Tozer fired and other major news

in order to maintain continuity you need stability. frankly if i were the owner of the wave i'd let tozer coach as long he wants, hes been around long enough and has been successful enough to have earned that right. by all means bring in new players new investors etc.

 

I'd keep Tozer, even though I hear he's a jerk of a coach, he has proven results. If he was let go (I'm naively hoping it's not true), and the Wave are going to continue, it was because of Sue Black's ego and/or the ability to pay a newbie less. No one has as much heart and love of the game as Tozer.

I've been absolutely alienated as a fan all season. Having so many great players leave was the first straw. Can't be a coincidence that we got new ownership and a bunch of great guys left. Then, Van was fired. Yes, change is good, blah blah blah, but, it wasn't broken.

 

she brought van back, but not until after the replacements bombed. suppose the new guy bombs as a coach, you dont think the fans wouldn't be clamoring to get Tozer back? heck the wave start out 0-5 next year the calls for change would be staggering.

 

Just spoke to Victor Quiroz at the Sears Centre. I asked him point blank if Tozer was fired, and he just smiled and said " It's crazy, man".

I feel like I'm always the last to know.

 

Rumor I heard from my contact at the Milwaukee Kickers organization was that Michael King was approached months ago about coaching the team. Read into that what ever you want. Sounds like some of the proverbial handwriting on the wall happened a long time ago.

 

low budget, usually gets you low results, if baseball is any indication look how bad the Marlins and Astros were last year. this might be XSL redux.

 

I thought that was him I saw.

 

This could go in either this or a merger thread, but an interesting comment about Tozer...

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel finally put something together about whole scenario and it was first posted on their website today, and has been updated a couple of times. The latest update (from about an hour ago) had some quotes.

From the article...

• Asked if the Wave, which has won all six of its championships since 1998, would be welcomed back to the MISL after the league completes its re-evaluation, Holt declined to say. "For us, there's a bigger-picture issue of dealing with the foundation of the league itself, its economic model and the members. We are going to go through an evaluation process," Holt said.
• Sue Black, the Wave's owner and CEO, did not respond to a request for an interview. Asked via text whether the Wave had dismissed Keith Tozer, the franchise's senior vice president of soccer operations and its head coach, Black replied, "no."
• Earlier this month Black was sued in Milwaukee County Circuit Court for breach of contract. The suit accused her of failing to make interest payments on $100,000 she borrowed to help fund her purchase of the Wave last year. Plaintiffs Thomas B. Phillips of Caledonia and his A&J Promotions also sued the Wave, saying they're owed $42,702 for promotional merchandise. Phillips also said the Wave failed to repay a $10,000 short-term loan he made last December to help the team meet payroll. Black borrowed $200,000 from Phillips in February 2013 and paid back half the sum, according to the suit. The rest was due March 13. Black didn't pay some $8,200 in required quarterly interest payments and hasn't made arrangements for paying off the remaining $100,000 loan balance, according to the lawsuit.

Specifically about Tozer, the apparent short answer about the Wave dismissing Tozer is interesting.

Maybe he wasn't "fired". Maybe it was suggested that he retire or resign because "I've accomplished as much as I can with the Wave".

Or maybe (like, a 3% chance) that in the whirlwind of the past few days, she's thought better of the decision.

 

Wait, it was "confirmed as true" that he was fired. Yuk, yuk, yuk.

You guys who know Tozer....can you honestly see him allowing himself to be fired? Moving on, sure. Accepting a new challenge, sure. Done all you can, sure.

But we still don't know what went down and may never. This is all weird, wild stuff.

 

Boy, Don Walker really likes to say that entities "call themselves" something, without just bothering to verify it, doesn't he?

The Wave "calls itself" the longest-running professional soccer franchise in the country. Well, how much research you figure that takes to confirm?

The PASL (not "Premiere" Arena Soccer League, either, please do research) "calls itself" the largest professional indoor soccer league in the country. Well, how long does it take to call the roll of professional indoor soccer leagues, do you think? How much research does that take?

The rest of it is press release, rehashed lawsuit boilerplate, a text from Black (actual good information) and non-denial denials from Tampa.

 

I talked to Van McNeil at bowling tonight (for the first time since Monday). He is still under contract with the Wave for a term that he wouldn't divulge, and worked really hard at not confirming ANYTHING (damn him, but I will give him credit for toeing the company line as long as he is still being paid).

With that said, in my best "Dammit Man" McNeil cadence, I bellowed "Led by Head Coach Ian Bennett, here are Your Milwaukee Wave!!!"

To which he snorted green beer out of his nose and almost fell off his chair laughing.

 

Here's what I've been able to glean from talking to some people:

• Yes, there has been tension between ownership and the coach all season. But it's symptomatic of larger issues.
• Keith Tozer is still the head coach of the Milwaukee Wave.
• The lawsuits we know about are apparently the tip of the iceberg.
• The initial suit that sparked the most recent firestorm was not an oversight, not a momentary issue, not a conspiracy and not something that will pass and be cleared up right away.
• There will be more drama before the Milwaukee Wave plays its next game.

Take it for what you believe it's worth, dismiss it, whatever. We'll see.

 

I don't know if any one caught this but Tuesday is also the Dead Line for her to figure out what she is planning to do about her arena lease .. How can you commit to a lease with out having a league to play in yet .

 

They've gotten an extension. May 15 is the new deadline for the arena lease.

 

i imagine she will sign on with the pasl, and then hammer out a extension on the lease before the 15th.

 

That's good to hear it would suck not to have the wave in the league .

 

I am completely confident that there will be a Milwaukee Wave in the same indoor soccer league (though maybe not the same division) as Baltimore.

In the truest sense of the word, Sue Black may be (and none of us know) a brilliant restructurer... remember, she did lead a world-class parks department with a shrinking budget every year. She may have a very defined plan which includes a budget for payroll and expenses based on $X revenue from camps, $X from sponsorships and $X from ticket sales. And two years from now (with the help of playing in this new league that has theoretically lower expenses) she may be turning a profit and only needing 2000 fans to buy a ticket to each game.

But I am also pretty sure that Black has alienated sooooo many people that soccer camp attendance and game attendance may drop like a stone just from the negative press the past month. And if the reconstituted Wave with Guliano Oliviero or Louis Bennett (think outside the box, people) as a head coach goes 6-14 next season, she may be hard pressed to draw 2000 the following season. That is a real concern about her scorched-earth restructuring.

 

On the flip side, if the team does the same or better, and if they move to the PASL and get to play some of those teams they will do just fine, Sue will look like a great decision maker, finance saver and the likes. People love to build up, tear down and re-build people in this country for some sick reason. She was loved one minute, hated the next, and if the Wave go 17-3 and actually make it to the finals, she'll be back to being the savior of Milwaukee soccer.

 

I don't think you understand the extent to which she has alienated so many longtime, loyal Wave fans. A 17-3 season isn't going to change that.

 

Nope, that would do it for me

 

Milliken says he expects the Wave in the PASl, and says hes told the Wave they are welcome in the league.

 

Agree!