Sockers Sign Newman to a Five-Year Contract : Now Owner Bell Says He Can Begin Work on Other Concern: Signing Segota

The San Diego Sockers announced Tuesday that Coach Ron Newman has signed a five-year contract extension, and Bob Bell, team majority owner, said he can now concentrate on other priorities.

First and foremost, he said, will be the signing of player Branko Segota.

“Now that we have Ron (signed) we can go on to accomplishing the other two things on my list,” Bell said. “We need to evaluate the talent on our club and make necessary changes and then we must sign the players who are important to us to keep, like Branko Segota, for example.”

Segota’s contract expires before the start of next season. He and Bell were close to terms last December, but Segota changed his mind 55 minutes before a scheduled press conference and rejected a six-year $1.25 million contract.

Tuesday, Newman was about a half-hour late in arriving to a press conference at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. Based on what happened with Segota, Bell was understandably a bit worried.

“I thought I was going to get left at the altar again,” Bell said.

Terms of Newman’s contract were not disclosed but the coach will reportedly earn between $500,000 and $600,000 over five years.

“I think it’s pretty clear to say that Ron is the state-of-the-art indoor soccer coach,” Bell said. “I think last year was one of Ron’s best coaching jobs, considering all of the injuries we had.”

Newman, 53, originally signed a one-year contract with the Sockers in 1980. He signed three-year contracts in 1981 and 1984. His newest contract will go into effect Nov. 30.

“Well, for one thing, it’s certainly no hardship knowing that I’ll be confined to San Diego for the next five years,” Newman said. “I’m just happy knowing that I’ll be around to keep helping establish the Sockers in our league. And, of course, I want to get that championship back.”

The Sockers had won five straight indoor championships under Newman before losing to Tacoma last week in the Major Indoor Soccer League’s Western Division finals.

Newman has a record of 132-63 in regular-season indoor play and 34-16 in the playoffs. The Sockers are the only indoor team Newman has coached, and he has been the Sockers’ only coach in indoor soccer.

“You think when you sign a contract like this one that it might be your last run as a coach,” Newman said. “But, to really know, you’d have to come back and ask me in four years. I could lose my last game on a goal in overtime and decide I didn’t want to go out like that.”