1969 Coach Retirements

1969 Coach Retirements

With the new retirements, I wanted to give a proper send-off to those coaches who have been some of the best in the league’s first two decades.

Coach Roy Aguirre - Toronto, ON
Teams/Positions: OC Toronto/Ontario Tigers (1951-1955), HC Providence Gold Stars (1956-1958), HC London Tigers (1958-1968)
McCallister Cups: 2 (1960, 1963)
Awards: Coach of the Year (1959, 1961, 1963)
Regular Season Record: 96-57-0
Playoff Record: 9-8
Aguirre is one of the most successful coaches in the league’s history, and is (to my knowledge), the winningest coach in the league’s history, outdoing Joseph Curry (94) by 2 wins. Aguirre entered the NAAF as an Offensive Coordinator with the Tigers before he would get a head coaching job with the Providence Gold Stars. Aguirre was strong with the Gold Stars leading them to a pair of playoff appearances and an East Division title, however, after a 2-4 start in 1958, the team fired Aguirre who would go on to get hired by the Tigers a couple of weeks later. Aguirre took over the Tigers and along with QB Riley Kiernan would lead them to have one of the best stretches of seasons in the league’s history. They would appear in 4 of 5 McCallister Cups, winning 2 of them. Aguirre also won coach of the year in 3 of those 5 seasons. Since the 1963 title, the Tigers have not been able to recreate the success they had, but Aguirre kept the team competitive even when it seemed like they would collapse. 

Coach Dannell Willis - Toronto, ON
Teams/Positions: DC Buffalo Blue Wings (1954-1955), HC Buffalo Blue Wings (1956-1963), HC Indiana Victors (1964-1968)
McCallister Cups: 1 (1957)
Awards: Coach of the Year (1957, 1965, 1966)
Regular Season Record: 69-81-4
Playoff Record: 5-5
Willis entered the NAAF as an understudy to legendary Blue Wings coach Bobby Hooper. After just two seasons in the role, Willis was given the reins. In his second season as the head coach, Willis would shock the league and lead the Blue Wings to the title, earning his first Coach of the Year award. Unfortunately for Willis, he would end up being the coach of the team through a heavy rebuild during the late 50s-early 60s which hurt his overall record significantly. Eventually, the Blue wings returned to being a competitive team, however, Willis still struggled to get the team to the next level, so he was let go. He would get a job in Indiana following the firing, and he managed to pull the squad out of their endless pit of despair, getting them to the playoffs for the first time ever in his second season. Willis continued to keep the Victors competitive, winning 2 Coach of the Year Awards back-to-back. In his final season, Willis came so close to winning a second Cup, but the Victors fell short in the final against Halifax.

Coach Jimmy Sargent - Washington DC
Teams/Positions: DC Hartford Hawks (1953), HC Long Island Hawks/Raiders (1954-1961), HC Indiana Victors (1962-1963), DC Montreal Rouge (1964-1965), HC Montreal Rouge (1966-1968)
McCallister Cups: 1 (1958)
Awards: Coach of the Year (1955)
Regular Season Record: 72-74-4
Playoff Record: 6-6
Sargent lived up to his name throughout his career, having a pretty structured and hard-nosed approach to coaching. He had a system, and if the team bought in, they were going places. Luckily for Sargent, his players bought in early when he took over the coaching job in Long Island. He would turn a 0-10 team around to a McCallister Cup finalist in 1955, earning him his lone Coach of the Year award. Then, a few years later, he would lead the team to a McCallister Cup win over the unbeaten Royals in 1958. He continued to keep the team at the top of the West Division over the next couple of seasons, however, they were unable to win a title. Sargent’s position did eventually sour due to a pair of bad seasons in the early 60s, which would lead to his firing. Sargent would catch on with the Victors the next season, but failed to get the team anywhere in his two years as Head Coach. After the stint in Indy, Sargent would take a Defensive Coorindator role with the Rouge, which would eventually lead him to get the head coaching role after a couple of seasons. Sargent’s system worked again in getting the Rouge to a McCallister Cup in 1966 and keeping them competitive the next season. However, in his final season, Sargent was slowing down and the team didn’t have the defensive talent to make up for the aging coach, so Sargent knew it was time to call it a career.

Coach Dean Reed - Brooklyn, NY
Teams/Positions: DC Boston Independents (1952), HC Boston Independents (1953-1959), HC Montreal Rouge (1960-1963), IHC Boston Independents (1968)
McCallister Cups: 0
Awards: Coach of the Year (1960)
Regular Season Record: 66-61-2
Playoff Record: 4-9
Reed, much like Dannell Willis, had been mentored by a legendary coach (Peter McDuffin), before taking on the head coaching role. He would find early success, leading the Independents to a McCallister Cup appearance in 1954, however, he too had to deal with a deep rebuild. Reed did a fine job and was able to get the team back into a competitive spot over the late 50s, but it wasn’t good enough and Reed was let go after the 1959 season. He would land in Montreal where he immediately had an impact. The previously struggling Rouge, would make their first playoff appearance in 5 years during Reed’s first season, earning him his Coach of the Year Award. They would win the East Division the next year before making it to the McCallister Cup in 1962. Unfortunately, Reed’s 4th season with the team would be a disappointing one and he would be fired. Reed was likely done from professional coaching following his stint with Montreal, but would make a return as an Interim Head Coach for Boston in 1968 before officially calling it quits.

Coach Perry Powell - Providence, RI
Teams/Positions: OC Providence Gold Stars (1951), HC Providence Gold Stars (1952-1955), HC Louisville Thunder (1957-1958), OC Montreal Rouge (1960-1963), HC Montreal Rouge (1964-1965)
McCallister Cups: 0
Awards: Coach of the Year (1953)
Regular Season Record: 41-45-2
Playoff Record: 1-3
Powell will likely attribute a lot of his success in his career to one particular season. In just his second season as the Gold Stars’ Head Coach, Powell would lead them to a franchise-best 9-1 season, taking them all the way to the McCallister Cup. That 1953 campaign would lead to Powell being viewed as a pretty strong coach, especially after he was awarded Coach of the Year. However, after the stellar season, the Gold Stars would miss the playoffs on both of the next 2 seasons with a combined record of 9-11. Powell would be fired after the ‘55 season, but would find work in 1957 with the expansion Louisville Thunder. Powell’s time with the Thunder was forgettable as the team went 4-19-1 during his time as a coach. He would land with the Rouge as an Offensive Coordinator a couple of years later, which would eventually lead to the coach getting one last crack at a head coaching role. His time with the Rouge was much better, leading the team to an East Division title in his first season, however, the team fell back down to 5-7 the next year. He would be let go again, and would never find a new job in the NAAF. 

GM Vigil Gross - Boston, MA
Teams/Positions: GM Providence Gold Stars (1953-1958), GM Montreal Rouge (1960-1964)
McCallister Cups: 0
Gross never really had the success in his career to really make him memorable, but his philosophy certainly did. Gross was easily one of the wildest GM’s in the NAAF’s history. He just made moves, trades, and signings whether the team needed to or not. He was not too bad at making teams better. In fact, he seemed to be the perfect GM early in his stints as he would make the moves to help a team take the next step. However, the drawback was always that he never stopped making moves. Even when the team was at the top of the league in competitiveness, he just kept trying to make the team better. Unfortunately, for Gross, he would overdo it, often destroying chemistry by sending away players that were important members of the team, or just losing sight of what the team actually needs to improve upon.