November 29, 2024 • 16 mins
In the first episode of season two on Arena Insider Press Pass, Salina Liberty General Manager Sam Sellers discussed building the inaugural Arena Football One season, working with team owners and league officials, and what fans can expect ahead of the upcoming season.
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Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arena-insider-press-pass--6123695/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Welcome back to another episode of Arena Sided Press Pass.
I'm your host, Anthony Carter, and on today's show, for
the first time, we have Salina Liberty's general manager, Sam
Seller's joining us. Sam, thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
How are you doing going good, Anthony? Exciting times?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Exciting times, I'm sure. So before we get into all that,
since you know this is your first time, I want
to show and welcome again, just talk to us a
little bit about how you got involved with the Liberty
and how you got have been adapting to the arena
football space.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I was a high school football coach for twenty three years,
so last thirteen as a head coach, and here in
Solana all those years, and and uh when I resigned
last November, or the ownership group here, we had a
long time general manager here, Francis Flax, who's you know,
(01:11):
a legend and awesome guy. They they approached me about
taking over, and I was pretty hesitant at first, to
be honest with you, I didn't know a whole lot
about Marina football other than you know, been to a
couple of games, had a couple friends that had coached
in it and played in it, you know, at different
(01:32):
places throughout the country. And you know, I took some time,
probably longer than the ownership wanted to kind of pull
the trigger, but I wanted to make sure that not
only you know, it was a good fit for me,
but I was a good fit for them and you
could bring value to them. And so you know, I
(01:52):
I pulled the trigger in late January and so caind
have been on since. So it was definitely trial by
fire year one. And and now it's kind of nice
to have my feet enternace me a little bit and uh,
you know, have be able to implement some of the
things I want to do and go forward.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Now, then you got through the season with the AFL
and now you're starting with Arena Football. One break down.
How has it been working with the other owners, the
league leadership into starting this new league and what does
this mean for the fans as well?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Well? I mean, I think you know, as top of
as it was on everybody last year, the fans, players,
the teams, the owners, everybody. You know, it's one of
those things, is the trial by fire, and you kind
of when you when you go through those hard times together.
(02:52):
You know, there's eight teams that finished the season the
ownership groups, you know, the coaches, you know, the front
office people, you know at all eight places when you
were having to work through all those really really difficult
times that it really kind of forges it bond between
all those groups of people. And and but the front
(03:14):
office that kind of got put in place there mid season,
you know, with coach Fisher and Jerry Kerrz, Gary Coompton,
Christy mcawain, like there's just kind of a group of
people that that maybe had a little bit of a
chip on their shoulder at the end of the season,
you know, and we're we're we're kind of hungry to
(03:34):
to show how this is how this should be done.
And you know, I think what people are going to
see now going forward is is a group of people
that know how to do this. You know, those front
office people at the league have done this for a
long long time and and you know, the ownership groups
(03:55):
are all strong and and it's it's so night and
day from a day to day standpoint, from last spring
to this falls, it's been it's been a really fun time.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
And during the offseason, all of the owners and teams
went to Arena Football You in Chicago, talk to me
about that, How did that go and what did you
take from that event?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Well, and that's a that's a Jerry Kurse thing because
I think they used to do that back in the
day in the AFL, And so basically the idea behind
it is to collaborate. You know, I think you know,
especially at this level, you have the competitiveness, like you
want to beat all the other teams in your league
(04:42):
and you want to be the best team and all
those things. But you know, obviously last year was a
poster travel for this. But you know, and I think
unfortunately a lot of years in a lot of different leagues,
you when you have teams full during the season, it
hurts league a lot and then the individual other teams
(05:03):
a lot. And so if you know, if one team
is struggling somewhere in your league and you're doing great,
it's still puts you in a horrible position, because you know,
we dealt with it a couple of times last year
where it's Tuesday of a home game week and you know,
a team folds and and you're scrambling to figure out
(05:28):
if we can find somebody else to play because you
got sponsorships that can guarantee this many games, and you know,
your fans want to want to be at games, and
so it just it just kind of puts a bad
taste in everybody's mouth. And so basically, the what the
(05:48):
idea of af you is to go through all the
pieces that it takes to run a team at you know,
at this professional level, from a you know, a team standpoint,
roster management and all those things you know, through marketing,
social media, the business side of things, and and so
(06:10):
you know, the league brought a bunch of speakers in,
but most of it was just a big room full
of people that just open dialogue, you know, saying, hey,
we've had a lot of success doing it this way,
you know, whether we're talking about ticket sales or whatever
it is, and and just bouncing ideas off each other.
And it was for me, especially kind of being new
(06:33):
to this whole thing, it was such an invaluable experience.
And again it's just creating that that league where like
we're all in this together. Yeah, when we when the
when the whistle blows and it's time to play, we
want to beat the heck out of each other. But
you know, in between all those times, you know, we
(06:53):
want to be here for each other, support each other
and and make earleague great.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
What's the incoming players expect from the Liberty and just
the league in general.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Well, I think we were lucky in Salina to have
a reputation that that we're you know, we're a very
small market team in this world, but our our ownership group,
you know, our coaching staff, we have a reputation of
(07:26):
treating guys the right way. You know, we're going to
house them and feed them and take care of them.
They're going to get every single dollar out to them.
We don't. You know, we were fortunate last year to
to not have to restructure contracts and you know, and
and I'm you know, not talking negatively negatively on anybody
(07:48):
that did, because it was it was. It was a
brutal year from a from a money standpoint last year.
But you know, we we've never missed the payday or
said hey, you know, I know we're supposed to get
paid on on Monday, but you're not going to get
paid this week till Thursday. You know, I think we
(08:08):
have a great reputation, you know, and as you go
through recruiting, you hear that a lot with guys knowing
that you know, slim is a place that they're going
to get treated right and fairly, and and you know,
we we're all about winning championships and and obviously a
(08:29):
lot of guys like like that, and so you know,
we we love our culture here. I mean, it's always
something we're trying to build on and and and grow.
But it does make recruiting easier for us, because, you
know it, guys know that that they can rely on
(08:49):
having a job and we're not going to fold the
middle of the season and and things like that. You know,
some of our we ended up the season last year
with a couple of guys that run. We were their thirteen.
The first two teams folded and and that's that's hard
on those guys and and you know they don't know,
you know, what the next step is and do I
(09:10):
just go back home and go back to work that
year and just you know, put a pause on my
my dreams of playing in the NFL, or CFL, or
uf L whatever it is. And you know, guys appreciate
what we can bring to the table.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
So break down. The schedule is out. Now, what are
you most excited for and what do you expect to
see this season?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Well, I mean, I think, you know, being able to
go to more of the divisional look that we're doing
with you know, I think that helps teams a lot
as far as you know, building rivalries. It helps with
travel expenses for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
What I like about it is is that you're you're
going to play nine division games and then three out
of division, so you know, allows your your you know,
the home team. You know, you know Albany is coming
here to Salona. You know, you know Albany is one
of the premier teams and and you know arena indoor football,
(10:21):
and and you know that's going to get a lot
of people excited and and and pack our arena. And
so you know, I think I think it's a great
way to attack its schedule. Uh As when when you
when you're talking about, you know, a twelve team league
and split it up into three divisions, and you know,
(10:46):
we'll have a six team playoff and and you know,
it makes it so that you know, everybody's got a
shot and and and that's that's what you want to
start a season. And then you know, see what happens
when you get to June in the play house.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
So talk to football a little bit here. You just
going through the off season signing new guys and returning guys. Uh,
how is the roster shaping right now? What is some
of the strong size and what are some things that
you think your team still needs to work on.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Well, you know, coach O'Neill's a legend and and you
know he's he and our coaching staff have been working
nomfully hard, you know really since the season's over, and
I'm really excited to get you know, some of those
core pieces from our team back from last year. You
(11:37):
know a lot of especially younger guys that you know,
our fans really fell in love with. You know, we're
we're great players for us last year and and you
know are our all league caliber guys and and they
know kind of the Liberty way and and and and
(11:58):
how we do things. And you know, so you start
with that great core, then we you know, being a
small market team, you've got to be aggressive and free agency.
And so you know, we've we're easily at this point
have the biggest roster right now. You know, we can
bring thirty five guys into camp and as of the
(12:22):
second right now, we're at thirty one. And so you
know it's I'm going to guess number two is in
the low twenties right now off the top of my head.
But it's still though. So we feel great about really
all our positions. We're kind of you know, especially wide
(12:43):
receiver and dB just feel really really good about the
amount of guys we have and that are bringing into
camp that that are can play at a high, high level.
And uh but yeah, now now our coach is kind
of which switch modes into being, you know, kind of
the kind of swing for the fences on some guys
(13:05):
and see if you can mix some you know, really
you know, big splash signings here and and for the
you know, to fill up the remaining a few spots
here on the roster. And uh, you know, if you
can upgrade a position or or you know, go after
you know, a big name or a guy that's that's
(13:26):
had a ton of professional success, then you know, see
if we can get get one of those guys. And
and and so we love where we're at right now
with with filling our roster. And and you know, obviously
we're not we're not at thirty five. We're not done
for the for the off season yet, but I'm always looking.
(13:47):
But we're we're awfully excited with the talent that's coming
into Solana and and uh, you know, you know, we
we we want to win a championship next year. And
you know we came, we came, you know, the semifinal way,
and and you know, we don't like that. We want
we want to we want to be there saying at
the end of the end of the season. So you know,
(14:11):
we we expanded our coaching staff this year and brought
on you know, Rochie Jackson as a decordinator, who in
my interaction with him has been super impressive, very very
intelligent dude that had a heck of a career himself.
And and then you know Matt Wells is going to
coach our our O line and D line, and Matsaca
(14:33):
that has a lot of connections, has brought in a
lot of good players course, and and so you know,
then you have the mainstay Coach Martinez. He's he's kind
of a legend here in Solona. And then you know,
with coach O, you've got an awfully strong group of
guys and they're building the heck of a roster and
we're excited for it.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
My last question, what's your message to Liberty fans to
kind of get them excited about this new era for
arena football.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
One. Yeah, I mean we're we we literally couldn't be
more excited for this next season coming up. And you
know we'll be kicking off here in March, middle of March,
and uh, you know, our first home games the fifth
of April, so we want to pack te peck and
and uh, you know, be able to showcase to the
(15:21):
entire nation, you know what Liberty Nation is all about
and what we do. And you you know, with our
coaches and players that we've signed, you're gonna You're gonna
be entertained. There's no doubt about that. So can't wait
to see everybody, especially there in April when we're home
(15:42):
and offul Lot in April, and and uh, you know,
pack out, pack out our arena that that month and
and get things rolling.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Sam Sullas, thank you so much for joining us this evening.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Appreciate you. Anthony M. Four
Welcome back to another episode of Arena Sided Press Pass.
I'm your host, Anthony Carter, and on today's show, for
the first time, we have Salina Liberty's general manager, Sam
Seller's joining us. Sam, thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
How are you doing going good, Anthony? Exciting times?
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Exciting times, I'm sure. So before we get into all that,
since you know this is your first time, I want
to show and welcome again, just talk to us a
little bit about how you got involved with the Liberty
and how you got have been adapting to the arena
football space.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I was a high school football coach for twenty three years,
so last thirteen as a head coach, and here in
Solana all those years, and and uh when I resigned
last November, or the ownership group here, we had a
long time general manager here, Francis Flax, who's you know,
(01:11):
a legend and awesome guy. They they approached me about
taking over, and I was pretty hesitant at first, to
be honest with you, I didn't know a whole lot
about Marina football other than you know, been to a
couple of games, had a couple friends that had coached
in it and played in it, you know, at different
(01:32):
places throughout the country. And you know, I took some time,
probably longer than the ownership wanted to kind of pull
the trigger, but I wanted to make sure that not
only you know, it was a good fit for me,
but I was a good fit for them and you
could bring value to them. And so you know, I
(01:52):
I pulled the trigger in late January and so caind
have been on since. So it was definitely trial by
fire year one. And and now it's kind of nice
to have my feet enternace me a little bit and uh,
you know, have be able to implement some of the
things I want to do and go forward.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Now, then you got through the season with the AFL
and now you're starting with Arena Football. One break down.
How has it been working with the other owners, the
league leadership into starting this new league and what does
this mean for the fans as well?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Well? I mean, I think you know, as top of
as it was on everybody last year, the fans, players,
the teams, the owners, everybody. You know, it's one of
those things, is the trial by fire, and you kind
of when you when you go through those hard times together.
(02:52):
You know, there's eight teams that finished the season the
ownership groups, you know, the coaches, you know, the front
office people, you know at all eight places when you
were having to work through all those really really difficult
times that it really kind of forges it bond between
all those groups of people. And and but the front
(03:14):
office that kind of got put in place there mid season,
you know, with coach Fisher and Jerry Kerrz, Gary Coompton,
Christy mcawain, like there's just kind of a group of
people that that maybe had a little bit of a
chip on their shoulder at the end of the season,
you know, and we're we're we're kind of hungry to
(03:34):
to show how this is how this should be done.
And you know, I think what people are going to
see now going forward is is a group of people
that know how to do this. You know, those front
office people at the league have done this for a
long long time and and you know, the ownership groups
(03:55):
are all strong and and it's it's so night and
day from a day to day standpoint, from last spring
to this falls, it's been it's been a really fun time.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
And during the offseason, all of the owners and teams
went to Arena Football You in Chicago, talk to me
about that, How did that go and what did you
take from that event?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Well, and that's a that's a Jerry Kurse thing because
I think they used to do that back in the
day in the AFL, And so basically the idea behind
it is to collaborate. You know, I think you know,
especially at this level, you have the competitiveness, like you
want to beat all the other teams in your league
(04:42):
and you want to be the best team and all
those things. But you know, obviously last year was a
poster travel for this. But you know, and I think
unfortunately a lot of years in a lot of different leagues,
you when you have teams full during the season, it
hurts league a lot and then the individual other teams
(05:03):
a lot. And so if you know, if one team
is struggling somewhere in your league and you're doing great,
it's still puts you in a horrible position, because you know,
we dealt with it a couple of times last year
where it's Tuesday of a home game week and you know,
a team folds and and you're scrambling to figure out
(05:28):
if we can find somebody else to play because you
got sponsorships that can guarantee this many games, and you know,
your fans want to want to be at games, and
so it just it just kind of puts a bad
taste in everybody's mouth. And so basically, the what the
(05:48):
idea of af you is to go through all the
pieces that it takes to run a team at you know,
at this professional level, from a you know, a team standpoint,
roster management and all those things you know, through marketing,
social media, the business side of things, and and so
(06:10):
you know, the league brought a bunch of speakers in,
but most of it was just a big room full
of people that just open dialogue, you know, saying, hey,
we've had a lot of success doing it this way,
you know, whether we're talking about ticket sales or whatever
it is, and and just bouncing ideas off each other.
And it was for me, especially kind of being new
(06:33):
to this whole thing, it was such an invaluable experience.
And again it's just creating that that league where like
we're all in this together. Yeah, when we when the
when the whistle blows and it's time to play, we
want to beat the heck out of each other. But
you know, in between all those times, you know, we
(06:53):
want to be here for each other, support each other
and and make earleague great.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
What's the incoming players expect from the Liberty and just
the league in general.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Well, I think we were lucky in Salina to have
a reputation that that we're you know, we're a very
small market team in this world, but our our ownership group,
you know, our coaching staff, we have a reputation of
(07:26):
treating guys the right way. You know, we're going to
house them and feed them and take care of them.
They're going to get every single dollar out to them.
We don't. You know, we were fortunate last year to
to not have to restructure contracts and you know, and
and I'm you know, not talking negatively negatively on anybody
(07:48):
that did, because it was it was. It was a
brutal year from a from a money standpoint last year.
But you know, we we've never missed the payday or
said hey, you know, I know we're supposed to get
paid on on Monday, but you're not going to get
paid this week till Thursday. You know, I think we
(08:08):
have a great reputation, you know, and as you go
through recruiting, you hear that a lot with guys knowing
that you know, slim is a place that they're going
to get treated right and fairly, and and you know,
we we're all about winning championships and and obviously a
(08:29):
lot of guys like like that, and so you know,
we we love our culture here. I mean, it's always
something we're trying to build on and and and grow.
But it does make recruiting easier for us, because, you
know it, guys know that that they can rely on
(08:49):
having a job and we're not going to fold the
middle of the season and and things like that. You know,
some of our we ended up the season last year
with a couple of guys that run. We were their thirteen.
The first two teams folded and and that's that's hard
on those guys and and you know they don't know,
you know, what the next step is and do I
(09:10):
just go back home and go back to work that
year and just you know, put a pause on my
my dreams of playing in the NFL, or CFL, or
uf L whatever it is. And you know, guys appreciate
what we can bring to the table.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
So break down. The schedule is out. Now, what are
you most excited for and what do you expect to
see this season?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Well, I mean, I think, you know, being able to
go to more of the divisional look that we're doing
with you know, I think that helps teams a lot
as far as you know, building rivalries. It helps with
travel expenses for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
What I like about it is is that you're you're
going to play nine division games and then three out
of division, so you know, allows your your you know,
the home team. You know, you know Albany is coming
here to Salona. You know, you know Albany is one
of the premier teams and and you know arena indoor football,
(10:21):
and and you know that's going to get a lot
of people excited and and and pack our arena. And
so you know, I think I think it's a great
way to attack its schedule. Uh As when when you
when you're talking about, you know, a twelve team league
and split it up into three divisions, and you know,
(10:46):
we'll have a six team playoff and and you know,
it makes it so that you know, everybody's got a
shot and and and that's that's what you want to
start a season. And then you know, see what happens
when you get to June in the play house.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
So talk to football a little bit here. You just
going through the off season signing new guys and returning guys. Uh,
how is the roster shaping right now? What is some
of the strong size and what are some things that
you think your team still needs to work on.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Well, you know, coach O'Neill's a legend and and you
know he's he and our coaching staff have been working
nomfully hard, you know really since the season's over, and
I'm really excited to get you know, some of those
core pieces from our team back from last year. You
(11:37):
know a lot of especially younger guys that you know,
our fans really fell in love with. You know, we're
we're great players for us last year and and you
know are our all league caliber guys and and they
know kind of the Liberty way and and and and
(11:58):
how we do things. And you know, so you start
with that great core, then we you know, being a
small market team, you've got to be aggressive and free agency.
And so you know, we've we're easily at this point
have the biggest roster right now. You know, we can
bring thirty five guys into camp and as of the
(12:22):
second right now, we're at thirty one. And so you
know it's I'm going to guess number two is in
the low twenties right now off the top of my head.
But it's still though. So we feel great about really
all our positions. We're kind of you know, especially wide
(12:43):
receiver and dB just feel really really good about the
amount of guys we have and that are bringing into
camp that that are can play at a high, high level.
And uh but yeah, now now our coach is kind
of which switch modes into being, you know, kind of
the kind of swing for the fences on some guys
(13:05):
and see if you can mix some you know, really
you know, big splash signings here and and for the
you know, to fill up the remaining a few spots
here on the roster. And uh, you know, if you
can upgrade a position or or you know, go after
you know, a big name or a guy that's that's
(13:26):
had a ton of professional success, then you know, see
if we can get get one of those guys. And
and and so we love where we're at right now
with with filling our roster. And and you know, obviously
we're not we're not at thirty five. We're not done
for the for the off season yet, but I'm always looking.
(13:47):
But we're we're awfully excited with the talent that's coming
into Solana and and uh, you know, you know, we
we we want to win a championship next year. And
you know we came, we came, you know, the semifinal way,
and and you know, we don't like that. We want
we want to we want to be there saying at
the end of the end of the season. So you know,
(14:11):
we we expanded our coaching staff this year and brought
on you know, Rochie Jackson as a decordinator, who in
my interaction with him has been super impressive, very very
intelligent dude that had a heck of a career himself.
And and then you know Matt Wells is going to
coach our our O line and D line, and Matsaca
(14:33):
that has a lot of connections, has brought in a
lot of good players course, and and so you know,
then you have the mainstay Coach Martinez. He's he's kind
of a legend here in Solona. And then you know,
with coach O, you've got an awfully strong group of
guys and they're building the heck of a roster and
we're excited for it.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
My last question, what's your message to Liberty fans to
kind of get them excited about this new era for
arena football.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
One. Yeah, I mean we're we we literally couldn't be
more excited for this next season coming up. And you
know we'll be kicking off here in March, middle of March,
and uh, you know, our first home games the fifth
of April, so we want to pack te peck and
and uh, you know, be able to showcase to the
(15:21):
entire nation, you know what Liberty Nation is all about
and what we do. And you you know, with our
coaches and players that we've signed, you're gonna You're gonna
be entertained. There's no doubt about that. So can't wait
to see everybody, especially there in April when we're home
(15:42):
and offul Lot in April, and and uh, you know,
pack out, pack out our arena that that month and
and get things rolling.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Sam Sullas, thank you so much for joining us this evening.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Appreciate you. Anthony M. Four
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