Former AFL assistant coming to Wichita
December 3, 2002 - arenafootball2 (af2)
Wichita Stealth News Release
Wichita, Kan. - The Wichita Stealth and head coach Bob Cortese announced today that they have signed Mark Lazaruk (Lah-Za-Ruk) as defensive coordinator for the 2003 season.
Lazaruk is no stranger to arena football, having spent the last two seasons with the Toronto Phantoms in the Arena Football League (AFL). He joined the Phantoms for their inaugural season in 2001 and quickly obtained numerous responsibilities within the experienced coaching staff, such as various managerial duties and player personnel duties. "We are very fortunate to get an experienced arena football coach," said Cortese. "Coach Lazaruk has been around some very good coaches and has learned his lessons well."
Coach Lazaruk not only lent himself to the Toronto organization on the field, but off of it as well. He handled a variety of community relations activities with the Phantoms during the off-season. Lazaruk organized football clinics for high school teams and other amateur players. In addition to his clinics, he visited 50 Toronto area schools speaking to over 18,000 students on such topics as the importance of setting goals and working to chase after dreams. "It is very important to develop a strong relationship within the community," said Lazaruk. "Due to our profession, we are role models in the community and we need to be involved in every way that we can."
Lazaruk will be in charge of the defense for the Stealth and have a major part in special teams. "I have been fortunate to be around some good defensive coaches in my life," said Lazaruk. "My philosophy consists of two things: 1) Be aggressive and make the quarterback uncomfortable, and 2) at the end of the game, that we are at least one point better than our opponents."
Lazaruk comes to Wichita due to the professionalism he saw in Coach Cortese. "The first arena football game that I watched on television was with the Oklahoma Wranglers and Coach Cortese," said Lazaruk. "He is a very professional coach and I believe Wichita is prime to make a championship run in arenafootball2." Lazaruk turned down offers from two other arenafootball2 teams in making the choice to become a part of the Stealth family.
arenafootball2 Stories from December 3, 2002
- Former AFL assistant coming to Wichita - Wichita Stealth
- Former Ninja Sebastien to Play for Mohegan - Mohegan Wolves
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
