Missouri Western to Prepare for A New Chiefs Regime
By: Justin Sampson
Updated: January 1, 2013
(SAINT JOSEPH, Mo.) It's been a drama-filled stretch for the Chiefs over the past three years.
In that same time span, the team moved its training camp from River Falls, Wisconsin to the campus of Missouri Western.
Now the folks in St. Joseph will welcome in another new regime this summer.
"Each year has been different," Director of Athletic Facilities Mike Halloran said. "There really hasn't been a constant from A to B, B to C, C to D."
Now, another big adjustment is on the horizon. A new head coach will be getting acclaimated to his team at camp next year after the Chiefs fired Romeo Crennel after one season.
"He's a quality guy. I hated to see it happen to him. It is a business, and if he were sitting here, he'd probably tell you the same thing. The expectations were higher and I thought they'd do better."
Attendance has fluctuated at camp, as has buzz around the team. Some of the biggest noise last year was made when Crennel and company welcomed in the Arizona Cardinals for a scrimmage here in St. Joseph.
"Who knows when another NFL team might come in here," Assistant Athletic Director Brett Esely said. "Might be next year or it might never happen again. A lot of that depends on what a new coach wants to do and how they feel they need to get ready for their season."
"There'll be so many new faces," Halloran said."I think the players will be more comfortable coming to camp next year than the coaches because they'll be new. That'll probably be the biggest adjustment."
Just like the 'Chiefs Kingdom', university officials are waiting to see who the new hires will be and who will be their guests this summer.
"When spring semester gets going, we'll start our initial planning. We'll start having our meetings with them later in the spring and into the summer. When they release their training camp schedule, we'll start the scheduling that we're doing."
Whomever takes the reigns, folks at Western are confident that any change will go a long way to peak fan interest.
"The more successful the team is, the more high profile the players are with the Chiefs, the more in the spotlight and well-attended camp is," Esely said.
"Hopefully the hire will bring some excitement to the franchise," Halloran said. "To see what they do with the draft and those kinds of things will bring the excitement and fans back to camp here at Western."
