NLL Insider

Jamie Batley (Photo: Dave Sanders)

As Inside Lacrosse NLL Editor Brian Shanahan reported earlier this evening, former Chicago Shamrox and Colorado Mammoth Head Coach, Jamie Batley, will be the Toronto Rock’s new coach after what appears to be the outright release of the Rock’s current bench.

Although still unconfirmed by the team, sources have indicated that Co-Head Coaches Glenn Clark and Jim Veltman, as well as assistant coach, Terry Bullen, have been released by the organization, and as Shanahan reported, Batley will likely join the team with assistant coaches Jim Milligan and Bob Keast.

NLL Insider attempted to confirm the rumour of the coaching change with Batley earlier today, who at the time could not comment on the situation.

It also appears that Mike Kloepfer will remain in his role as the team’s Director of Lacrosse Operations, even though rumours earlier today had also indicated that Kloepfer may have also been on the chopping block. As of late Monday evening, Kloepfer had yet to return confirmation on his status with the team to NLL Insider.

The Rock are currently 1-2 during the 2009 season, coming off two weak offensive showings against both the Buffalo Bandits and Calgary Roughnecks.

Toronto pulled off yet another substantial trade last week, moving former Rookie of the Year, Ryan Benesch, and previously unsigned defender, Derek Suddons, to the Edmonton Rush after a flurry of rumours that Benesch and Clark had had a falling out at the tailend of the 2008 season.

The trade marked the third high profile forward the team had moved since Clark took over coaching duties with the franchise during the 2006 off-season. The previous two players of course being Colin Doyle and Josh Sanderson.

After the Rock’s lackluster loss to Calgary this past weekend, the former Toronto coach told The National Post, “I’m calling them the cracker-jack team, we never know what we’re going to get when that door opens.”

Clark gave an even more revealing quote to The Globe and Mail, telling the paper, “For a group that is so talented, it’s puzzling. The chase continues for what it’s going to take to get to these guys.

“We’re bad. There is no sugar-coating it. It was embarrassing. I’m worried. You lose ground early in the season, and it’s hard to catch up.”

The franchise is 14-21 during the regular season under Clark’s reign, missing the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, since the team was moved from Hamilton to Toronto, last season. In their lone playoff game with Clark on the bench, the team was 0-1 with a loss to Rochester, after slipping into the playoffs with a 6-10 regular season record in 2007.

Clark was also part of an ugly off-floor incident early in 2008 after a game with the Minnesota Swarm, which saw him suspended indefinitely by the league and at one point facing assault charges by Metro Toronto Police.

At the other end of the story, Batley comes to Toronto after a stint with the Chicago Shamrox during their first and only two years in the NLL. After a small handful of moves and impressive draft selections leading up to the 2009 regular season, which also included picking up All-Star keeper Anthony Cosmo, much was expected of Batley’s Shamrox, who ended up closing up shop just prior to the start of the year.

Batley had also spent three seasons with the Colorado Mammoth franchise starting partway through the 2003 season after former coach Rod Jensen stumbled out of the blocks to a 4-5 record with the team. Jensen had been the city of Denver’s first pro coach after the team was unable to keep Darris Kilgour after their move from Washington to Colorado.

The Rock’s new bench boss has likely experienced his greatest success while coaching the Peterborough Lakers in the MSL Senior A loop in Ontario. The Lakers have won the Mann Cup three times since 2004 under Batley and pushed the Brampton Excelsiors to seven gruelling games this past summer in the MSL final, sporting a heavily undermanned lineup.

Batley is also a former accomplished player having won Mann Cups with the Six Nations Chiefs during the 1995 and 1996 seasons, and also spending time in the NLL with such teams as Buffalo, Syracuse and Pittsburgh.

Although official word on the coaching change is expected to be announced by the Rock tomorrow, stay tuned to NLL Insider for more on this developing story early Tuesday. This story was jointly covered by Brian Shanahan and Paul Tutka.

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