Edmonton, AB - The Edmonton Rush are pleased to announce today that Bob Hamley has been named the new General Manager and Head Coach of the National Lacrosse League team.

Hamley, who will be relocating to Edmonton, replaces Paul Day who was let go by the Rush on Tuesday.

“We are excited about Bob’s plans for the Rush and we are confident that he is the right person - the right new voice - to be leading the club to greater success,” said Rush President Duane Vienneau.

“Bob is a proven winner, he has a great track record and great credentials. The entire organization is looking forward to working with Bob and hopefully we can soon start seeing this team live up to the high expectations that everyone, especially our fans, has for the players and coaching staff.”

Hamley announced both his assistant coaches as local products Jamey Bowen and Chris Stachniak.

Hamley joins the Rush from the Colorado Mammoth where he was serving as an assistant coach after his former club, the Arizona Sting, took a one-year leave of absence from the NLL.

With the Sting, Hamley enjoyed some strong regular seasons before his teams excelled in the playoffs. In 2005, Hamley restructured Arizona from a team that had the NLL’s worst offence the previous season and turned them into a contender for the Champion’s Cup. The Sting, who finished the regular season with a 9-7 mark, knocked off two perennial NLL powerhouses in Colorado and Calgary en route to the final before falling to the Toronto Rock.

For his efforts in ’05, Hamley was named the Les Bartley Award winner as the NLL’s Coach of the Year and one day later, he claimed the General Manager of the Year honour becoming the first person in league history to win both awards in the same season.

In 2006, Hamley’s team finished 8-8 in the regular season and then defeated the expansion Portland LumberJax in the West Division semi-final before losing to the eventual champion Colorado Mammoth in the West final.

Last season, Hamley orchestrated a 9-7 record out of the Sting and Arizona went on to beat both Calgary and San Jose in the West Division playoffs. The quest for a league title was dashed, however, when the Sting were beaten 13-11 on their home floor by Rochester in the Champion’s Cup final.

Following a four-year NLL career as a player during which he notched 105 points in 31 regular-season games along with a pair of Champion’s Cup titles with the Buffalo Bandits, Hamley began coaching in the Ontario Lacrosse Association with the Kitchener-Waterloo Braves.

From there was named an assistant coach with the NLL’s Albany Attack and helped guide that club to the 2002 Champion’s Cup final. The next season, Hamley took over behind the bench of the Columbus Landsharks but despite an 8-8 record the club missed the playoffs and ultimately wound up moving to Arizona.