2014 New Orleans Voodoo Media Guide Is a Production of Louisiana Arena Football, LLC
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PRE-SEASON MEDIA GUIDE 2014 New Orleans VooDoo Pre-Season Media Guide 2014 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS STAFF DIRECTORY 3 ORGANIZATION Coaching Staff 6 PLAYERS Alphabetical Roster 11 Numerical Roster 13 Players (Numerical Order) 15 RECORD BOOK All-Time Roster (Numerical) 58 All-Time Roster (Alphabetical) 66 Franchise Timeline 71 All-Time VooDoo Scores 84 All-Time Honors & Awards 88 All-Time Series Records 89 VooDoo Team Records 93 2013 Game Summaries 116 Individual Records 122 2014 SEASON AFL Rules & Basic Training 142 AFL Information 150 NET 10 Wireless/CBS Network Schedule 152 Pelican Sports Network/WRNO Schedule 161 NOTES 162 2014 VooDoo Regular Season Schedule BACK COVER New Orleans VooDoo 5728 Plauche St Ste. B New Orleans, LA 70123 Main Office: (888) 277-5526 The 2014 New Orleans VooDoo Media Guide is a production of Louisiana Arena Football, LLC. (Dan Newman, Owner; Jason Coffel, Vice President of Operations; Hayley Asaro, Director of Operations; Grant Yenni, Director of Media Relations; Photography, MilllerFoto Photography) All information current as of March 10, 2014. ©2014 New Orleans VooDoo. New Orleans VooDoo Pre-Season Media Guide 2014 2 STAFF DIRECTORY EXECUTIVE OFFICE Dan Newman Managing Partner Jason Coffel Vice President of Operations Grant Yenni Director of Media Relations FOOTBALL OPERATIONS & COACHING STAFF Pat O’Hara Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator BJ Cohen Line Coach Damon Mason Defensive Backs Coach Hayley Asaro Director of Football Operations Tom Dillard Equipment Manager MEDICAL STAFF Dr. Gregory W. Stewart, MD Team Doctor Patrick Maloney, MS, ATC, LAT Athletic Trainer Kellie Abendschoen, MS, ATC Assistant Athletic Trainer SALES & MARKETING Kasey Gore Ticket Sales Account Executive New Orleans VooDoo Pre-Season Media Guide 2014 3 Vice President of Operations Jason COFFEL DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Jason Coffel enters his fourth year with the New Orleans VooDoo and fifth year with the AFL. He comes to the VooDoo after spending the 2010 season as the Director of Operations for the Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings. Prior to making the transition to football, Jason spent seven years in market- ing and promotions with some of the largest companies in the ATV Racing industry. Jason brings over ten years of experience in large-event marketing to the VooDoo and is looking forward to the 2011 season and being a part of one of the most storied AFL franchises in history. New Orleans VooDoo Pre-Season Media Guide 2014 4 Director of Media Relations Grant YENNI DIRECTOR OF MEDIA RELATIONS Grant Yenni enters his first year with the New Orleans VooDoo. Prior to joining the VooDoo, Grant was in college at Louisiana State University. While at LSU Grant interned for Mercury Radio Arts, and produced a sports talk radio show on KLSU. New Orleans VooDoo Pre-Season Media Guide 2014 5 COACHING STAFF Pat O’HARA HEAD COACH/OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR Pat O’Hara enters his third season as the head football coach of the New Orleans VooDoo, and in his first season with the VooDoo, O’Hara has guid- ed the franchise to the playoffs for only the second time in team history in 2012, and did so with 13 rookies on the active roster. As a head coach in the AFL, this postseason go- round is O’Hara’s third straight. Not only did O’Hara resurrect the VooDoo franchise from a dismal 3-15 in 2011, but he dropped a bomb on the team record books, setting new single- season team records passing yards (5,190), passing touchdowns (108), touchdowns (145), points (979), and interceptions (36). O’Hara also has molded another young quarterback in Kurt Rocco, with Rocco becoming the VooDoo’s first passer to toss for over 5,000 yards and 100 touchdowns in a season. O’Hara also had three receivers record over 1,000 yards receiving, which the VooDoo had never had more than one receiver tally over a 1,000 prior to his tutelage. O’Hara previously headed up the Orlando Predators for two seasons prior to joining the VooDoo – both seeing the team go to AFL Playoffs. In fact, his 2010 squad was two points away from going to the ArenaBowl, losing to his quarterback protégé Brett Dietz and the Tampa Bay Storm, 63-62. O’Hara’s 2011 team posted an 11-7 regular season record, and set new team records in points per game (55.6), while scoring over 70 points twice that included a franchise record 85 in a win over Tulsa. Orlando quarterback Nick Hill blossomed under O’Hara in 2011, completing 67 percent of his passes, while also setting new franchise records in total offense (5,149), passing yards (4,758), pass completions (387) and passing touchdowns (97). Hill’s total offense and passing yards numbers led the AFL. Also, three of Hill’s top receivers finished the season with over 100 catches and 1,000 yards receiving each, which included Bobby Sippio who tied Cory Fleming’s single-season record of 33 touchdown receptions. The AFL great’s quarterbacking career began between the walls in 1995 with the Predators, and before it ended, O’Hara would lead two different teams to New Orleans VooDoo Pre-Season Media Guide 2014 6 COACHING STAFF (cont’d) five ArenaBowls that included claiming the crown three times. The majority of his playing career was with Orlando, spending six seasons with the club that saw the Predators claim ArenaBowl Championships in 1998 and 2000. O’Hara then ventured off to the Toronto Phantoms in 2001, guiding the team to the second round of the playoffs in just his first season under center. After two seasons north of the border, O’Hara returned to the Sunshine State to suit up with the Tampa Bay Storm in 2003. In that season, O’Hara came off the bench to lead the Storm to an ArenaBowl victory over the Arizona Rattlers after starter John Kaleo went down with an injury in the second quarter of the championship game. The Storm won ArenaBowl XVII thanks to turnover-less relief by O’Hara, accounting for three total touchdowns that included 103 yards passing while completing 7-of-13 passes in the 43-29 win. O’Hara remained with the Storm until the 2006 season, serving as a player- coach under future hall of fame head coach Tim Marcum before completely trading in the cleats for a clipboard in 2007 to become the team’s offensive coordinator. The Storm went to the playoffs in 2007 behind O’Hara’s offensive genius that saw the development of Dietz, who went on to be named Co-AFL Rookie of the Year. Dietz completed a rookie record 65.3 percent (196-of-300) of his passes in his first season between the walls, while throwing for over 2,300 yards and 47 touchdowns in only nine games. After the conclusion of the 2008 season, O’Hara was hired to be the head coach of the Los Angeles Avengers, but the AFL suspended operations before he could call a play. He was then hired to coach the Tri-Cities Fever of the af2 ranks for the 2009 season, taking over a 0-5 team at the time. The Fever managed to win three of its final eight under O’Hara. O’Hara also brings a wealth of high school coaching experience to the VooDoo as a volunteer assistant at Point Loma High School (San Diego, Calif.) in 1996, an assistant coach at New Smyrna High School (New Smyrna Beach, Fla.) from 1998-2000, and as the offensive coordinator at Olympia High School (Orlando, Fla.) from 2001-03. It was at Olympia where O’Hara coached NFL Pro-Bowl running back Chris Johnson. In the offseason, O’Hara also serves as a consultant on movies and has worked on The Longest Yard, Invincible, We Are Marshall, and The Game Plan, while appearing in The Waterboy and Any Given Sunday. O’Hara is a graduate of USC, playing football for the Trojans. He was slated to start his junior season in 1989, but 10 days before the first game of the year, he was hospitalized with torn ligaments in his right knee and a broken leg. The injuries hampered the rest of his career as a Trojan, and as a senior lost New Orleans VooDoo Pre-Season Media Guide 2014 7 COACHING STAFF (cont’d) out to freshman quarterback Todd Marinovich. Still, he was drafted in the NFL by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1991, spending one season with the team until latching on with the San Diego Chargers in 1992. He went on to play with the Chargers until 1994 when he went to camp with the Washington Redskins. After that season with the Redskins, his arena football career began. BJ COHEN LINE COACH Former VooDoo All-Star BJ Cohen enters his first season as the defensive and offensive line coach for the New Orleans VooDoo, as well as, his first season coaching in the Arena Football League. As a player, Cohen spent five of his 10 seasons in the AFL with the Orlando Predators. While with the Predators, Cohen gained an Arena Bowl Cham- pionship under his belt alongside VooDoo Head Coach Pat O’Hara. The two continued their journey to the ArenaBowl in 2003 with the Tampa Bay Storm where O’Hara would go on to win his third ArenaBowl title and Cohen would gain his second. Cohen would spend time with the New Orleans VooDoo during 2004-2005 and his final seasons would be spent with the Kansas City Brigade. During his career, Cohen racked up 45 receptions for 514 yards and 11 touch- downs. Defensively, Cohen accumulated 151 tackles, 90 assists, 46 sack and three touchdowns.