head coach Jeff Strohm was fired on Friday morning after four months at the helm, and assistant coach Joe Salerno of Montpelier has been named head coach, according to the team's owner and general manager Michael Healey.
“As part of the new ownership and management group, I felt it was time to move in another direction,” Healey said. He would not, however, comment on a specific reason why Strohm was released.
“I'm not going to comment on any of that,” Healey said. “I just want to point the team in a new direction - I honestly felt it was time for a change. It's a private matter between the team and the management. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”
“I am shocked,” Strohm said. “All I've tried to do is run the organization in a first-class manner. I think like everyone I am shocked. All I have done from day one is put the franchise, players and staff first. I am just in complete shock.”
Healey, who served as the team's director of operations for the 2006-07 season and was elevated to general manager in 2008, bought the management rights for the financially struggling team from Barre Mayor Thomas Lauzon earlier this week.
Vermont is currently 0-3 and at the bottom of the nine-team Premier Basketball League standings. Vermont is the only team without a league win, though the Frost Heaves did beat Quebec in the first game of the Champlain Cup pre-season tournament in Barre on Dec. 27. In an exhibition game at Halifax on Dec. 21, Strohm's first game as head coach, Vermont suffered its worst loss ever, a 45-point blowout to the Rainmen.
Since then, Vermont has lost league games on the road to Manchester (102-93), Puerto Rico (114-103) and Halifax (119-109) in addition to losing the Champlain Cup championship to Manchester at home on Dec. 29. The team travels to Lawton-Fort Sill (Okla.) and Maryland this coming Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
Salerno, now the third head coach in Vermont Frost Heaves history, spent two seasons as the head coach of the Montpelier varsity boys basketball team and made an appearance in the Division II Final Four in 2009. The following summer, Salerno, then 27, became the youngest coach and 11th overall to lead the Vermont boys to a win over New Hampshire in the 29th VT/NH Merchants Bank Twin State Rotary Classic.
Also heavily involved with Lone Wolf Athletics National Travel Team, Salerno's most recent AAU U17 boys team featured current local standouts Billy Boyd and Tanner Benjamin of Hazen, Sam Brigham of Montpelier, and Thomas Jacobs-Moore of Harwood. Directed by Wayne Lafley, former assistant to former Frost Heaves coach to Will Voigt, Lone Wolf Athletics competes all over New England at the top collegiate showcase events and went to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York this past summer.
Salerno also coached overseas in Holland during the summer of 2008 and has worked several national basketball camps.
“Growing up I could see the Barre Auditorium from my bedroom window, and to be able to coach the professional level on that court is really something special to me,” Salerno said in the release announcing him as assistant coach on Sept 29, 2009.
According to Healey, the Frost Heaves have operated at a loss during each of their three seasons and is set to lose more money during this current season.
Sixty percent of the team's operating budget of $500,000 comes from sponsorships, 25 percent from ticket sales with the remainder from merchandise sales and proceeds from skills camps for youth players. The new business model which Healey hopes to implement soon, is based on fan ownership. If the model is not successful - if enough fans do not buy into the team at $1,200 each over three years - Healey is not sure if the team will survive past this current season.
“I don't know at this point. It's too early to tell,” Healey said. “The goal is to finish the season and we will finish the season. I am here to ensure we do finish the season and that is why I agreed to take on this role. And we will.”
An exit strategy, however, is undetermined, according to Healey.
“That's to be determined,” Healey said. “Hopefully we're going out with a championship, but as I said, I am an optimist at heart and I honestly believe we'll be back next year.”
Strohm replaced Will Voigt, who coached the team for the first three seasons of its existence and left the team this past summer to become the head coach of the NBA Development League's Bakersfield (Calif.) Jam. The Jam is currently 4-17 and at the bottom of the 16-team league heading into Friday night's game at Albuquerque. Voigt led Vermont to back-to-back American Basketball Association championships and an appearance in the PBL playoffs last season.
The Maryland Greenhawks also fired their coach this week, relieving Rob Spon of his coaching duties and naming Otis Hailey head coach on Tuesday.
“We had high expectations entering this season and we still do,” said GreenHawks General Manager Adam Dantus in a statement issued by the team. “Our 1-4 record is not acceptable. We felt as an organization it was time to make a change and we're looking forward to the team moving in the right direction with Otis leading the way.”
Strohm, 42, came to Vermont after making two Final Four appearances as an assistant with Division I Utah and Marquette, where Strohm worked with current NBA star and Olympic Gold Medalist Dwyane Wade. He has also been an assistant at Northern Illinois and Western Kentucky and was a finalist to replace Tom Brennan at the University of Vermont in 2003. The Frost Heaves job was his first as a head coach.
In his introductory remarks to fans and media in September, Strohm said: “I'm not going to make a lot of promises, but I'll make you one. Every day, I'll do everything I can to prove you right. If you want to write down the mistakes that I'm going to make and that the players are going to make, you're going to need more paper than there is in this room. We're going to make mistakes, mistakes of commission, not omission, but I promise you we're going to make mistakes. But when it's all said and done, I think you'll be proud of what we're going to do.”
For a complete version of this story see Saturday's Times Argus.
Vermont Frost Heaves head coach Jeff Strohm was fired on Friday morning after four months at the helm, and assistant coach Joe Salerno of Montpelier has been named head coach, according to the team's owner and general manager Michael Healey.
“As part of the new ownership and management group, I felt it was time to move in another direction,” Healey said. He would not, however, comment on a specific reason why Strohm was released.
“I'm not going to comment on any of that,” Healey said. “I just want to point the team in a new direction - I honestly felt it was time for a change. It's a private matter between the team and the management. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”
“I am shocked,” Strohm said. “All I've tried to do is run the organization in a first-class manner. I think like everyone I am shocked. All I have done from day one is put the franchise, players and staff first. I am just in complete shock.”
Healey, who served as the team's director of operations for the 2006-07 season and was elevated to general manager in 2008, bought the management rights for the financially struggling team from Barre Mayor Thomas Lauzon earlier this week.
Vermont is currently 0-3 and at the bottom of the nine-team Premier Basketball League standings. Vermont is the only team without a league win, though the Frost Heaves did beat Quebec in the first game of the Champlain Cup pre-season tournament in Barre on Dec. 27. In an exhibition game at Halifax on Dec. 21, Strohm's first game as head coach, Vermont suffered its worst loss ever, a 45-point blowout to the Rainmen.
Since then, Vermont has lost league games on the road to Manchester (102-93), Puerto Rico (114-103) and Halifax (119-109) in addition to losing the Champlain Cup championship to Manchester at home on Dec. 29. The team travels to Lawton-Fort Sill (Okla.) and Maryland this coming Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
Salerno, now the third head coach in Vermont Frost Heaves history, spent two seasons as the head coach of the Montpelier varsity boys basketball team and made an appearance in the Division II Final Four in 2009. The following summer, Salerno, then 27, became the youngest coach and 11th overall to lead the Vermont boys to a win over New Hampshire in the 29th VT/NH Merchants Bank Twin State Rotary Classic.
Also heavily involved with Lone Wolf Athletics National Travel Team, Salerno's most recent AAU U17 boys team featured current local standouts Billy Boyd and Tanner Benjamin of Hazen, Sam Brigham of Montpelier, and Thomas Jacobs-Moore of Harwood. Directed by Wayne Lafley, former assistant to former Frost Heaves coach to Will Voigt, Lone Wolf Athletics competes all over New England at the top collegiate showcase events and went to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York this past summer.
Salerno also coached overseas in Holland during the summer of 2008 and has worked several national basketball camps.
“Growing up I could see the Barre Auditorium from my bedroom window, and to be able to coach the professional level on that court is really something special to me,” Salerno said in the release announcing him as assistant coach on Sept 29, 2009.
According to Healey, the Frost Heaves have operated at a loss during each of their three seasons and is set to lose more money during this current season.
Sixty percent of the team's operating budget of $500,000 comes from sponsorships, 25 percent from ticket sales with the remainder from merchandise sales and proceeds from skills camps for youth players. The new business model which Healey hopes to implement soon, is based on fan ownership. If the model is not successful - if enough fans do not buy into the team at $1,200 each over three years - Healey is not sure if the team will survive past this current season.
“I don't know at this point. It's too early to tell,” Healey said. “The goal is to finish the season and we will finish the season. I am here to ensure we do finish the season and that is why I agreed to take on this role. And we will.”
An exit strategy, however, is undetermined, according to Healey.
“That's to be determined,” Healey said. “Hopefully we're going out with a championship, but as I said, I am an optimist at heart and I honestly believe we'll be back next year.”
Strohm replaced Will Voigt, who coached the team for the first three seasons of its existence and left the team this past summer to become the head coach of the NBA Development League's Bakersfield (Calif.) Jam. The Jam is currently 4-17 and at the bottom of the 16-team league heading into Friday night's game at Albuquerque. Voigt led Vermont to back-to-back American Basketball Association championships and an appearance in the PBL playoffs last season.
The Maryland Greenhawks also fired their coach this week, relieving Rob Spon of his coaching duties and naming Otis Hailey head coach on Tuesday.
“We had high expectations entering this season and we still do,” said GreenHawks General Manager Adam Dantus in a statement issued by the team. “Our 1-4 record is not acceptable. We felt as an organization it was time to make a change and we're looking forward to the team moving in the right direction with Otis leading the way.”
Strohm, 42, came to Vermont after making two Final Four appearances as an assistant with Division I Utah and Marquette, where Strohm worked with current NBA star and Olympic Gold Medalist Dwyane Wade. He has also been an assistant at Northern Illinois and Western Kentucky and was a finalist to replace Tom Brennan at the University of Vermont in 2003. The Frost Heaves job was his first as a head coach.
In his introductory remarks to fans and media in September, Strohm said: “I'm not going to make a lot of promises, but I'll make you one. Every day, I'll do everything I can to prove you right. If you want to write down the mistakes that I'm going to make and that the players are going to make, you're going to need more paper than there is in this room. We're going to make mistakes, mistakes of commission, not omission, but I promise you we're going to make mistakes. But when it's all said and done, I think you'll be proud of what we're going to do.”
For a complete version of this story see Saturday's Times Argus.
