Only Native coach in pros finishes season

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It was certainly a season of mixed emotions for Freeman Bucktooth.

After 20 years of coaching, he finally made it to the pinnacle of his sport as an associate coach with the Syracuse Smash. He may have been one of three coaches on the staff but, for the most part, he ran the bench because the two other associates, Steve Scaramuzzino and Pat Donahue, were also players with the club.

The Smash competes in the seven-team National Lacrosse League, (NLL)a circuit which boasts most of the top box lacrosse players in the world. The league was previously called the Major Indoor Lacrosse League or the MILL.

Bucktooth was listed in the Smash press guide as the only Native person who is coaching a pro team. There is no other Native person currently coaching any of the four other most high-profile pro circuits; National Hockey League, National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball.

Ted Nolan, an Ojibway man from the Garden River First Nation near Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., made it to the pro coaching ranks before Bucktooth. But Nolan, who captured the NHL coach-of-the-year award in 1996-97, has been unable to land a NHL job since parting ways with the Buffalo Sabres two years ago.

Bucktooth said he had contemplated calling Nolan (but he never did) to seek out some advice about coaching at the pro level. Nolan had called the Bucktooth residence a few times in the past to offer encouragement to Bucktooth's son Drew, a member of the Ontario Hockey League's Oshawa Generals.

Bucktooth, who is from the Onondaga Nation near Syracuse, believes there are many other qualified Native people, including Nolan, who would be more than capable of holding down coaching jobs in other pro sports.

"Maybe they weren't given the opportunity I was given with our owner," he said.

Bucktooth admitted he didn't have an ideal relationship with Smash owner Howard Dolgon, who is also the team's general manager. Though the two had some disagreements over the floor time of certain players, Bucktooth prefers not to get into too many specifics because he's keen on returning to the club next season. Syracuse posted a disappointing 3-9 mark and finished dead last in the NLL standings. Only the top four finishers qualified for post-season action in the loop, which has a regular season which runs from December through April. The Toronto Rock finished on top of the league and their appearances on CTV Sportsnet have raised the profile of the sport in Canada's largest city and across the country this season.

"I want to come back and redeem myself and the team," said Bucktooth, who has numerous coach-of-the-year and other accolades from his previous coaching stints with both box and field lacrosse teams in the Syracuse area. "I had never been part of a losing team before. All my teams have been at or near the top before."

Also participating in the NLL this season were the Baltimore Thunder, Buffalo Bandits, New York Saints, Rochester Knighthawks and Philadelphia Wings.

Bucktooth was a bit surprised he ended up with the Smash this season. He had applied to coach the Syracuse side before its inaugural campaign in 1998. But Smash officials opted to give the job to British Columbia native Kevin Alexander, a former playing star. Alexander was fired after the Smash could only post a 2-10 mark a year ago. Bucktooth said he didn't re-apply for the job but the Smash called him because they had kept his original application on file.

Though he's disappointed his team didn't win more games, Bucktooth enjoyed the '99 season.

"I really enjoyed working with the players," he said. "It was a challenge. And I enjoyed that challenge. And even though our record does not show it, we were really close in a lot of games."

The Smash roster this season included six Native players. They were Neal Powless, Ed Shenandoah, Al Jones, Kariwate Mitchell, Owen Benedict and Mike Benedict (who was traded to Buffalo late in the season).

Bucktooth, w works for a ower utility company in Syracuse, was expecting to hear by early May whether he would be rehired by the Smash.

Either way, he's guaranteed to have a busy spring and summer schedule. That's because he's agreed to be the head coach of the Onondaga Warriors, an Ontario Lacrosse Association expansion Junior B franchise.