Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009

Fever set to name its coach; new team added to AF1

HERALD STAFF

The Tri-Cities Fever will hold a press conference Nov. 2 at Toyota Center to announce the signing of its new head coach.

Or in this case -- resigning a head coach.

All indications lead to Pat O'Hara returning to the Fever after having coached the final 11 games last season. Fever general manager Teri Carr would not confirm that O'Hara is returning.

Coaches and players cannot be signed before Nov. 1.

O'Hara, the former Arena Football League standout, guided the Fever to a 3-8 record last season after taking over for Richard Davis, who was fired after five games.

The Fever is preparing for its first season in the newly created Arena Football1 league that will start play in late March or early April.

Tri-Cities was one of the first 16 teams announced to play in the new league last month.

The league has grown to 17 teams and a few more could be approved this week.

Carr said that a franchise from Frisco, Texas, has been approved to play in 2010, likely a Tier 2 team in what is expected to be a two-tiered league.