The Prague Lions have a new head coach. In the future, the team will be coached by Dave Warner. The US-American is not unknown in the European League of Football. Last season, he was offensive coordinator at the Madrid Bravos. In Spain, he led the team to the Wild Card game with a top five scoring offense.

These skills are now required by the Lions. The team is not coming off a good season with a record of 1:11. Warner knows that too: “If you look back to the past season, they weren't great in a lot of phases of football”, he says. Why did he still decide to move to Prague?

It all started with Dan Disch, who coached the Lions last season and then stepped down. "I had a connection with Coach Disch previously. As that job opened up, we talked to each other and it became very obvious that the ownership was very solid and supportive," says Warner.

Owner Mason Parker played a big role in his decision: “I think the biggest thing that excited me about Prague was just the ownership and the support, we will gonna get from them,” adds Warner.

The new head coach brings a lot of experience to Prague. He has already coached at several well-known US colleges, such as Michigan State. His strengths lie in offense and quarterback coaching. Signal callers such as Kirk Cousins, Brian Hoyer or Nick Foles learned under Warner. All three later made it to the NFL. Foles even got Super Bowl MVP.

An offseason with challenges

With the Lions, he is ahead of his first offseason as a head coach. A special one. After all, Warner still lives in the USA and is therefore currently unable to be with his new team. But that doesn't stop him from working, which for now will be done through online meetings. “Since I have been named the head coach, my first job was to reach out to the homegrown players to get a chance to introduce myself,” he reveals.

Despite the difficulties, his first impression was very positive: “Everybody I talked to, despite the problem of last year, has a good attitude, a good outlook on what the possibilities are in Prague and that's exciting for me.”

A combine will then take place in Prague in November. Head coach Warner will also be present: “That's gonna be my opportunity to go over to Prague and meet everybody face to face.” He continues: “We gonna have some sessions, everybody gets together. The team culture was good last season, but we need to continue to improve that and build on that through the offseason.”

Warner already has clear ideas

Warner wants to change a few things at the Lions: “We gonna change our offense. I will run the offense. I am not sure about the defense in detail yet, but we gonna make changes. There are a lot of places to improve. As coaches, we gonna look on all those areas and address everything that need to be better.”

He already knows how he wants to make the Lions better: “It's not gonna be easy, but I expect players to play fast, physical and to play with great effort. I think if we get our players to do that every game, I think that overcomes a lot. I think you can do a heck of a lot through great effort. That's gonna be my approach.”

Despite all the challenges, the Prague Lions have an exciting offseason ahead of them. Under new leadership and with a few changes, the team plans to free themselves from last place in the Eastern Conference.

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