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Sliding Thunder hire new coach
Interim coach Brennen Booth will remain the defensive coordinator.
BOARDMAN — With urgency in his voice, Dr. Jon Saadey spoke like a former quarterback.
“Yes, I led the charge for change,” said the Mahoning Valley Thunder co-owner, referring to his role in the decision to name Chris MacKeown as the team’s new head coach.
When the ownership group of Saadey, Mike Slyk and Tim Chesney fired Mike Hold on April 28 and replaced him with Brennen Booth as interim head coach, the decision was by committee.
“This one’s on me,” Saadey said of the latest move, which he spearheaded.
“Brennen is going to be a great coach — a great head coach someday in this league — for a long time,” Saadey said of Booth, who is returning to the role he had when the season began: defensive coordinator.
“But I believe the situation now calls for extreme measures,” said Saadey, who quarterbacked Cardinal Mooney’s 1982 Division II state championship team.
“We gave Brennen a chance with hopes he would turn the team around very quickly. I firmly believe we’re headed in the right direction because we’re playing better. But this is what I consider an emergency and we need a guy who can win right now. I looked at a lot of resumes and one that stood out for me was Chris MacKeown.”
After Hold’s firing, Saadey said he received resumes and sat on them.
“I wanted to see what Booth would do. We have no intention of relieving him, but I wanted someone who has a lot of experience and is a proven winner,” he said.
Of MacKeown’s 10 years in AFL and af2 in varying capacities, his teams made the playoffs during seven of them.
“He knows how to win,” repeated Saadey, who explained that MacKeown’s Amarillo Dusters reached the af2 conference championships last year.
Saadey said MacKeown was prepared to be the offensive coordinator for the Colorado Crush this year until the John Elway-owned AFL team had its season suspended.
“I figured if he’s good enough for John Elway, he was good enough for me,” he said.
Andy Kelley, who was hand-picked by Booth as offensive coordinator, is now out.
MacKeown will also serve as the offensive coordinator.
Thunder general manager Adam Tokash said several qualified candidates were interviewed before MacKeown was chosen.
“We determined that Coach MacKeown gives us the best chance to win right now. Chris brings a history of winning along with a track record of turning teams around. We appreciate the effort of Coach Booth who did a nice job of righting the ship and getting the team headed in a positive direction,” he said. “We’re confident the hiring of Coach MacKeown will result in a winning product for several seasons to come.”
Again, Saadey stressed the urgency that necessitated a swift change.
“We’re not throwing the season away,” he said. “I firmly believe we can make the playoffs. If we get on a run, anything can happen. In af2, you can’t pack it in. You’ve got to fight to the end.”
Spoken like a winning quarterback.
Chris MacKeown
At a glance
Playoff experience: In 10 seasons coaching at the professional level MacKeown’s teams have made the playoffs seven times, conference finals four times, and the championship game once. Chris’ most recent coaching assignment came in 2008 when he was named the offensive coordinator for the AFL’s Colorado Crush.
Prior experience: Prior to joining the Crush, MacKeown coached the af2’s Amarillo Dusters for one season (2007), guiding the team to its best record in franchise history and an appearance in the conference championship. His arena coaching experience began in 2001 as an assistant with the AFL’s Indiana Firebirds where he remained through the 2002 season. In 2003, MacKeown was named head coach of the af2’s expansion Cincinnati Swarm where six of his players moved onto the NFL and another 11 signed either AFL or CFL contracts. The 2004 and 2005 seasons were spent with the af2’s Louisville Fire as the offensive coordinator/assistant head coach. MacKeown’s Fire teams ranked first in the league in total offense during each season of Chris’ tenure. The 2006 season took the Dayton native closer to home as he joined the Columbus Destroyers (AFL) staff as special teams coordinator/offensive assistant. That year, the Destroyers posted their best record in franchise history. Following his time in Columbus, MacKeown moved onto the AFL’s Austin Wranglers to become special teams/receivers coach. Under the direction of MacKeown, Wranglers’ kicker Mark Lewis was named the AFL’s Kicker of the Year.
Other coaching jobs: MacKeown has also coached in the IFL (Indoor Football League) as well as at the college (Wilmington) and high school (Kettering-Fairmont, Huber Heights-Wayne) levels. MacKeown graduated from the University of Toledo (’91) before earning his Masters at the University of Dayton (’01).