Gladiators Name Head Coach

Published on April 23, 2007 under American Basketball Association (ABA)
Orange County Gladiators News Release


ALISO VIEJO, CA (April 23, 2007) - The Orange County Gladiators of the American Basketball Season (ABA), have named Marc Joffe, a 25-year veteran of coaching NCAA Division I and Division II teams as well as several entries in the ABA to be head coach and Director of Basketball Operations for their inaugural season which begins in November, 2007.

Joffe joins the Gladiators from The Southern California Legends, an ABA team based in the San Fernando Valley that went to the ABA Championship Game in 2006. Prior to that, Joffe was responsible for running successful programs with Tennessee State University, Morehead State, University in Kentucky, San Jose State University, Sacramento State, and Cal State Dominguez Hills.

A student of legendary basketball coaches John Wooden of UCLA and Lute Olson of the University of Arizona, Coach Joffe looks forward to bringing a winning program to South Orange County. "Putting together a team is like doing a puzzle. You want to find the right pieces that will go together," Joffe explained. "The outcome is a group of young men who want to work together to play an up-tempo style with a structured offense and excellent floor balance. On the transition, we must be able to play pressure man-to-man defense with outstanding weak side help," he continued. "It is important to extend defensive pressure to a full-court press."

Coach Wooden, in a handwritten letter, said of Joffe, "Marc is a very hard and conscientious worker who is obsessed with the sport of basketball and is dedicated to making the teaching of this sport his lifelong profession."

OC Gladiators President and team owner David Clarke agreed with Wooden's assessment and added, "Marc has a history of being an excellent judge of talent and is already proving to be an asset to our organization. We look forward to our fans getting to know more about him through our summer youth basketball camps where he will apply lessons learned from coaches Wooden and Olson as well as other legendary leaders like Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University and former University of North Carolina coach Dean Smith."

Clarke pointed out that one of Joffe's roles over the next few months will be to assess talent, including looking at inquiries the team has received from a number of former players in the NBA, players currently in Europe and Asia and recent college standouts.

A series of tryouts will be scheduled during the summer which will give Joffe, who is well renowned for his recruiting talent, an opportunity to consider local players who will also compete for a spot on the roster.

Note: OurSports Central no longer actively covers the American Basketball Association (ABA) as a professional league due in part to its inability to publish and play a schedule and the transitory nature of many of its teams. For information on professional minor leagues, please see OSC's basketball section.

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