The
four-time NEFL Champion St. Paul Pioneers are adding to their offensive
coaching staff – in a very big way.
Anthony
Minus, a former St. Paul City Conference Coach of the Year who won a National
Championship as a player with the Pioneers in 2009 and has coached at the high
school, college and amateur football levels was named the Pioneers offensive
coordinator for 2014.
Bryan Wrich,
an original Pioneer who has led the Minnesota Sting offense to championships the
previous two seasons, was named an offensive assistant with the Pioneers who
will work closely with Minus and Head Coach Mark Heiser to help the Pioneers
continue their productive and high-scoring ways.
Both coaches
begin their new duties immediately.
Minus most
recently was the head coach of the Minnesota Silverbacks amateur team. A dean
of students for the St. Paul Public Schools, Minus has a long and distinguished
football history and a sharp football mind.
A one-time tight end for Concordia University-St. Paul, who went on to
play offensive line for Southwest Minnesota State University, Minus in 2004 was
offered a contract to play with the Sioux City Bandits of the Indoor Football
League. As an amateur, Minus won league championships with the Minneapolis
Lumberjacks, the Twin Cities Titans, the Buffalo Wildcats and the St. Paul
Pioneers. In 2009, Minus helped the Pioneers win the first National
Championship ever captured by a Minnesota team, when the Pioneers topped the
Nashville Storm in a thrilling last-second victory in Miami, Fl.
Minus’ coaching career has been filled with accolades, as well. He
coached the defensive line at Augsburg College from 2004 through 2006, working
with all MIAC and all region players. From 2007 through 2011, he was head
football coach at St. Paul Humboldt High School, where he was named 2010 St.
Paul City Conference Coach of the Year. Minus coached the school’s first
all-state player in a decade, as well as conference players of the year and
all-academic players. The former Nike and USA Football clinician was credited
with rebuilding the Humboldt program from just 18 players to a roster of 55.
He left high school coaching to spend more time with his family. But
Minus said the pull of rejoining the Pioneers family was too strong to stay
away.
“When I saw the Pioneers had an opening for an O coordinator, I just had
to try to come back. My commitment to this team is strong. I want to be a part
of another national championship,” he said.
Minus said he intends to coach in a collaborative style, using input
from players and coaches to help build upon the Pioneers’ history of offensive
success, forged over the past four seasons by Rob Neumann and, before that,
Jason Fleming.
“This is a great offense, a great team,” Minus said. “I want to help
take what we do well and help it become better. We have great players, a lot of
talent. This will be fun.”
The Pioneers
may be the only team in local amateur football to be adding two championship
offensive coordinators to its coaching ranks. Bryan Wrich, the offensive
coordinator for the high-scoring Minnesota Sting, is joining the staff as an
offensive assistant. Wrich helped guide the Sting offense to Minnesota Premier
Football League records for total offense, passing, rushing and scoring.
A coaching
change with the Sting, who are joining the Northern Elite Football League in
2014, and a chance to rejoin the Pioneers are the reasons Wrich is coming back
to the Cardinal and Black.
“I am pretty
excited too,” said the former Pioneers offensive lineman, who played with the
original Pioneers squad in 2002. “It’s a good time for a change of scenery for
me. I’m looking forward to it.”
Wrich is a
1995 graduate of Park of Cottage Grove High School who went on to play for
Minnesota State University-Mankato. He came into adult amateur football with
the Woodbury Warriors, before joining the Pioneers. A neck injury ended his
playing career but Wrich was itching to get back into the game as a coach. In
2005, he was an assistant at St. Francis High School and with the Oakdale
Outlaws, another amateur team.
Wrich went
on to call the offense for the Minnesota Phoenix, who regularly faced the
Pioneers in the Mid-America Footall League and the North American Football
League. He then spent a season coaching with the Minnesota Rhinos, before
moving on to the Sting.
Wrich said
rejoining the Pioneers is like reaching the pinnacle of amateur football. The
team’s tradition of excellence and professional organization make the Pioneers
a model for other teams to follow.
“The
Pioneers that first year, I think we were 7-6. And, still, it was clear this
would be a great team,” he said. “Even though we were losing games, the
organization never fell apart. There was that drive to get better, week after
week.”
He said he
can’t wait to get started with the Pioneers.
“Honestly,
it’s a little bit of a homecoming. It’s also a challenge for me… it now gives
me an opportunity to coach with one of the Midwest’s, if not one of the
nation’s, top teams,” Wrich said. “I am really excited to work with Anthony Minus.
I am excited about the Pioneers’ history of collaboration.”
Heiser said
both coaches will be big contributors to the Pioneers’ continuing efforts to be
among the best, if not the best, amateur football teams in the country.
“I think A
Minus will do very well for us. He obviously has a lot of experience, coaching
at the high school, college and semi-pro levels,” Heiser said. “I expect that
our offense will be as good as it has always been with him joining our team.”
About Wrich,
Heiser said: “Bryan Wrich gives us another quality coach, another piece to what
is, I think, the best offensive staff in the NEFL.”
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