WORLD League Coach of the Year Jim Criner is the crucial link in the Scottish Claymores' chain of command.
The 56-year-old grandfather was thrust into his head coaching role in April last year after the sacking of Lary Kuharich.
Criner kept the faith that, given his own hand-picked coaching assistants, a nucleus of talented returning players, and the skilful plundering of the draft, his team would succeed. This year they have a 7-3 record and are unbeaten on home soil.
He has 30 years of experience in American college football and was an assistant with Sacramento Surge when they won the 1992 World Bowl.
Ray Willsey, 64, whose hard-hitting defences have been a universal calling card, was a Monarchs assistant when London won the inaugural championship in 1991, and with Frankfurt when Galaxy took last year's World Bowl.
He spent 17 years coaching in the NFL, and rightly took most of the credit for the overpowering performance by the Claymores in the 20-0, week five victory over the Galaxy in Frankfurt's Waldstadion.
Bill Dutton, 65, who worked with Criner in college at Boise State in the seventies, moulds the huge defensive linemen into human wrecking crews.
Jim Sochor, an offensive strategist with a genius for deception, compiled a unique college record of 18 straight NCAA Division Two championships with the University of Cal-Davis.
The offensive line have consistently opened up gaps for the league's greatest running back, Siran Stacy, and offered time and protection for the incisive pass-plays by quarterback Jim Ballard.
Rounding out the coaching crew are Larry Owens, who influences the line-backers; Vince Alcalde, who oversees the receivers; and national coach Mike Kenny, who fine-tunes the running backs.
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