New Coach Trying to Put More Bite in His Piranhas

ANAHEIM — On the surface, the Anaheim Piranhas’ first year in the Arena Football League was a smashing success.

The Piranhas averaged more than 13,000 fans at the Pond for a sport that was foreign to Southern California until last season. On one occasion, they nearly outdrew the Angels. They won their first seven games, nine including two exhibition games. They made the playoffs--something the Rams haven’t done in eight years--and they got fans involved in the games, a feat the Angels rarely accomplish.

But beneath the Pond’s surface, there was trouble brewing.

Shortly after the team’s first loss, an anonymous player called for the firing of Piranha Coach Babe Parilli by faxing a list of 10 grievances to the front office and to the media. Players were regularly late to team meetings and film sessions. When they did show up, they often snoozed through the meetings and film sessions. During the second half of the season, one of Parilli’s assistants, Bob Stone, was fired. By season’s end, Parilli was essentially a lame duck and had lost most of his authority to line coach Jim Walsh, who took over offensive play calling.

Even though Parilli had a year left on his contract, it was clear he was on his way out. On Oct. 8, two months and a day after the Piranhas scored a measly 16 points in a first-round playoff loss to Tampa Bay, Parilli, 68, was fired. The Piranhas hired a man almost half Parilli’s age--Mike Hohensee, a former quarterback at Minnesota who developed a reputation for being an offensive genius in three years with the AFL’s Albany (N.Y.) Firebirds, who led the league in scoring and offense the last three seasons.

“I could tell the team didn’t believe in the coach they had last year,” Hohensee said. “There wasn’t a lot of discipline. The players were running the team.”

After taking inventory and watching a lot of film, Hohensee began weeding out players and coaches who didn’t fit his system or didn’t believe in it. He focused on the offense, trading last year’s leading receiver Adrian Jarrell to New Jersey, starting quarterback Scooter Molander to Florida and wide receiver/linebacker Nathan Burchette to Iowa for quarterback Ron Lopez. Molander started all but the last two regular-season games, but he wasn’t Hohensee’s kind of guy.

“Scooter, in my mind, isn’t the kind of guy to lead a team to an Arena Bowl,” Hohensee said. “If you don’t have a quarterback in this league, you can’t win.”

Hohensee thought Lee Williamson might be the kind of guy he was looking for. He had eyed Williamson for a few years while Williamson sat behind Warren Moon with the Houston Oilers. But Williamson wasn’t very mobile and he didn’t get rid of the ball quickly enough to be effective in the fast-paced game of Arena Football. So Hohensee picked Lopez, a two-year AFL veteran, to be the starter, and Williamson left the team. The backup is rookie Mark Grieb, one of 11 new players on the 24-man roster.

Seven of the 11 newcomers are receivers. The only areas left virtually unscathed in the housecleaning were the secondary and the offensive and defensive lines.

“We made a lot of changes, but we kept the heart and soul of the team,” Hohensee said.

The heart and soul--lineman Sam Hernandez, defensive specialist Carlton Johnson and receiver/defensive back Rodney Mazion--also happen to be the only Piranhas who made All-Arena last year. Roy Englebrecht, the team’s senior vice president, said he not only sees a lot of new faces, he also sees a new attitude.

“When I stood in that tunnel before the first preseason game, I got goose bumps,” Englebrecht said. “The enthusiasm was unbelievable. I didn’t see the emotion last year. The guys played hard, but they didn’t play with much emotion.”

Much of the emotion this year emanates from Hohensee, who admits his fiery, disciplinary style is “a little old-school.”

“Whether it’s old-school or not, it comes from the heart,” said Hohensee, who played high school football at Rowland High in Rowland Heights. “I believe if you don’t have discipline, you have chaos.”

Hernandez said there wasn’t exactly chaos on last year’s team but there was more freedom.

“Babe was more, ‘You’re professionals, you should be doing your job,’ ” Hernandez said. “This year, there’s a lot more attention to details. If we’re making a block a certain way, we know why.”

So far, Hohensee believes he’s making a connection.

“The feedback I get is their effort and their attention to detail,” Hohensee said. “I think they understand I’m here to win football games. . . . I think everybody knows there’s one way to do things, and that’s the right way. That’s the attitude from the guy who hands out the towels to the guy who signs the paychecks.”

The guys who sign the paychecks are also new. The two new managing owners are David Wilson and Robert Zinngrabe, who own 80% of the team. Former owner David Baker is now the AFL’s commissioner.

Hohensee was given a two-year guaranteed contract with the team guaranteeing a third year if Hohensee wins a certain number of games the first two seasons.

If Hohensee doesn’t bring Anaheim an Arena Bowl championship, it won’t be for lack of effort.

“I’m an overachiever,” he said. “I’m under 6 feet tall. I have short arms, small hands. I came from a small high school and made it at a Division I college. All I know is hard work.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Piranhas Information

* Home arena: The Pond

* Schedule: Saturday--New Jersey; May 10--at San Jose; May 16--at Arizona; May 24--vs. Florida; May 31--at Iowa. June 6--at Milwaukee; June 14--vs. Nashville; June 20--at Orlando; June 27--vs. Portland. July 5--vs. San Jose; July 11--at Tampa Bay; July 18--vs. Arizona; July 26--vs. Milwaukee. Aug. 1--at Texas.

* Tickets: Season tickets, mini-plans and individual game tickets available at Pond box office or through Ticketmaster at (714) 740-2000. Prices range from $7 to $45 per game.

* Radio: KPLS-AM 830

* TV: Orange County News Channel for all home games; ESPN for selected games.

* Website: www.Piranhas.org

* For more information: (714) 596-8300