Conquest Announce New Head Coach
Published on October 2, 2002 under arenafootball2 (af2)
Albany Firebirds News Release
ALBANY, NY â The Albany Conquest of arenafootball2 announced today the hiring of Pete Costanza as their new Head Coach/Director of Player Personnel. Costanza replaces 2002 af2 Coach of the Year, Ron Selesky, who accepted a position with the Tampa Bay Storm (AFL) two weeks ago. A Wednesday afternoon press conference was held at the Armory Center, located at 64 Colvin Avenue in Albany, to introduce Costanza to the local media.
Costanza comes to the Capital District via the Columbus Wardogs (af2) of the American Conference-Eastern Division. The New Jersey native inherited a 0-16 club from 2001, an improved their record to 4-12 in 2002, while having the #5 ranked defense in the league. Prior to coaching in Columbus, Costanza served as Offensive Coordinator for the Iowa Barnstormers (af2) in 2001, and led an offensive attack that averaged 54 points per game and included then af2 rookie, and 2002 ConQuest MVP, Corey Hill.
Costanza began his arena football coaching career in 1997, when he was a wide receivers coach with the New Jersey Red Dogs (now NJ Gladiators). He kept that position until 1999, when he had the only receiver tandem in the league to both go over 1,000 yards receiving. Following the 1999 season, Costanza became the Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator for the Roanoke Steam (af2). The Steam offense featured the seventh ranked passer in af2 and threw for 68 touchdowns during the 2000 inaugural season.
ConQuest General Manager Rob Thompson felt that his ties to the Northeast and his record of good relationships with his players outweighed the fact that his winning percentage may not be as high as some of the other candidates for the position.
"I think with the base that Ron (Selesky) has established here with the local guys, and the things that I have heard about Pete from people that have been associated with him, he was best fit for the job", Thompson commented Tuesday after finalizing the decision, "Both Corey (Hill) and Shake (Henry Baker) had nothing but great things to say about him both as a coach and a person. A lot of times, a guy just needs to be put in the right situation to succeed, we hope that's what were doing here with Pete."
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