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Mornhinweg's Coaching Staff Almost Complete

2/10/01

The big news this week was the hirings of several Lion's assistants and the beginning of Charlie Batch's indoctrination into the Marty Mornhinweg school of quarterbacking.

The Lion's new staff will consist of:

Jason Arapoff, who was with the Redskins since 1992 and had the title of conditioning director, is now in charge of the Lions' strength and conditioning. Arapoff, 35, played defensive back at Springfield College. He has a master's degree in exercise physiology from American University.

Carl Mauck, 53, was hired as the team's new offensive line coach. He has spent 31 seasons in the NFL as a player and coach. He played for Miami, San Diego and Houston and was line coach for New Orleans, Kansas City, Tampa Bay, San Diego, Arizona and Buffalo. He was with Buffalo the past three seasons.

Maurice Carthon, 39, was a running back for the Giants and Colts in eight NFL seasons. He played on the 1986 and 1990 Giants teams that won the Super Bowl. A protege of retired Giants and Patriots coach Bill Parcells, Carthon was an assistant under Parcells with the Patriots and Jets.

Last season, he was assistant head coach and coached running backs under Al Groh. This year he will be in charge of the Detroit ball carriers and there has been speculation that he will serve as the team's offensive coordinator, although Mornhinweg has stated that he will call his own plays.

Kevin Higgins, whose Lehigh University teams had a 32-1 regular-season record the last three years, was hired Wednesday as the Lions' quarterbacks coach.

Higgins has been Lehigh's coach and quarterbacks coach for seven years. Lehigh won four Patriot League titles and made the NCAA I-AA playoffs the last three years. In the first round of the playoffs, Lehigh beat third-seeded Richmond in 1998 and seventh-seeded Western Illinois in 2000.

Higgins was Lehigh's defensive coordinator for six years before becoming its head coach. Previously, he was an assistant at Richmond and Gettysburg.

Three of Mornhinweg's assistants are holdovers from last year's staff -- Chuck Priefer (special teams), Dick Selcer (defensive backs) and Don Clemons (defense).

Glenn Pires rejoined Lions defensive coordinator Vince Tobin when he was hired Friday as the team's linebackers coach. Pires was an assistant the past five seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, where Tobin was head coach until he was fired in October.

Charles Haley, who terrorized NFL quarterbacks for 12 seasons, has been hired by Lions coach Marty Mornhinweg as a coaching specialist to work with the team's pass rushers.

He won five Super Bowl championship rings and -- as a volunteer instructor with the 49ers last summer -- convinced Mornhinweg he could be an effective teacher.

"I've always liked Charles, both as a player and as a person," Mornhinweg said Thursday. "And I had the opportunity to watch him closely -- and I did that on purpose this past fall camp -- and I thought he did a tremendous job."

Mornhinweg has stated that he is still looking to hire four more coaches before the beginning of the season. Two offensive and two defensive.

And lastly, the Lions have hired Larry Kirksey to coach the wide recievers. Kirksey, the assistant head coach and recievers coach of Texas A&M, worked previously with Mornhinweg in San Francisco in the same capacity.



Email of the Week
The year was 1957, the Detroit Lions featured several "un-coachable" players. Their head coach, George Wilson, was in his first year after former Coach Buddy Parker resigned half-way through PRE-SEASON. Parker stated that the Lions were "the worst I've ever seen in training."

The Detroit Lions in 1957, lost their quarterback Bobby Layne to a broken leg. Their best defensive player was hampered with a bad ankle. They were in dire straights.

But that Detroit Lions team remains the last Detroit Lions team to win an NFL Championship.

They headed into the game against the Cleveland Browns with alot of things against them, but they triumphed 59-14 with a "back-up" (actually Tobin Rote was one of a two-quarterback system in '57) quarterback.

Fast forward to 1964, the Detroit Lions are purchased by William Clay Ford, in the 6 seasons since the Lions won the Championship, they could not muster more than 8 wins in the 14 game seasons. The year after Ford bought the team, George Wilson is forced to resign.

In the 37 years since William Clay Ford bought the Detroit Lions they have won 1 playoff game. Since 1978, the Lions have played in 6 wild card games and never won. The only game they won was a divisional contest against the Cowboys in 1991.

The Lions have petered away awesome talent over the years, Charlie Sanders, Lem Barney, Billy Sims, Alex Karras, Earl Morrall, Barry Sanders, just to name a few. Others have been highly touted only to have their careers die by the hands of inept coaches hired by Ford. To name a few, Chuck Long, Andre Ware, Greg Landry.

Others have come to Detroit after achieving success elsewhere, only to disappear after playing for the Lions; Pat Swilling, Henry Thomas. Some have played mediocre for the Lions and gone on to better things; Earl Morrall led the Dolphins to a Super Bowl victory, Lomas Brown just played in SB 35, there are other examples, but I'll spare you.

Let's name some coaches, Joe Schmidt, Monte Clark, Darryl Rogers, Wayne Fontes, Rick Forzano, Tommy Hudspeth. These are men who were virtually inexperienced as head coaches in the NFL. They coached the Lions and then disappeared off the face of the earth.

There were "great" coaches. Bobby Ross for instance, the one man that Barry Sanders apparently couldn't tolerate. Sure Bobby Ross took the San Diego Chargers to Super Bowl 29. But that doesn't mean he just wasn't lucky, or surrounded by other talented coaches. He sure didn't show much in Detroit.

But, I digress, there is only common factor among these people. WILLIAM CLAY FORD.

I have a hard time accepting the "Matt Millen is in charge" routine, we all know that for the last 37 years it has been WCF.

"My name is Ron, I'm a Lions fan, welcome to my support group"

A Special Thanks to Ron Steenhagen

For providing the struggling one with his nice shiny new logo. Thanks a lot, Ron. It almost makes me feel professional. If anyone is interested in contacting Ron about the use of his excellent services, please email him at admiralron@home.com.