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Are you ready for some football?

Article published 01/10/2007, The Times Leader

Local football coach Dan LaMagna is giving area sports fans a reason — besides the addition of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees — to get excited this summer.

He’s bringing the hard-hitting excitement of minor league football to Northeastern Pennsylvania.

LaMagna is the owner of Lackawanna County’s newest sports team, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Miners. And while the idea of a minor league football team isn’t a completely new one for the area — the Scranton Eagles have been playing games in the area for years — the difference is that the Miners will represent the area in the North American Football League, the largest minor league football organization in the world.

“The NAFL consists of over 100 teams all over the country,” said LaMagna. “We play a 10 game season, at the end of which the top 30 teams in the league will compete in a playoff series for a chance to play in the championship game, held in Disney World in Orlando, Florida.”

With over 100 teams all vying for first place spot in the league, a first year team like the Miners will need something special to even hope to stay competitive in a league of such seasoned veterans. But they may have found that something special when they acquired something of league legend, with the signing of their first player, Donnie Jackson-Bey.

“Jackson-Bey is a great player, he’s been in the league for a number of years, and has had three professional tryouts,” said LaMagna. “He’s also only 346 yards away from setting the league record for most yards rushed, and he’s thrilled to have the chance to make that little bit of minor league history, right in his own backyard.”

If the addition of Jackson-Bey isn’t enough, the team also has the benefit of years of experience and advice from their owner, who will also be taking on the duties of head coach and offensive coordinator. LaMagna is no stranger to minor league and high school football. He has been a part of many coaching staffs around the area, including positions with the Scranton Eagles, and last year was a member of the Lackawanna Falcons coaching staff, which finished the season with an undefeated record. He now hopes to bring some of that luck to the Miners.

“I’ve been a part of minor league football since the early ’90s, first as a player, but then reconstructive knee surgery put me into coaching,” he said. “But it’s always been in my blood, and I’m really excited that this year it’s finally happening. I’ve been working on getting this together for many years, and the people at the NAFL have been very helpful and very supportive in helping me get this together the right way. I think with the recent interest in minor league sports, with the Penguins and the Yankees, now is the perfect time.”

Rounding out the coaching staff will be Marty Evans, acting as assistant coach and defensive coordinator; Bill Gilday, sports information director and quality control coach; Travis Grobes, assistant defensive coordinator; Mike Woodard special teams coach; and Charlie Wysocki, quality control coach, all of whom have passed semi-professional coaching experiences. Now, with all these keys in place, the only thing left for LaMagna to do is find a place to play.

“At the moment, I can’t say where our games are going to take place, we’re trying to decide between four different stadiums in the area,” he said. “The important thing for us is to pick a place that is accessible to everyone. We’re not the Scranton Miners, or the Wilkes-Barre Miners, we’re the Northeastern Pennsylvania Miners… so we want to pick a stadium that will be accessible to everyone. Hopefully, we’ll have a place finalized by the end of the month.”

For updates on what stadium the Miners will eventually call their home, LaMagna says people should check out the team’s website at www.nepaminers.com. It also includes other team information, such as an official team roster and team schedule, both of which the coach has plans of putting up sometime in February.

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