The Ljubljana Silverhawks have signed Mark Garza to be their new head coach. The experienced 43 year old coach will be the Silverhawks’ first ever professional coach. He takes the reigns from Uroš Valant, who led the team in the last years, including one CEFL Bowl appearance.

“We needed a coach. A true head coach, who’s only doing that, football 24 hours a day. Up until now we were learning it on the fly, but it’s not enough anymore. As we’ve seen with the Vukovi and the Wolves, we needed to get some real knowledge on the team and coach Garza decided to come to Ljubljana”, says Valant, who of course stays with the team.

Garza has had a long career in Europe, starting in the late 90’s, coming to Germany from the US, specifically California. He started in Leipzig, and worked for many other teams over the years, including ones in Austria and France. His last job was with the Wernigerode Mountain Tigers who were promoted from the third to the second division during his time there.

“We had common goals on the direction of the team and organization. The president of the team Milan Narat, Uros Valent and the coaching staff made it a easy choice giving me 100% backing from the management”, says Garza.

The Silverhawks have become a serious contender in recent years, after many losing seasons. Two years ago they played in the Bowl, and last season they had a chance to be in it, even managing to beat the now three straight league champions from Belgrade. Could Garza finally be the person that would lift the Silverhawks to the top spot in the CEFL?

“…We have to create a standard of excellence on how we do football in Silverhawks country. We have to build a clear vision on how we do things. Having our standard of excellence will create the present and future of the Silverhawks program. The better the map and directions the better chance you have of reaching your destination. Our number one goal is the CEFL championship. Now it ´s up to us to work that plan to perfection, one game at a time.”

They are also still thinking about import players, and if possible two. This includes Desmond Hendricks as one of the possibilities. He was the Defensive Player of the Year last year, but didn’t finish the season.