Grossman: Strike Force set to soar from ashes of 2019
TEMECULA
Burt Grossman used to poke fun at Mike Mccoy and other football coaches.
Then Grossman became a coach himself and in comparison, Mccoy was Vince Lombardi.
“It seemed like I was Southwestern College going to play Clemson or something,” Grossman, a former NFL defensive end and top Chargers draftee, said of leading the San Diego Strike Force indoor expansion team last year. “That’s the awakening you get.”
The Strike Force lost 13 of 14 games, finishing last in the 10-team Indoor Football League. The defense bore no resemblance to Chargers defenses that employed Grossman. It was so bad, giving up more than 60 points per game, Grossman said he didn’t watch the video.
Blaming Grossman for the whole mess would be wrong, though. The team was rushed into existence. Hired late, he inherited the players and assistant coaches. His boss, the general manager, left the job a month into the season.
Burt was new to indoor football.
None of his paychecks bounced, though, and Grossman is back for a second serving.
I found the 6-foot-4 coach standing in Temecula last weekend, wearing black high-top sneakers, shorts, long-sleeve shirt and a dark baseball cap. He was surveying the final practice of training camp.
Belying the team’s budget, the camp digs were posh in comparison to the infamous spartan quarters of Rough Acres ranch where Hall of Fame coach Sid Gillman directed San Diego Chargers teams in the 1960s.
Eight miles south of the practice field, Grossman’s team lodged at Pala Casino Spa & Resort, the club’s new partner.
“We had three buffets a day, all you can eat — lobster, shrimp and steak,” Burt
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