ELF: Fehervar Enthroners HC Joe Ashfield keeping his team focused – “Our mindset is to continuously improve.”

After opening the European League of Football season with six straight losses, the Fehervar Enthroners have now won two in a row including an impressive victory over the Milano Seamen.

For first year head coach Joe Ashfield, who ran the offense for the Enthroners in 2023, this is a definite boost.

In their first year in the ELF, the Enthroners, finished fourth in the East with a 3-9 record and were ninth in the 17 team league in rushing touchdowns with nine and produced a total of 2,673 yards of offense in 10 games in 2023, good for 13th. This season, in eight games the team has produced a total of 2,268 yards of total offense which places them 13th and they have thrown 12 passing touchdowns, 10th best in the ELF. Having lost two offensive coaches, including his offensive coordinator, has had to serve double and at times triple duty in the tough ELF East conference.

Still, for the seasoned college coach, it is just another challenge. And with his extensive coaching background  he has faced many.

The 46 year old Ashfield was the quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator for Black Hills University from 2020 to 2022. Before joining BHSU, Ashfield was the offensive line coach at Rice University for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. At Rice, he saw eight players earn postseason honors as voted on by league coaches in 2018.

Prior to that, Ashfield spent five seasons as an offensive assistant at Stanford (2013-17) where he assisted with offensive line. During that time, the Cardinal played in two Rose Bowls (2014 and 2016) winning in 2016, won two Pac 12 Conference championships and reached the Alamo Bowl (2017). Prior to that, Ashfield was the offensive coordinator at New Mexico Military Institute and coached receivers at Loras College (Iowa) from 2008-10.

Ashfield played quarterback at St. John’s (Minn.) under legendary coach John Gagliardi and then played for the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns in the German Football League (2001) before beginning his coaching career in New Zealand with the North Harbour Pride in Auckland from 2001-2004. He served as the head coach of the New Zealand National Team in 2004.

He returned to the United States in 2005, earning a master’s degree from Delta State and worked as an offensive assistant at Stanford from 2005 and as a graduate assistant in 2006.

AFI: In your first year as head coach of the Enthroners after serving as offensive coordinator, what kinds of adjustments/changes have you had to make?

Ashfield: As a head coach, I’ve had to shift my mindset to consider the entire team in my decision-making, not just the offense. I would have liked to delegate more responsibilities on the offensive side, but we lost our OC just before training camp, and another offensive coach left in the middle of the season. It’s been a chaotic juggling act for the last few weeks.

AFI: You have had a tough start to the season but you have now won two in a row and the offense seems to be clicking. How do you feel going into the last four games of the season?

Ashfield: We certainly feel much better than we did a few weeks ago, but our focus is continuous improvement. That’s the mindset the led to the last two wins. If we can keep that focus, there are still winnable games on our schedule. I’m very pleased with the pressure our defense is putting on opposing quarterbacks.

AFI: How much improvement/development have you seen in the ELF since joining the Enthroners?

Ashfield: I’ve only been in the league just over a year, but the level of play at the top has improved. I hope to see more parity in the league in the future, fewer blowouts, and more suspenseful games for the fans.

AFI: The ELF has adopted the XFL kickoff rule which the NFL will now be using. Are there other rules changes you would like to see?

Ashfield: The NFL kickoff rules will be slightly different from the ELF. I like that the ELF is open to adjusting to rules as we’ve seen this season, so I’m interested to see if the new NFL kickoff might be a better option for the ELF next season.