Indoor Football League: Roughecks like their seclusion

ANDREWS Pulling into the parking lot at the Andrews Motor Inn, the surroundings look a little like a Boy Scout summer camp.

Low, one-story buildings built into a horseshoe, cars ringing the parking lot in front of every door, a bunch of picnic tables planted in the patch of grass in the center of the property.

The West Texas Roughnecks have taken this place over.

Ever since their inception, the Roughnecks have held training camp in Odessa, a short drive from their home field at the Ector County Coliseum.

But this time head coach Chris Williams had other ideas.

“It came from Coach Williams first,” Roughnecks general manager Harold Fuller said. “I think we’re really happy with the talent on the team, but if the team doesn’t jell, it won’t show on the field.”

Practicing in Odessa is easy and convenient.

Almost too convenient. Rather than focusing all of their energy on football, the Roughnecks have plenty to do in Odessa off the field.

In Andrews, training camp has been nothing but business.

“It helps our team to get away from everything that’s in Odessa,” West Texas receiver Sam Griffin said. “A small town like this, there’s nothing to do but football.”

Sharing rooms, away from their families, the Roughnecks have spent their nights getting to know a roster that had to be overhauled during the offseason.

A team that finished 3-11 — the first losing season in franchise history — needed a makeover.

And after Williams spent the offseason retooling the roster, there are plenty of new faces who need to build chemistry quickly.

The Andrews Motor Inn has taken care of that.

For most meals, the Roughnecks order food to the hotel, which is then placed potluck-style on the tables in the middle of the horseshoe.

Almost like a family holiday dinner.

“We have a bunch of young guys who are hungry,” Griffin said. “At night, the veterans are teaching them things like route-running, how to play indoors.”

Andrews has the facilities to accommodate the Roughnecks.

Practice at the Mustang Bowl is held on state-of-the-art turf. Meetings have fit perfectly in the Andrews Business and Technology Center.

And the community has been supportive. Fans rarely came to training camp practices in Odessa, but a few faces have shown up for almost every Roughnecks practice so far.

Coupled with the camaraderie built by holding training camp a half an hour away from the usual distractions, and Williams might have come up an idea the Roughnecks are going to repeat.

“For us, it’s perfect,” Williams said. “If I want to meet with the coaches until 2 in the morning, we stay up and talk about schemes, players, personnel until 2. Everybody is right next door.”

Exactly the idea Williams had in mind.