They got a man with a lot of experience to lead their team. The Northern Arizona Wranglers have hired Ron James as their new head coach. His experience with indoor football goes back to 1990 when he was the assistant coach for the Arena Football League’s Albany Firebirds. He spent the rest of the 90s as a coordinator for three college teams – including Army – before returning to the AFL as a line coach for the Houston Thunderbears.
James became head coach of the Utah Blaze in 2010 and was named the AFL Coach of the Year in 2012. After brief stints as head coach for the Pittsburgh Power and Portland Steel, he took over the Tampa Bay Storm in 2017, leading them to the Arena Bowl and winning his second Coach of the Year award. James then worked as a senior analyst for the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders before leading the AFL’s Atlantic City Blackjacks. He has spent the past four years as the head coach at Juan Diego High School in Draper, Utah.