Coaching In Poland

Compared to other European countries, organized American football in Poland is in its infancy, but growing. What once began at a grass roots level has now turned into three separate divisions - 1^st Division, 2^nd Division and an eight-man football league.

The Polish American Football League or (PLFA) was started in 2006 with four teams. With the popularity of American football growing, the PLFA split into two divisions in 2008 - PLFA I (8 teams) and PLFA II (9 teams). During the 2011 season, the PLFA I had 10 teams and PLFA II had 12 teams with two divisions, and PLFA 8 (Eight Man Football) had 9 teams with three divisions.

The PLFA has a reward system for second division teams with the final two spots each season. At the end of the season, the last place team in PLFA I is automatically sent down to the PLFA II while the champions of PLFA II moves up to PLFA I and the second place team in PLFA II plays the next-to-last place team from PLFA I to determine the other position.

The Bialystok Lowlanders were made up of a group of young players that had never had an official head coach in the history of the club. In 2008, the Lowlanders officially joined the PLFA and in 2009 they joined the ranks of the PLFA I. This was a tough transition for the team and they went 0-7 that year and were sent down to the PLFA II as the last place team. In 2010, however, the team bounced back and played for the PLFA II Championship against the Bielawa Owls. Even though the Lowlanders lost that game, they moved up to PLFA I along with the Owls creating the 10-team division in 2011.

Once the Lowlanders made a return to PLFA I, the club began debating whether or not to bring in an American head coach for the first time. After much discussion and securing a sponsor that could help the team financially, the unanimous decision was made to higher a head coach. This is where my journey to Bialystok, Poland begins.

When the Bialystok Lowlanders first contacted me, I was actually a finalist for another head coaching position in Europe and was waiting on that club to make a decision. In fairness to the Lowlanders, we agreed that I would contact them if I was not hired by the other team. The other European team persuaded their former national head coach to come out of retirement. As soon as I received the news in February that I was not hired, I contacted the Lowlanders and I began to talk with board members about the club; that is, what they were looking to do and how they wanted to accomplish their goals.

After several conversations with the club, my wife Kathryn and I talked about the pros and cons of taking this coaching position. I was already scheduled to have nasal, sinus and throat surgery in February and would require a month for recovery before my doctor thought that it was safe enough to leave the country. I was upfront about this with the Lowlanders and they felt it would be okay for me to arrive a bit later than hoped in mid-March. During my recovery, my wife helped me get prepared for my trip and on March 15^th I was on my way to Warsaw, Poland to meet my new team, the Bialystok Lowlanders.

Upon my arrival at the airport in Warsaw, I was warmly greeted by Lowlanders club President Rafal Bierc and Vice President Michal Maksimowicz. After collecting my luggage, we began our 188 kilometer ride from Warsaw to Bialystok. Bialystok is in the northeastern part of Poland close to the boarder of Belarus. Bialystok is a Polish community with an influx of people from Russia, Lithuania and Belarus.

Rafal and Michal dropped me off at my apartment in Bialystok and later that night, I was scheduled to meet the members of the team at a local establishment called Club Bad. After traveling over 24 hours, I got cleaned up and had an enjoyable time meeting the players and anticipated getting the 2011 season underway.

Arriving in March instead of February meant I had a very short period of time to get the team ready for the first game of the season against the defending PLFA I Champion, Devils Wroclaw. My main goal was to evaluate the skill level of the players, put them in a position where they could be successful, and install offense, defense and special teams systems with only six practices. In added more of a challenge for me because I was the only coach on staff responsible for all phases of the game. 

In addition to the Bialystok players, we had import players from Belarus that apparently played for the team on game days but did not attend practice. The club had a long standing relationship with the Belarus players and I was informed by the president that the Belarus players were paid for their attendance, regardless of whether they played or not. I immediately discussed with the president that although this might work in the second division, it was not a sound way to do things in the first division. I had no way of knowing skill levels, positions, or even what games they could attend. Unfortunately, this situation proved to be a stumbling block throughout the season.

After our six practices, I had no expectation of how we were going to play against the defending champions, Devils Wroclaw. I was able to watch the Devils play in a preseason game the previous week and I knew that we were going to have a difficult time competing with them. 

Going into the first game, I anticipated mistakes in all phases because it was our first time out and I had pre-determined not to let that bother me. I just wanted to see how hard we would play. Would they fight the whole game or would they give up and pack it in when things went bad? Unfortunately, things did go bad -we lost 60-0 and I lost my best defensive player early in the game with a broken collar bone.

The first game proved to be a large dose of reality in moving up from the second division, in which they dominated most of the competition, vs. playing one of the top teams in the first division.  I assured the players that I was not surprised by the outcome of the game or the mistakes we made. We needed to take it as a learning opportunity allowing us to build upon the things we did well and change the things we could as we prepared for game two. 

Our next game against the Zaglebie Steelers was a historic game as the lowest scoring game in the history of PLFA I and the second lowest scoring game in PLFA history. Although we lost the game 7-0 to the Steelers, the defense showed great improvement from the week before.

Unfortunately, for the second week in a row, our offense was horrible. If we could have just mustered any type of offense at all, we would have won by two touchdowns. Even with the Belarus players in attendance for the first time, I came to the realization that we had no “difference makers” on offense that could change the game (or the season, for that matter). We had some players that would be exceptional in the second division, but were average, at best, competing in the first division level. Every other team in the first division league had game changing players and the closest thing the Lowlanders had was our quarterback. Unfortunately, he was taking such a beating that I worried if he would make it through the entire season.

A major detriment to our success during the Steelers game was a massive breakdown in team discipline. Players began questioning everything I was doing and started doing their own thing on the field. It was like the “Caine Mutiny”; an easy digression for a team that never had a head coach before and was accustomed to doing whatever they wanted with no consequences. After the game, I brought the team together and told them that the decision to hire a head coach put an end to the days of making their own coaching decisions on the field. I made it quite clear that I was not going to put up with this type of behavior and that it was time for the players to grow up and be men who take responsibility for themselves and their actions. I knew this was a bold move on my part, but I did not want to spend a season away from my wife wasting time on a team that truly did not want to be coached.

A side note to any coach that is thinking about coaching in Europe. There is always the risk that a European club will send you home in mid-season if things are not going well. In a difficult season, management might think they know more than they actually do about running a team, blame the American coaches or players, and send them packing. I was sad to hear when one of the Poland teams replaced an American player and fired an American coach in mid-season. There is definitely less job security coaching in Europe than there is coaching in the States.

The committee that made up the 2011 schedule did not do the Lowlanders any favors by having three of the four best teams in PLFA I on our schedule in the first four games of the season. My goal was to get this team through the next two games safely because I felt that there were some teams left on our schedule that we could actually compete against. The job was to hold them together. I told the team that the next two games would be like steel going into a fire. Knowing our competition, we were facing the fire without a doubt, but if we just stayed together we would come out stronger and have a real fighting chance to beat other teams during the season.

The 53-0 score of our next game against the Warsaw Eagles was not a true indication of the improvement I saw from the week before. Our offense moved the ball well in the beginning of the game, but our lack of playmakers would keep us from getting the ball in the end zone. Our defense played hard in the game, but the Eagles had two American players on offense that were great athletes and we just could not defend them. A growing problem was that our paid players from Belarus had no idea what we were doing on offense or defense and our players would have to tell them what to do on every play. This was an unavoidable predicament since the Belarus players do not attend practice. Nevertheless, I was quick to tell the team after the game that I was happy that we competed during the whole game and showed tremendous progress.

In our next game against the Crew Wroclaw, things came crashing down with a terrible 74-0 loss. The Lowlanders experienced first-hand the intensity of a real first division championship caliber team. The Crew came out right from the start and hammered us the entire game. We did not respond with any fight and just took the pounding that the Crew was willing to dish out. I was not bothered by the fact that we lost, but I was bothered by how we lost. After the game, I assured the team that we were done with the toughest four games scheduled and if we could just hang in there, we were getting ready to face teams that we could actually beat.

At this point in the season, I was greatly concerned about how the Lowlanders would respond. Injuries were starting to accumulate, players were starting to skip practice on a regular basis, and players were starting to argue with each other regularly. In our first four games we were outscored 194-0. We had an offense that could not move the ball and a defense that was undisciplined and understandably worn out. My job was to try to get this team with second division talent playing at a first division level. The other pressing matter was trying to help the Lowlanders win a game and avoid being sent back down to the second division.

I was optimistic as we looked ahead to our next game against Kozly Poznan. It was a home game and from the film I had watched, I knew there were some weaknesses we could take advantage as long as we had a solid week of practice. Needless to say, my optimism faded quickly when so few players showed up to practice during the week. I was unable to run a single offensive play in practice all week because we did not have enough offensive players in attendance.

I was met with another hurdle prior to the game when our club president informed me that nine players from Belarus would be coming to the game and that I needed to play all of them. I reiterated that having nine players was a waste of the club’s money and that I needed specific position players and primarily offensive skill position players. I only needed four Belarus players at most (two on offense and two on defense).

Contrary to my request, I had nine Belarus players on game day accompanied by their head coach. My president and I immediately began the debate about playing all nine players. I restated to my president, who is also my starting middle linebacker, that I was not going to play all nine players and it was an unfortunate waste of team funds for him to go against my earlier position on the matter. I was only going to play the players that fit our needs while also abiding by the league rules that state you can only have two import players on the field at a time. I was only going to use Belarus players that had already played in games with us and/or players that were going to help us in the skill positions on offense.

Our game against Kozly started out no different than any other - our offense could not move the ball and our defense was keeping us in the game.But then lightning struck. After being down 6-0, our offense came alive with our quarterback throwing a touchdown pass to one of our receivers from Belarus and we scored our first points of the season. Then our outside linebacker, Lukasz Wojtkowskiego, picked off a pass and ran it back 80 yards for a touchdown. The Lowlanders were leading in a game for the first time this season. This newfound success changed everything with our team. Our defense started playing at a much higher level and the players were really pulling together and encouraging each other.

This game became a defensive struggle. We had some great opportunities to score points late in the second quarter because of the turnovers our defense created, but our quarterback got overly excited and greedy and threw two interceptions in the end zone instead of taking what the defense was giving him. Although I was not thrilled about the interceptions, I was happy that it was 12-12 at half time and that we were in the game.

My joy was short-lived when I was faced with the head coach from Belarus telling me about possible half time adjustments to make on offense and that I should be using his players. I respectfully listened to his suggestions and then I politely explained that because his players never practiced with us and did not understand what we were running on offense, the extra offensive players that he brought could not help us. What I needed on offense were skill position players that could catch the ball, not offensive linemen or a quarterback. I also explained to him that the league dictated that I could only play two of his players at a time and, if I could play more, I would.

The third and most of the fourth quarter were no different than any other time in the season. Our defense was keeping us in the game and the offense could not move the ball. There were things about the Kozly defense we could not take advantage because we had never practiced together as a unit. It was very frustrating to me because I knew what we needed to do to attack them but I did not have the players to do it with any consistency. I resorted to the strategy of playing field position and hoping that, at some point, we would have great field position and muster a short drive for a winning score. 

With about seven minutes left in the game, I told my offensive players as they were taking the field that this was the drive that was going to win us the game if we could just believe in each other to get the job done. We started out on our own 32 yard line and began to slowly move the ball up the field. With each play we made, their confidence was growing. We even had to go for it on fourth down a couple of times in the drive, but the end result was that the Lowlanders marched the ball down the field with a 13 play 68 yard drive that took 5:13 of the game clock when our quarterback, Damian Kolpak, ran in for a touchdown that put us ahead 18-12.

The defense saved the day for us at the end of the game because of our offense’s inability to move the football and run out the clock. Our middle linebacker and president, Rafal Bierc, came up with a big interception to stop one late drive and then we had a quarterback sack to end the final drive of the game. The defense ended up with four interceptions and one fumble recovery for the day.

When the final whistle blew, the sidelines erupted. You would have thought that the Lowlanders had just won the Super Bowl. It was one for the ages as the Bialystok Lowlanders made history. After losing 11 straight first division games, the Lowlanders tasted victory for the first time in PLFA I with an 18-12 win over the Kozly Poznan.  With this win, I also received my first Gatorade bath as a head coach. 

We had gone through the fire of the beatings that we took early in the season and came out victorious. I was hoping that this win would be the catalyst to move us forward as a team. My first goal of getting the Lowlanders their first PLFA I win was now accomplished. I was now working on my second and much harder goal of keeping the team from being sent back down to PLFA II.

I was hoping that our first win would change things with the team regarding their work ethic, but to no avail. Players showed no commitment in coming to practice to make themselves any better. Because player turnout was so low, we could never really work on anything offensively or defensively and special teams was not something I could even address. All we could do was basically go over a scouting report that I had put together and then play a game called ‘Tommy Ball’ for conditioning. Attendance at practice became worse as the season went on.

Some of the core players that did come to practice informed me that this was how things were done last season. Guys would come to practice to hang out, drink beer and smoke cigarettes while others would throw the ball around. The team would just show up on game day and beat a lesser talented second division team. I reminded them that might have gotten away with that in the second division, but it would not work in the first division. Even the teams with poor records in the first division were better than 90% of the teams in the Second Division.

Our season started to really change for the worse with a 32-16 lost to the Krakow Tigers. After watching the Tigers on film during the season, I concluded that the Tigers were one of three teams that we had enough talent to beat. Given our injury list and practice problems, I made adjustments to our offense and defense to make things as basic as possible.

After sitting around for almost two hours due to a thunderstorm that blew through the Krakow area, we hit a wet and muddy field to take on the Tigers. I did not mind playing on a sloppy field because it hindered the Tiger’s speed advantage. I told our players that the muddy field was a great advantage for us. I was willing to offer any ‘words of wisdom’ to give our team some confidence. 

In our first offensive series of the game, we came to life and started marching the ball right down the field on the Tigers. As our running back, Michal Maksimowicz was running hard inside the 20 yard line breaking tackles, the ball popped out of his hands and the Tigers recovered it. This was just one of many opportunities in the first half that we did not take advantage of in order to put the Tigers away.

Late in the second quarter, we were down 8-0 and our quarterback, Damian Kolpak, threw a 26 yard touchdown pass to Thomaz Zubrycki. After the two point conversion, we were tied 8-8 going into halftime. I was thrilled for Thomaz because, after coming back from a knee injury he suffered in the second game of the season, this was his first touchdown catch of the season.

I told the team at halftime that I was pleased with how hard we were playing (even though we missed a lot of opportunities in the first half). I also told them that the key to the second half was that, although we were evenly matched with the Tigers, the team that was stronger in the fundamentals was the team that was going to win this game.

Things did not start out well for us in the second half. We gave up a touchdown on the Tiger’s opening drive of the second half, but we stopped the two point conversion so we were only down, 14-8. Then the play that was the momentum changer in the game happened. 

On the kickoff, one of our players from Belarus muffed the kick around the three-yard line. Instead of just falling on the ball, he picked it up and went into the end zone and took a knee thinking that it was a touchback. What he actually did was give up a two point safety to the Tigers. On our next offensive series, we gave up a sack in the end zone for a safety and then our defense gave up a 29-yard touchdown pass. By the middle of the third quarter what had been an 8-8 game turned into a 24-8 lead for the Tigers. We battled back late in the third quarter when Damian threw his second touchdown pass of the game to Maciej Maksimowicz and we then converted the two-point conversion. It was 24-16 going into the fourth quarter.

We had battled so hard for three quarters, but unfortunately, the backbreaker of the game (and probably the 2011 season) came early in the fourth quarter. I had called a time out to set up a special play and told the offense and the players on the sideline that we were going to score a touchdown. The ball was snapped, everything worked perfectly and we scored a touchdown. But, it was called back due to a penalty. Things went down hill from there.

We lost our discipline and let our emotions get the best of us, and that included me. We ended up giving up another touchdown in the fourth quarter and the score was now 32-16. I did all I could to battle for my team and drag them to a victory, but after another bad call by the head official, I had reached my limit and I gave him an ear full. The official in turn had enough of me and kicked me out of my first game ever in 23 years of coaching. On a side note, I will add that the officials made bad calls on both teams during the game, so they were equal opportunity offenders.

After the game, I brought the team together and told them that I was so proud of them for how hard they played, but explained that we did not play very smart football. The Tigers were a more fundamentally sound team than we were during the game and that was why they won, not because they had better talent than we did. I also expressed to them that this was another lost opportunity like the Steelers game to get a win against a team that we could have beaten.

On the long bus ride home from Krakow, an important thing happened.  The players all came up to me and said that they were glad that I battled for them throughout the entire game and they knew that I got kicked out fighting for them. They said that I was their coach. That was a very humbling experience for me.

As I reflected on the game and our team’s level of play, I knew that it was the best we played on offense all season. Certainly the defense played quite well at times also. In my heart, I recognized that it was the last great chance we would have to win a game this season.

Our next game was our last home game of the season and a rematch of the PLFA II Championship against the Bielawa Owls. The Lowlanders were seeking revenge for the lost that they suffered at the hands of the Owls in the championship game the previous season. Unfortunately, this game followed the same pattern as our previous 2011 games.

Our offense could not move the ball and it put a great amount of pressure on the defense to keep us in the game. We also lost our two outside linebackers to injuries early in the game - one with a severely broken ankle and the other with a shoulder injury. Despite our many problems on offense, our defense played strong and we were only down 6-0 at half time; however, they were getting tired.

During the second half, our defense could not hold any more and we gave up 33 points. Our offense did muster one scoring drive in the third quarter and that cut the lead to 20-8. The Owls running game lead by American Ben Jones simply wore our defense down in the second half. Unfortunately, our team began losing their composure and started going after the officials, a bad habit that I had addressed all season. The final score of the game was Owls 39, Lowlanders 8. Although no one told me at the time, this was the last game we would see our Belarus players.

Morale was at an all-time low as we faced the most important game of the season.With the lack of players at practice, we could do nothing substantial to prepare for the Silesia Miners. The Miners were a better team than their 0-7 record would show. They had lost many close games during the season and I knew that we would be in trouble. With no real practice, we put 19 players on the bus to take on the Miners.

I did not know how we were going function during the game with so few players. Most players were playing out of position and some were playing both ways, which did not even take special teams into account. The game with the Miners was close for a short while. Early in the first quarter we were down to the Miners 8-6, but then the Miners scored 46 straight points and went on to win the game 54-6. Our players literally ran out of gas because of the demand of covering the field with so few players. Sadly, we lost one of our starting offensive linemen with a knee injury and one of our linebackers with a broken shoulder blade.

I was not devastated about losing the game because I knew the players did the best they could for four quarters. We were just outmanned by the Miners. Even at full strength, we would have had a hard time beating them. This loss officially put the Lowlanders in 10^th place in the league with one game to go before being relegated back to PLFA II for the 2012 season.

We had one game left in our season against the Gdynia Seahawks and I was beginning to hear rumors that we might not make the trip to play. I was informed that the Lowlanders were running out of money because a major sponsor had only given the club half of the money that they had committed to, leaving the team in a huge financial bind. Another concern was whether or not we even had enough players for the game.

As the season unraveled, playing football was becoming less and less of a priority for some members of the club. We started out with about 30 to 35 members on the roster, but now hardly anyone was showing up. It had been weeks since we had a proper practice session. As I knew from coaching in Europe before, there can be legitimate reasons for low numbers. Players often have to stop playing because of job situations, family responsibilities, school schedules, and/or injuries. But I also knew from experience that some club members just stop caring and decide not to show up.

I sat down with our club president, Rafal Bierc, and vice president, Michal Maksimowicz, to discuss what we were going to do. Rafal and Michal were trying to decide whether it was more cost effective to forfeit the game and pay the fines to PLFA or travel to Gdynia to play the Seahawks.  Having been on the other side of this situation in Denmark during the 2010 season, I felt that we should definitely play the game.

As head coach of the Odense Swans, we had our last game of the season canceled because our opponent forfeited. I tried everything to get the team to reconsider their decision and play the game because I felt it was very unfair to my players. I told the Lowlander’s president and vice-president that we could not do this to our opponent. The Seahawks were preparing for the play-offs and, as a head coach, I would be using this game to prepare and would be quite upset if a team forfeited on me.

Rafal and Michal starting making calls and we came up with 19 players that were committed to playing in the last game. These few but noble players felt that it was a matter of pride to finish what they had started. Once we decided to honor our commitment and play the game, the next question was how to make the six hour journey.

Because the club did not have enough money to rent a bus, Rafal and Michal put together a list of players that were willing to drive and formulated a carpool system for getting to Gdynia. The benefit was that those players who wanted to spend time on the beaches of the Baltic Sea arranged to ride together and come back later.

On a cool and rainy Saturday afternoon in Gdynia Poland, the Bialystok Lowlanders took the field for the last time with 19 brave players. As we took the team photo during the pre-game, I told the players, “You guys are the last men standing. You all have shown a great commitment to the Lowlanders during a long and difficult season. Go out there and play hard, play for your teammates and play for the yellow jersey.” And that is what they did.

My game plan for both offense and defense was very simple because we had so many players playing out of place and playing new positions for the first time with no practice time. Winning or losing the game did not matter to me. I just wanted them to play because the off-season is a very long time in club football.

The Gdynia Seahawks beat us very handedly, 68-0. The 19 players of the Lowlanders played with great courage on the field. Players played through injuries, with no breaks, and our starting free safety broke his collar bone right before half time. No matter what the situation, nobody ever complained. They just fought through it.

When the game clock turned all zeros and the game was over, I had mixed emotions.  The season was over. There were no more games to play. I was tired and I was ready to head back home. I brought the team together for the last time and told them how proud I was of the effort that they gave. With the heart of lions, they left everything on the field. I finished our time together by telling them that I was so proud to be their coach and then we had a team break for the last time.

As I was still on the field, a reporter came over to interview me about my thoughts of the game. I told the reporter that I was so proud of the way that my team played. I was not worried whether we won or lost the game, I was looking to see the amount of heart and courage we were going to bring to the game. The Lowlanders played with great heart and great courage.

The 2011 season was now officially over and we fulfilled one of our two goals. The Lowlanders were able to win a game at the first division level, but we were not able to win enough games and are going to be sent back down to the second division in 2012.

Since I have been home, I have had time to reflect on my season in Poland. I had such a wonderful experience in Bialystok. The Polish people are some of the friendliest people that I have ever had the privilege to meet. Whether it was the people who ran the gym where I worked out, the owner and staff of LaBella where I ate dinner during the week, or a store clerk that help me when I was shopping for a birthday gift for my wife, they were all wonderful people.

The members of the Lowlanders were great individuals. They did everything to make my stay as comfortable as possible. During my four experiences coaching in Europe, my wife and I were most impressed with the arrangements the Lowlanders made for my stay.

Piotr Maksimowicz was a player for the Lowlanders who suffered a severe knee injury prior to my arrival that ended his football career. However, that did not stop Piotr from coming to every practice. I found out early on, that he was someone you could always count on and I really appreciated that. After our first game of the season, I made Piotr my assistant coach and gave him the responsibility of sending in the special teams. 

I also gave Piotr the nickname “The Turk”. Any player trying to make an NFL team knows who “The Turk” is. His teammates loved it and Piotr embraced his nickname and wore it like a badge with pride. Piotr was my right hand man and he was a blessing to me.  He did a great job and I was so proud of him.

I had two significant high points during my time with the Lowlanders. The first one was obviously our victory over Kozly Poznan. I was overjoyed for the players because of their disappointing 2009 season in the first division and the difficult start we had in our first four games of this season. They were able to drink from the cup of victory for the first time.They celebrated as if they had just won the PLFA Championship.

The second high point was of a much more personal nature. I made a promise to the team when I accepted the job that I would play in a game if I was fully recovered from my surgery.  After 27 years, I put on the equipment and joined my men on the field against the Bielawa Owls. I had so much fun out there with my players and they enjoyed me being out there with them. The day was complete because my wife, Kathryn was in town visiting and on the sidelines routing for #1 Anderson. At 44 years old, I was the oldest player to ever play in a game for the Lowlanders as well as the first American.

I played free safety and had the easiest time all season coaching the defense and making adjustments. I could see the whole field in front of me like when I play Madden, so it was easy to get everyone lined up correctly and ready to play. I was in on a couple of tackles and got knocked down a few times by much younger and stronger players. At the end of the game I was able to walk of the field with my head held high.

I wish the Lowlanders great success in 2012.  It was truly a blessing to be a part of the growth of this young team and be in a wonderful country like Poland.