Lone Whoopee front office employee quits June 5, 2002

By Phillip Ramati
Telegraph Staff Writer

The Macon Whoopee will lose its only remaining employee today when director of sales Darren Roberts resigns his post to pursue other opportunities.

Roberts took over the club's front office operations in early February after general manager Lee Higgins resigned. A club vice president before he replaced Higgins, Roberts oversaw the team for its final 21 games.

"Currently, I want to pursue other options," said Roberts, former director of operations at SportsTowne. "I felt like it was in my best interest to step down while pursuing those."

Said Whoopee governor Dr. Jeffrey Fried: "Darren's done a good job under trying circumstances. I'm sure he'll be successful wherever he goes."

Most of the Whoopee's front office staff was released after the season ended, and head coach/director of player personnel Gord Dineen resigned last week to take the same position with the Richmond Renegades. Dineen cited the team's uncertain future as a key factor in his decision. There is no word on a search to replace Roberts or Dineen.

Roberts spent most of the past couple of months wrapping up business from last season rather than preparing for a 2002-03 season.

"Basically, I've been tying up the loose ends from the previous season," he said Tuesday. "I'm trying to make it an easy transition for the future of the team."

The partnership of Macon Sports Group (MSG), which runs the team, has yet to meet to decide its plans for next season. Brother Stewart, MSG's majority partner, said last week he is no longer commenting on the issue of the Whoopee's future and referred questions to Fried.

Fried said he hasn't spoken to Stewart about the Whoopee lately.

"I don't know what Brother's plans are," Fried said. "I don't think it's promising."

Jamie Hartman, who along with her husband Larry, is the other minority partner in MSG, also isn't optimistic about the Whoopee's future.

"Various people have expressed an interest in purchasing into the Whoopee," she said. "But none of those seemed to hold much promise."

MSG leased its ECHL franchise from the Elmore-Tuttle Sports Group for last year. No one from MSG has said whether the group will renew its agreement with Elmore-Tuttle, seek another ECHL franchise or look to join another league. No one from Elmore-Tuttle returned repeated phone calls on Tuesday.

"We expect Macon's ownership (Elmore-Tuttle) to address the board in the next 10 days at the annual league meetings," ECHL president Rick Adams said. "We expect them to let us know what their plans are."

The ECHL league meetings begin June 15 in Las Vegas. If Elmore-Tuttle wants the franchise to go dark, they can request the league to grant them that status at that time. If that happens, Adams said, another franchise could move into Macon if someone else wanted to put a team in the city.

"I don't think anyone has contacted Brother yet as far as leagues go," Fried said. "Brother is privy to that information."

Meanwhile, the Coliseum continues to hold dates for the Whoopee for next season.

"I got a call from Brother Stewart per our contract for dates last week," Coliseum director Regina McDuffie said. "He said there was some activity going on, but didn't confirm whether they were going to be here or not. Hopefully, we can retain the team. Macon needs some franchises."

McDuffie said the Whoopee didn't have to notify her about next year's schedule until August 1.

"The ownership hasn't told me one way or the other," Roberts said of the team's future. "I think when a decision comes, it will come rather quickly. My gut feeling is that it could be better, but I think anyone can see that there are some very big question marks right now."

Home