James was the head coach of the Gladiators during the 2005 and 2006 seasons, going 13-19 (.407) and missing the playoffs each year. But Las Vegas was a floundering AFL franchise that made it to the playoffs only once in its existence before relocating to Cleveland before the 2008 campaign.

By comparison, Utah, in each of its first two years, won the AFL's award for best support staff. The Blaze ownership group, led by John Garff, has been willing to push up to the league's salary cap to pay players, and Utah has been active on the free agent front. That makes the coaching job in Utah much more attractive — with more potential — than the job James had in Las Vegas.

Also, James' winning percentage in Las Vegas wasn't much different than White's with the Blaze. While White had great success in 13 seasons with the Arizona Rattlers, taking the team to five ArenaBowls, his Blaze teams went just 21-30 in three years for a .412 winning percentage.

Another candidate with local ties is Lee Leslie, the current head coach of the Boise Burn, an AF2 team. Prior to taking the job with the Burn two years ago, Leslie had spent most of his adult life coaching in Utah. He was a successful high school coach at both Tooele and Hillcrest and also was the head coach of the old Utah Warriors, the local minor league arena team that played in the E Center.

Leslie was the Blaze's defensive coordinator during their first season in 2006 before taking the head coaching job in Boise, where his teams have gone 15-14. The Burn are currently 7-6 with two regular-season games remaining before the playoffs.

Other available candidates with recent AFL head coaching experience include Ed Hodgkiss, who was recently fired by Los Angeles after leading the Avengers to the playoffs five times in seven seasons, and Doug Kay, most recently of Columbus. Kay has been a head coach of three different AFL franchises and has 13 years of experience in the league.

The Blaze don't figure to be without a head coach for very long. Jones says he hopes to have a new coach in place "sometime next week."

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E-mail: lojo@desnews.com