Steelhawks make Richard Britt their first head coach

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Richard Britt calls indoor football "basketball on turf."

He said it's "exciting, high scoring, and a lot of fun."

The 41-year-old native of Alexandria, Va., hopes to make fans of the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks get all of that and more next winter because he was named the franchise's first head coach on Monday.

The Steelhawks are a new franchise in the Indoor Football League which will play its games at Stabler Arena, beginning in either late February or early March.

Britt, who still coaches at Mount Vernon High School in Alexandria, has vast indoor football experience.

Beginning in 2001, he served as vice president of football operations and was an assistant coach with the Roanoke Steam in Arena Football2.

After two seasons with the Steam, he became defensive coordinator with the Bakersfield Blitz in AF2 and moved on to the Tulsa Talons and Boosier/Shreveport Battlewings.

Most recently, he served as coach and director of player personnel with the Sioux City Bandits of the United Indoor Football Association.

He sees role as not only putting an exciting product on the field, but also reaching out to the community.

"The IFL coming to the Lehigh Valley will be a good thing for the community because this league and this organization is determined to provide family-friendly entertainment at an affordable cost," he said.

"We want to be an exciting, disciplined team that will score a lot of points. But we're going to be very active in the community. We're going to be in the schools, in the elderly homes. We want people to say, 'everywhere we go, we see a Steelhawk.' I want the people around here to experience us on and off the field."

In addition to announcing Britt as its head coach and director of football operations, the Steelhawks announced the signing of its first two players, Tamaqua and Slippery Rock product Josh Shilko and former and former Sacred Heart University wide receiver Corey Bundy.

The team also introduced Rob Wynn of Hellertown as director of ticket operations and Chris Drayton as director of performance partnerships.

The Steelhawks team will be looking for local standouts during an open tryout on Sunday, Oct. 24 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Lehigh University's Ulrich Sports Complex.

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/