Owner hires former Wildcat

ALBANY — Southern Indoor Football League team owner Andre White says he is “90 percent sure” a deal will be done with the city soon and will be arriving in Albany today to get a head start on assuring it does.

He also will bring some familiar faces with him.

White reached an agreement with former South Georgia Wildcats assistant coach Lucious Davis to come on as head coach and general manager of the new Albany Wildcats.

The city granted exclusive negotiating rights two weeks ago to Smith, who also owns the South Carolina Force in the SIFL.

“I can’t foresee anything to stop us,” White said. “(The commissioners) are having their meeting next Tuesday. Hopefully, we will come out of that meeting — I will be at it — hopefully, we will have the final go-ahead. We are ready to rock and roll.”

Assistant City Manager Wes Smith has been at the center of the negotiations along with City Manager Alfred Lott and Procurement Director Stephen Collier.

Smith agreed the 90 percent evaluation set forth by White was not far off, even though there is an issue with concessions that has drawn concerns from some city commissioners.

“In my opinion, I don’t see any specific deal-breakers in what is proposed,” Smith said.

Smith said, in theory, a deal could be completed where the Albany Wildcats would be an official franchise by Tuesday night, but he can’t hold to that time frame.

If there is a deal-breaker, however, the time issue could be it. White was already granted an extension by the SIFL, and his extension to have a team in place is up on Nov. 2.

“It has to be done for me next week to enable myself to have a fighting shot at it,” White said. “All the other teams have already been working for two months; it would be putting me too far behind.”

The 12-game SIFL regular season begins in February, and training camp would start at the end of January. The 13-team league entering its second season will include teams from Columbus, Augusta, Pensacola, Fla., Tupelo, Miss., Biloxi, Miss., and other spots across the Southeast, according to White.

“I told them we’re moving as quickly as we possibly can,” Smith said. “The soonest we will have anything for the commission would be the first Tuesday in November. We are still doing our due diligence.”

Smith says reference checks, working out the specifics of the concessions and also sitting down with Civic Center operator John Mazzolla, who is out of town through Thursday, still need to be handled.

Little could be more proof that the new franchise is ready to move forward than the hiring of Davis. As defensive coordinator and assistant head coach under Rodney Blackshear last year, Davis helped lead South Georgia to an 11-5 record.

Davis said as soon as he gets the OK from White and the city, he will get to work on building the team.

“There are going to be some long nights ahead,” Davis said.

He said he already has commitments from Demetrie McCray and Clenton Rafe, both ASU alums who played with the Wildcats last year. Davis said former Wildcats Mike Lane, Eric Turner and Cecil Lester also agreed to play for the new team.

Building the football team will not be the difficult aspect of Davis’ job. He says repairing the image tarnished by a previous ownership group that left owing business owners across the community money will be.

“The challenge to me with this job would be getting out and talking to some businesses and trying to win them back over after being led astray,” said Davis during his drive from Houston to Albany on Tuesday. “One thing I liked (about the proposed owner’s plans is that) on numerous occasions (White) said he wants to give back to the community and get them more involved. That’s something I didn’t hear from the last ownership. They didn’t talk much about giving back to the community at all. (White), that is all he is saying.”

White runs youth indoor football leagues through his current franchise in Greenville, S.C.

Davis expects to meet with White in person today, and they will canvass the area to look into office space and get a feel for what they can do in the city.

White knows, the first thing they have to do is get a deal done as soon as possible.

“We are not going to alienate (the city),” Smith said. “We are not doing what the last ownership group did. It needs to be a collective effort from everybody. In order to be Albany’s team, the city of Albany, the community and the Albany Wildcats all have to work together.”