Could MacKeown be miracle man?
The Thunder’s new head coach is intent on sufficient preparation and detail.
Vindicator sports staff
YOUNGSTOWN — Could this be the miracle worker?
Chris MacKeown arrived on the scene as the Mahoning Valley Thunder’s new head coach on Tuesday, then went to work establishing a positive culture at Wednesday morning’s practice.
MacKeown comes from the school of accountability, where erasers aren’t used.
That’s because the 39-year-old isn’t likely to tolerate mistakes.
“The number of acceptable mistakes is?” MacKeown asked his squad at the conclusion of practice at the Covelli Centre.
“Zero,” came the response from the players in unison.
If this professionalism, attention to detail and accountability change the chemistry of the Thunder, it may not be recognizable as the 1-7 version currently downloaded on your af2 computer.
“I’ve been fortunate to be with some really good coaches in my career, and my goal is to bring the same philosophies and same principles we used to turn those other teams around,” MacKeown said.
He enumerated those principles.
“We have to expect to win when we step on the field; the number of acceptable mistakes is zero; we have to have great character guys; we have to be tougher and smarter than our opponent and we have to play harder, longer.”
MacKeown, a Dayton native who has 10 years of AFL and af2 experience, summarized arena ball.
“The game comes down to one or two plays that will swing a game. Sometimes, that will be the difference between a one-point loss, a 14-point loss, maybe a 21-point loss.
“We have to play our rear-ends off because we don’t know when those [one or two] plays are coming. We have to play hard every snap, because, when those plays happen, we’ll have a chance of making them.”
The new coach gives some consolation to suffering Thunder fans.
“There’s better talent here than what we had in Amarillo when we went to the National Conference [championship game in 2007].
One difference, however, is the quarterbacks.
“We had a veteran QB,” said MacKeown. “The quarterbacks [here] are good, but they’re young and hold the ball a little bit too long and don’t have the experience. The game is still pretty fast for them. My job is to get that game to slow down for them. I do some things, offensively, that other teams don’t do — some little tricks of the trade to help young quarterbacks to try to slow down the game.”
MacKeown sensed despair when he first met with the Mahoning Valley players.
“I found some very negative feelings. We’ll be trying to raise that bar where there are no consolation prizes. It’s only about winning. It’s pro football. It doesn’t matter if we improve. It doesn’t matter if we come close.
“One point or a thousand points, it’s unacceptable to lose. That’s what I’m trying to get them to understand. Those are things I’ve always held myself to and, talking to the ownership, I know they’re going to hold me to those standards. That’s OK because that’s what I signed up for.”
MacKeown put Mahoning Valley’s situation in perspective.
“Sometimes people look at the amount of money these guys make and think ‘good players aren’t playing for that.’ That’s not true. In the NFL preseason, those guys make $200 a game. They’re just NFL guys who play for that kind of money.”
bassetti@vindy.com