1965 Coaching Changes

1965 Coaching Changes

PITTSBURGH BLACKSMITHS
The big question initially would be who would the Blacksmiths bring in to fill in the staff ahead of the upcoming expansion draft. They would first hire their GM in Cooper Ellington. Ellington was an assistant GM within the Boston Independents organization that Owner William Braddock had met while watching his son play. He thought Ellington was bright and would be the perfect fit for a GM role in Pittsburgh. 

After that, the team would search for a head coach and they would land on Providence Offensive Coordinator Ted McMahon. McMahon had been looked at as a future head coach in the league with a great offensive mind that has helped QB Connor O’Rourke find lots of success. As for their own Offensive Coordinator, they would bring in Fredrick Quincy out of Detroit, MI, with lots of experience in college, and then they would grab Jerome Morris, who had previously had experience as DC with the Thunder and Gold Stars but had never really caught on for more than a year or two.

OTTAWA ROYALS
The Royals would end up keeping HC Joseph Curry, however, they would make a change at Offensive Coordinator letting go of Kent Winters and replacing him with Jean Matieau. It had apparently been in the works for a while that they would likely make the change if Matieau retired. The former QB was as much of an OC as Winters was last season, and he was helping call plays during the last couple of games of the season last year. Matieau has one of the best offensive minds the league has ever seen and he is likely going to have a very successful coaching career. 

HALIFAX MARINERS
Halifax would keep most things the same, but they would make a change at OC, dropping Wayne Ball following his lack of success in developing the team’s two young QBs (Buck Murphy and Michael Benedict). They would hire Alfred Deniau to replace him, who was a head coach for the Quebec City Rams of the Eastern Canadian Semi-Pro Football League. Deniau was a great offensive mind and was excited to be back in the Maritimes to coach.

MONTREAL ROUGE
One of the more surprising moves saw the Montreal Rouge and GM Virgil Gross part ways. The new ownership in Montreal seemed to want to take a new approach into the future. They would promote from within and make Martin Gagneaux the new GM. The former head of scouting was a lot calmer and more patient with his actions so they hope he keeps some more consistency with the team.

BOSTON INDEPENDENTS & INDIANA VICTORS
There were a couple of swaps that happened between Boston and Indiana. Boston would decide to drop OC Malachi Knowles and DC Carroll Moss after several disappointing playoff exits. Indiana would also drop both OC Jack Dorsey and DC Arnold Baker for obvious reasons. Boston would end up hiring Arnold Baker as the new DC, Baker is most known for leading the late 50’s Long Island defence which was one of the best in the league’s history. Indiana would then hire Malachi Knowles as their new OC. The former OL had been the OC in Boston for 8 seasons and will be ready for a new challenge. 

The other replacements would be new faces with Boston bringing in Lou Granger from a local college, Granger has some great potential as a great offensive mind. As for Indiana, they would bring on a coach out of Chicago in Johnathan Fox who might be one of the best coaches who finally wants to take a stab at professional ball. 

PROVIDENCE GOLD STARS
The final piece of the puzzle would be the Gold Stars new OC after the team had lost Ted McMahon to the Blacksmiths. They would end up grabbing Jack Dorsey from the Victors after their bid for Malachi Knowles fell through.