Writer: Matt Rappa
Soul Head Coach Clint Dolezel: Top Priority Is ‘Signing the Right Guys’
Published20 Jan 2019
By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia Soul held their last of two open player tryouts this offseason on Saturday at Total Turf Experience in Pitman, New Jersey. With an estimated attendance of between 150 and 200 Arena Football League hopefuls, Soul Head Coach Clint Dolezel said the team is "doing good" and "excited" when they can find a player from an open tryout.
“Great turnout … way better than we thought, we were a little worried about the weather," Dolezel told Coffee Jones. "We’re happy to have the numbers. … I think the first tryout was maybe a hair better than this one as far as overall talent, but a good turnout for us.”
Dolezel said he thinks the Soul will invite four players from the first tryout to training camp in March, along with "a player or two" from Saturday's tryout, according to General Manager and Assistant Head Coach Beau Bell.
“I’m excited to be able to get forward to the season, but I was even more excited to come up to this tryout because we got a lot of good players show up," Bell told Jones. "Great body types, great athletic skills. We definitely found a player or two here at the tryouts."
The Soul, back-to-back ArenaBowl champions in 2016 and 2017, hope to return and win the league's championship in their upcoming 14th season. Dolezel said he "always love the challenge for the upcoming season," and to prepare now, the biggest thing is "signing the right guys."
"You can't go out there and win football games if you don't have good football players. That's our first goal … make sure we get the nucleus of the guys we had last year, and find some new faces," Dolezel said. "We found some good, new faces last year that did well for us, and that's what we're hoping to do this year."
A major detriment for the Soul last season was the injury to starting quarterback Dan Raudabaugh, who was placed on injured reserve in late May. When asked if the team was perhaps looking at backup quarterback options in case the 2015 AFL Most Valuable Player suffers another injury in 2019, Dolezel called the nine-year veteran "the best quarterback in the league," and said "you just can't replace somebody like that."
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"We did struggle a little bit, but then found our stride in there when we brought in Shane Austin," Dolezel said. "It definitely always is a goal to have a good backup, but good backups are usually sought after for starting jobs."
"It is tough; it's a fine line as far as guys that want to learn. I think we have a good one that we are possibly going to bring in, so I feel good about that."
For owners, Dolezel, players, and especially Bell, not capturing the Soul's fourth ArenaBowl championship in 2019 would not be "acceptable." Bell said how the team is going to be able to rebuild a roster is getting the "best players," whether they are free agents or "guys off the streets."
"The best players are going to play. We have great coaches in this organization to be able to help these guys learn this game fast, so they can put their best foot forward, and don’t have to think at all and just play fast," Bell told Jones.
