Don Henley once made a song called “Everything Is Different Now.” Normally, for something applicable to sports, you don’t often look to one of The Eagles, great band though they are. However, the title of this song actually fits one of Portland’s sports teams.
You may recall a team called the Portland Thunder of the Arena Football League. The team has seen plenty of change. Multiple head coaches, a quarterback struggle and the shifting scenery typical of an AFL team. However, this year will be the most different of any for the still fledgling team. Right now, it would be a shorter list to tell you what is the same about the team and the league. However, that article would end about now and then it isn’t even really an article. So instead, I’ll summarize some of the differences.
- The Name (and, thus, the Owner)
This one is absolutely the most obvious but with a lot of backstory. During the offseason, the team’s owner, Terry Emmert, and the league had some disagreements. Deciding the negotiations were not progressing well, the league took drastic action and seized control of the team, something that they normally have done only for teams that were not financially able to continue (it happened to the Las Vegas Outlaws and the New Orleans VooDoo during the 2015 season). There was one major snag (besides the possibility of further litigation). Emmert, unlike some of the other team owners, actually held the copyright on the Thunder name, logo and other intellectual properties. Thus, the league had to completely rebrand the team and so we now have The Portland Steel.
- The Coach & General Manager
During their stint as the Thunder, the team had a lot of change at head coach and that has certainly continued. Last year, the team was helmed by head coach Mike Hohensee to a 5-13 record. However, the team nabbed its second consecutive playoff berth, due to some of the oddities in the Arena Football League’s divisions. In August, the team announced Hohensee and the team mutually agreed to part ways. A couple weeks later, the still-Thunder named Andy Olson, formerly of the Spokane Shock, as head coach. After the League took over the team, the AFL Board of Directors dismissed Olson and instead brought on Ron James as head coach, before Olson even had the chance to coach a game.
- The Quarterback
Being a professional league with players looking to move on to the Canadian Football League or even the NFL (the Thunder saw a couple players make NFL practice squads), there is a lot of turnover on teams yearly. However, the Thunder/Steel organization has seen their share of men under center. There has been hometown favorite and former Duck, Darron Thomas, the AFL veteran Kyle Rowley and on-again, off-again QB Danny Southwick all get starts. However, the team has brought on a QB with arguably the biggest AFL pedigree yet: Shane Austin. To his resume, Austin has All-Arena credentials, a 23-13 record in his last two seasons with the Cleveland Gladiators (including leading the league in completions in 2015 and ranking 2nd in TD tosses the same season). If Austin lives up to his billing, this should be the first year the then-Thunder, now-Steel should have limited quarterback controversy.
- The League
It is no great secret that the AFL has been in a state of flux. Teams have come and gone every season since I started covering the league with Portland. The Las Vegas Outlaws came and went. In the 2015 offseason, the league champion San Jose SaberCats decided to not participate in the 2016 season. However, the league, under still emerging commissioner Scott Butera, have high hopes. There are talks of multiple expansion teams in 2017, including into Mexico and exciting new sponsors New Era and Under Armour. That being said, the League has to survive 2016 and come through on the potential. For 2016, that means there are only 8 teams. Normally, me guaranteeing the Portland Steel will make the playoffs is a bluster worthy of Skip Bayless. For 2016, it is just me stating a fact. That’s right, all 8 teams will make the AFL playoffs.
The Steel and the AFL as a whole enter the season with a lot of questions. Off the field: Can the League-owned Steel survive the season? Can the League follow through with its promised expansion? Will the League reach an agreement with Emmert or find a new owner? On the field: Will Shane Austin live up to his reputation as a top-tier QB? Can the Steel return to the elite defense the Thunder were known for? Will Ron James lead the Steel to being a contender in the AFL? Well, we are a month away from finding out. The Steel’s season kicks off at the Moda Center on Friday, April 1st against the always contending Arizona Rattlers.
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