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Coaches - 2005

Head Coach, General Manager
This year marks John's 35th year coaching football.

He graduated with a B.A. (Hons), from the University of Western Ontario in 1970. He received his M. Ed from Wayne State University in 1976. John was a secondary school teacher with the Thames Valley District School Board from 1971 until his retirement in 2000. He served as the Executive Director of the Men's Athletic Alumni at the University of Western Ontario from 2001 to 2005. John is also the Assistant Head Football Coach at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

During his teaching career John coached at three different high schools in London (Oakridge, H.B.Beal, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier) and reached the Senior Football City Championship at all three. His teams won 6 Senior Football City Championships, and 12 Divisional Championships. He was also the head coach of the London Senior Bowl team and the head coach of the London Beefeaters of the Canadian Junior Football League. John was Team Canada's 1998 Defensive Coordinator in Scotland & England. His Forest City Thunderbirds were the GLFL Champions in 2000 and 2002. The London Sports Council presented John the 2001 Ontario 3M Community Coach Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to community coaching.

Coach Darnell is fully certified NCCP Level IV.

Defensive Backs
Dan Durack, is a newcomer to the 2005 Forest City Thunderbirds staff. Dan grew up playing football in Montreal within the North Shore Football Association dynasty. He has been involved in both playing and coaching football for as long as he can remember. Most notably, Dan played 5 years of varsity football for The Acadia University Axemen in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. He ended his 21-year long-playing career there as a defensive back and special teams player. He then became one of the founding members of the Valley Minor Football Association from the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. During this time, he also held the position of head coach for the first Bantam football team in the Annapolis Valley. Dan’s travels brought him westward again to coach briefly with the Oshawa Hawkeye Football Association, where he held the position of Defensive Coordinator and Special Teams coach. Dan has completed the NCCP Level II Technical Course. He is presently the event manager for the University of Western Ontario Varsity Athletics Department.

Defensive Line
Cory returns for his third year with the Forest City Thunderbirds staff as the defensive line coach.

He played for Coach Darnell on the Laurier Senior Football Championship team in 1993. After high school Cory went on to play in the NCAA. He was an Outstanding Achievement Award winner at the University of New Hampshire. Cory is presently a businessman living in London.

Defensive Line
Shaun Guest enters his first year of coaching with the Forest City Thunderbirds as a Defensive line coach.

Shaun is no stranger to the organization having played three seasons (2001, 2002, and 2003) with the Thunderbirds at Defensive line. Shaun earned the Most Valuable Lineman award for the Thunderbirds in 2002 as a member of the GLFL Championship team. He was also named to the league all-star team in 2002 and 2003. Shaun played high school football at Clarke Road Secondary School and after graduation went on to the University of Western Ontario. Shaun currently plays Defensive line for the Mustangs.

Receivers
Jay is a newcomer to the 2005 coaching staff. He played for the Thunderbirds in 2001 and was a member of the 2002 Provincial Championship team. Jay was named GLFL all-star wide receiver in 2002. He played high school football for Saunders Secondary School. Jay entered the University of Western Ontario in the fall of 2002 and made the Mustang dress roster in his rookie year. Jay is presently playing WR for Western and is completing a B.A.

Receivers
Mike is also making his coaching debut with the Forest City Thunderbirds. He played SB for the Thunderbirds for three years (2001, 2002, and 2003). Mike was a member of the 2002 GLFL Championship team and was named the MVP of the championship game. He played his high school football at Saunders Secondary School. Mike is presently studying for his B.A. at the University of Windsor.

Offensive Line
Nolan returns for a second full year coaching with the Thunderbirds offensive line. Nolan won the Thunderbirds Outstanding Rookie award in 2000. Nolan played two full seasons with the Thunderbirds winning the GLFL championship in 2000 and making it to the championship final in his second year. Unfortunately, injuries cut short his third campaign.

Nolan played his High school Football for the South Lions winning both junior and senior football championships in 1998 and 2001 respectively. Nolan was a team captain and all-star for the 2001 Lions championship team. Nolan went on to play for the University of Western Ontario Mustangs of the CIS and the London Beefeaters of the CJFL.

Offensive Line
Coach Snyder returns to the Forest City Thunderbirds organization after being a member of the team during their first three years of existence (2000, 2001, and 2002).

Matt attended Montcalm Secondary School in London for five years where he played Quarterback and was named team MVP in his senior year. Following graduation, Matt joined the Thunderbirds where he played Quarterback and Receiver under Coach Darnell and was a member of both the 2000 and 2002 Provincial Championship teams. Matt holds the distinction of throwing the first touchdown pass in Thunderbirds team history. Matt went on to play three years for the London Beefeaters as a Quarterback.

Matt began his coaching career at Montcalm as Quarterbacks Coach before moving on to Mother Teresa Secondary School where he was named Offensive Coordinator and directed the Spartan offense to an average of over 30 points per game during their first year. Matt has extensive experience coaching summer football in London and has completed his Level 1 technical certification.

Matt has a diploma in Business Marketing from Fanshawe College and in 2004 he returned to school after being accepted to the University of Windsor where he is currently a History major and plans on attending teachers college after graduation. Matt also plays Receiver for the Lancer Football team.

Running Backs
John Kublinskas returns for his fifth season with the Thunderbirds staff as the running backs coach.

John played for the Laurier Rams City Championship team in 1993 under Coach Darnell. After high school John went on to the University of Waterloo where he had an outstanding career playing Tight End for the Warriors under legendary coach Tuffy Knight and was a member of the Yates Cup team. John has completed his NCCP Level II Technical.

After graduating from Waterloo John entered Teacher's College and is presently teaching and coaching at Laurier S.S. in London

Quarterbacks
Dave is a newcomer to the 2005 Forest City Thunderbirds staff. He played high school football for Coach Darnell many, many years ago. This season Dave will be working extensively with the quarterbacks. He has coached minor baseball for numerous years in the community. Dave manages team sales at London's Source for Sports.

Dave has NCCP Level 1 Technical.

Trainers - 2005