Iowa Barnstormers Head Coach Mike Hohensee, Jacksonville Sharks Head Coach Les Moss and New Orleans VooDoo Head Coach Pat O’Hara joined AFL Communications in a round-table discussion about the history of the League, their playing days and coaching styles. In this edition of AFL Round Table, O'Hara, Hohensee and Moss discussed Ironman football and coaching changes. 

EDITOR: Every one of you has a vast history in the AFL as it enters its 25^th season. Mike, you have been around since the beginning. You threw the first ever touchdown pass in this League with the Pittsburgh Gladiators. Les, you started in 1988 with your father. Pat, you started in 1995 as a quarterback for the Orlando Predators. What changes have you seen and what has changed the most?

PAT O’HARA: For me, the biggest change has been how this League has gone from an Ironman style of football to a one-way game. That has been a big change. I know some of us miss the old days of the two-way game. For me personally as a quarterback, and it may be the same for Mike, we took a ton of hits. We took a lot of abuse. Defensive linemen were asked to play on the offensive line. Looking at quarterbacks now, they are getting extra time in the pocket and being protected better. That has changed the game. The style of play has changed without it being a two-way game. What really made it interesting were substitutions. You could really get in trouble with substitutions. Like clock management being an issue, substitutions were big. Substitution isn’t a big issue now. There are pros and cons to it, but we all love the game. It is still a high-scoring affair. It’s interesting now that you have defensive backs playing defensive back, you would think, on paper, points would be a little more scarce. There is more scoring now than ever.

LES MOSS: I agree with Pat. That is the biggest change. Now, you have three offensive specialists and great receivers in the game. That’s why the points are up. There is also great protection. Everyone has a good quarterback. You have three guys on offense that can get downfield. Defensive backs can’t cover all day. In the Ironman game, you had receivers playing defensive back but you also had defensive backs playing receiver who were not great route runners. You had an offensive specialist in the Ironman days. Mike had Eddie Brown for all of those years. He was named the greatest player in the history of the League. The offensive specialists for every team were great receivers but the other guy was the bigger, possession type of receiver that played linebacker. Now, you have three true receivers. They can get down the field, get open and the quarterback has great pass protection. That’s where we see the explosion of scores going up.

MIKE HOHENSEE: A lot of people think the game is better now because you have guys playing only one way. When it was Ironman football, everyone was forced to learn the game on both sides. You had a total understanding of what the offense was trying to do to you as a DB. Therefore, you were better at your job. You understood, formationally, what they were trying to do just by sitting in an offensive meeting. Now, those defensive backs don’t always get a chance to sit in on those receiver/quarterback meetings. They don’t hear that offensive coordinator, quarterbacks or receivers talk. They don’t get that sitting in a DB meeting. Sometimes, they struggled sitting through those meetings. Eddie Brown was great because he sat in on those DB meetings. He could point to the quarterbacks read and know where the quarterback was going to go with the football. He would run his routes in practice and point to where the ball was going to go. That’s one of the disadvantages for players these days, especially with only 16-days of actual practice time for these guys to go out there and learn our game. It’s funny because we were talking about it in our meetings how players in the NFL get four preseason games to get their kinks out. They get four-preseason games to get those kinks out in a game that they have been playing since they were eight years old. We get two weeks to get those kinks out in a game they are just learning. That’s the disadvantage you have. It’s so incredible how these coaches do a great job preparing their teams prepared in two weeks. They not only have to teach them a system and make these guys fall in love with the game they’re playing, they have to teach them the game as well.

LM: Back in the old days, the skill guys, defensive guys, quarterbacks and receivers all met together. You just watched one film. The linemen watched offensive and defensive film because they had to play everything.

MH: Educationally, it was priceless [laughter].

LM: Now, you have your special teams meetings, offensive linemen go here, defensive linemen go there, receivers and quarterbacks go in this one and defensive backs go in that one. It takes away from it. No doubt.

ED: Guys, I appreciate you joining us today. Next week we'll chat about coaching changes.