Post by Kasey on Mar 6, 2017 17:47:46 GMT -8
3/6/17 --
WEST VALLEY CITY, UTAH - It's a new beginning in Salt Lake for a familiar face.
The Salt Lake Screaming Eagles have announced that they have hired Matthew Sauk as their new head coach, replacing William McCarthy with whom the team parted ways last week.
Sauk is no stranger to the state, having played both college and professional football, and coaching, in a number of indoor/arena football leagues. This will be his second stint as a head coach; he helmed the Arena Football League's Portland Thunder during it's inaugural season in that league. He was the Net10 AFL Assistant coach of the year in both 2011 and 2012 as offensive coordinator of the Utah Blaze and, in the same role in 2010, he helped lead the Spokane Shock to the ArenaBowl XXIII title.
In 2011 after his offense set Arena Football League records for passing yards with 5,422, passing touchdowns with 128 and passing first downs with 328).
Sauk's offense eclipsed those numbers in 2012. The team new all-time records with 5,758 passing yards, 142 passing touchdowns, 332 passing first downs, 510 pass completions and 753 pass attempts. Under Sauk’s coaching, then-Blaze quarterback Tommy Grady earned the AFL’s Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year awards while being named first-team All-Arena.
With the Thunder in 2014, he led the team to a 5-13 record and a fourth seed in the National Conference before falling to the eventual champion Arizona Rattlers in the opening round of the playoffs. The Thunder dropped its first five games of the season, but came back to win five of its last 13 games. Sauk was let go by the Thunder when veteran AFL head coach Mike Hohensee became available.
In 2008, Sauk was hired by the Shock as the quarterbacks and wide receivers coach. The AFL went dormant for the 2009 season, but when it came back the following year, Spokane was the last team standing after it won the ArenaBowl with a 69-57 defeat of the Tampa Bay Storm. Sauk served as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator that season. Under his direction, Shock quarterback Kyle Rowley was named Most Valuable Player of that game. Rowley would later come to play for Sauk four seasons later in Portland.
He spent 2015 as offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles KISS and 2016 as offensive coordinator of the Orlando Predators. Both of those AFL teams, along with the Thunder, are now defunct.
Sauk has developed a reputation for his success in developing passers. At various points in his coaching career, he has mentored three AFL MVPs in quarterbacks Grady, Nick Davila, Tommy Grady, and Erik Meyer. Davila worked under Sauk as a rookie in 2008 before going on to win MVP accolades in 2011 with the Arizona Rattlers. Grady received the honor in 2012, his second season under Sauk. Spokane’s Erik Meyer earned the award in 2013 after playing under Sauk as a rookie with the Shock in 2010.
In October of 2013, shortly after being hired by the Thunder, Sauk talked to SCtoC in an exclusive interview about the differences between coaching rookies and coaching veterans when it comes to the indoor game.
“Players that have experience do not need to be taught the basics of Arena Football," he said. "They understand the rules and how to play the game. Rookies don't know the rules yet and really don’t understand the angles or how to attack people arena-style.“
He was inducted to the af2 Hall of following an eight-year career as a quarterback after throwing for over 17,000 yards and 345 touchdowns. He won af2 Rookie of the Year honors while playing with the Tennessee Valley Vipers in 2001.
A native of Livonia, Michigan, Sauk played at Utah State University in 1996 and 1997, ranked among the top 10 in school history for career passing yards with 5,385, completions with 334, attempts with 664, and total offense with 5,466. He earned second-team All-Big West honors his senior season. while leading the Aggies to the Humanitarian Bowl.
Sauk inherits a Screaming Eagles team which 1-1 and coming off its first win in franchise history, a 42-41 overtime squeaker over the Colorado Crush on Feb. 26. Salt Lake is next in action on March 13 as it hosts the Spokane Empire at 6 p.m. at the Maverick Center.
- MKM
(Photo courtesy oursportscentral.com)
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