Only Nixon Remains
Stratos Drops Team,
Focusing On Pricing

Monday, November 13, 2006

Photo: ESPN Outdoors Frank Scalish is one of the former Stratos pros who's now in limbo.

The last 15 months have been pretty rocky for the Stratos Boats pro staff. In August of last year, Stratos cut back its national pro-staff package to better focus on its owners tournaments and Platinum Program, according to the company. Most of the Stratos team weathered the storm, except Chad Grigsby, who switched to Ranger at the time.

A few weeks ago, team members received more bad news when Stratos passed on renewing nearly every pro contract. At this point, Larry Nixon is the only one guaranteed a spot on the team next year.

Surprise To Many

At least two pros BassFan spoke with were surprised to be cut.

Former Stratos pro Frank Scalish told BassFan: "When I called to re-up on my deal, they told me it was no longer in their budget and they were doing away with their program."

Scalish doesn't have another boat deal yet, but is looking hard at upstart company Legend. "I think it's a fabulous boat," he said. "The people who own the company are great people – they're honest and up-front."

Lee Bailey Jr. said: "I'm looking for a ride right now, and that's a little bit of a surprise. We'd been warned quite a while back that things were changing, but everyone tried to stay out of the rumor mill. Some of us stuck it through in hopes that they were going to hold onto some of us."

Dan Morehead's another casualty, but unlike Scalish and Bailey, he moved within the Genmar family. He'll run a Ranger next year. (Editor's note: Genmar Holdings Inc. owns both Ranger and Stratos, as well as Champion.)

"The powers that be want to promote Ranger, and pretty much every (pro) except Larry Nixon was let go at Stratos," Morehead said. "I'm running a Ranger now. With all the contingency money, I'm a fool not to. But it's kind of bittersweet. I've been with Stratos for 14 years, and I kind of hate to leave them. But life is full of changes."

Andy Morgan and Clay Dyer are rumored to be moving to Ranger, but the shakeup leaves other pros in potential limbo – notably Sam Lashlee, Russ Moran, Emily Shaffer, Ricky Shumpert and Rich Tauber.

A New Direction?

Stratos brand manager Dennis Rodriguez, who called the shakeup a "re-look at the company's direction," confirmed that Nixon is the only pro with a definite deal for next year.

"(The program) has changed a little bit – we've redefined it a little bit," Rodriguez said. "We're going to push Larry real hard, and some other folks didn't quite make that part of it. There are some (pros) we're still looking at, but the only one guaranteed a slot is Larry Nixon."

Rodriguez said the company looked at it this way: "Do we need this many pro-staff guys, or can we get our best bang for the buck with a great guy like Larry Nixon?"

Stratos this year launched its entry-level 176XT. The value-priced boat retails for around $13,000 and is meant to compete with aluminum brands. Although Stratos will continue to produce a full line – all the way up to its flagship 201 Pro XL – there's clearly a new focus on value-pricing. And that focus has led to a tightening of the budget belt.

Photo: Ranger Boats Randy Hopper, president of the Genmar Freshwater Fishing Group, said Stratos has gone more toward a 'net-price' program, so it had to 'skinny-up.'

Randy Hopper, who had been president of Ranger Boats, now heads Ranger and Stratos in his capacity as president of the Genmar Freshwater Fishing Group. About the change in Stratos' focus and cuts to the Stratos pro staff, he said: "We've went to what I'll call more of a 'net price' than 'entry level' (focus for Stratos), although we do have a new entry-level boat for under $13,000 at the retail level. But we've started doing more of a net-price program, and really what that means is we had to skinny-up.

"We're trying to meet a price point in the marketplace to meet the volume that's out there, and we had to pare our pro staff back to get there. We're looking for reductions wherever we can.

"Larry's been a Stratos namesake for a long time, and will continue to be. But some of the other great fishermen we've had, we couldn't renew their deals."

About the strategy for the Stratos boat brand going forward, Hopper noted: "The strategy really is that we need new people in our marketplace, and we need them desperately. We need to grow it from the bottom. Over the years – with the new engine technologies and the way we build boats – the prices have gone up.

"We backed up with a clean sheet of paper, and challenged our people to come up with a boat that would be competitive with aluminum – which was what we were really seeing in that market below $13,000. And to my knowledge, there wasn't a single fiberglass bass boat below $15,000. We wanted to provide the things people are used to in fiberglass boats – the style, the stability, the performance. We think the 176XT hit a home run."

What About Champion?

Since Champion is also owned by Genmar, BassFan spoke with Champion president Don Wood about the status of its pro staff. Wood said that the Champion staff – which includes Skeet Reese, Mike McClelland, Mike Reynolds, Morizo Shimizu, Jon Bondy and Michael Murphy – would stay intact for 2007.

Wood also noted that the lean staff allows Champion to further-advance a strategy it embraced last year, which places a heavier emphasis on local anglers supported through dealerships.

"We redid our pro-team program for the dealerships, and so far it's working well," Wood said. "There's a lot of stuff happening there. The program allows us to have a pro staff where (dealers) have someone locally who can be a good silent salesman to represent the products and the dealership."

Notable

> Hopper confirmed that Stratos did "pare back" and discontinue some of its older models. "But we still go all the way up through the 201, and we'll continue to do that," he said. "Again, we're focused on value-pricing."

> This will be Scalish's second boat switch in as many years. A year ago, he was a casualty when Brunswick Corp. (parent company of Mercury Marine) purchased Triton. Scalish, a Yamaha pro, would've had to switch motor sponsors to stay with Triton. He elected to stay with Yamaha, then signed with Stratos in December 2006.