Pete Porcelli, an assistant coach for La Salle football and a former Albany Firebird, is the latest Albany Empire head coach.
“I want to be just a calming presence in terms of trying to get the guys better each and every day,” Porcelli said.
Porcelli is the arena football team’s third head coach this season. Damon Ware began the season with the Empire but left in early May following issues over payment and an incident on the team bus. Tom Menas, who was fired before the season started but returned to replace Ware, resigned after a 45-point blowout loss to the Jacksonville Sharks on Saturday night.
Majority owner Antonio Brown tweeted during the game that the Empire would be getting a new coach.
Porcelli was offered the job Monday afternoon and accepted in the same conversation, he said. Brown had previously told WNYT that La Salle head coach John Audino would replace Menas, but Audino declined.
“I’m grateful that somebody like Antonio Brown could think that I could help the team and help the franchise and help the city,” Audino said. But he turned down the offer because “it’s just not the right time.”
Porcelli was on the first Firebirds team in 1990.
“I am one of the cornerstones, one of the first players on the team. I’ve been around since the beginning, so I want to see it flourish in Albany,” he said.
While in Albany, Porcelli played with Brown’s father, “Touchdown” Eddie Brown.
All told, Porcelli has seven years of arena football experience. He has also coached at several local high schools, winning six straight Super Bowls and four Section II titles at Lansingburgh and one sectional title at Hoosic Valley.
Porcelli said he met with the team Monday afternoon and that the players “were pretty upbeat.”
He’ll have just…
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