The Ian Rintel Award for Front Office Executive of the Year recognizes the league's most improved team from one season to the next. The award is named after former owner Ian Rintel, whose Waikiki Keys bounced back from a 33-129 record in 1993 to a 76-86 record in 1994. The 43-win jump is still the best in DMBL history.

And the award goes to....

Adam Kozubal, Honolulu Sharks

Kozubal wins his first-ever Rintel Award as he piloted his Sharks from their first-ever last-place finish in 2006 to their first-ever fourth-place finish in 2007. The Sharks improved by 28 wins, from 58-104 to 86-76, which is the seventh-best turn-around in the league history. Even more impressive is the jump if you consider rungs moved up in the standings -- from 14th to 4th. The 10-place jump ranks second all time, behind only the 11-place jump turned in by Jeremy Berger, who inherited the last-place Hillsborough Destroyers and took them all the way to 3rd place (a 26-win improvement, from 63-99 to 89-73). This is by far the biggest improvement in Honolulu franchise history; before this, their fastest rise in the standings was a modest 10-win, 6-place improvement for the 2001-2002 Sharks. Last year, Kozubal had the league's biggest drop when the Sharks dropped from a 91-win 5th place finish in 2005 to a 58-win 14th place finish in 2006. The 33-win, 9-place drop followed by a 28-win, 11-place improvement is one of the fastest "yo-yos" in league history and Kozubal may have to be checked for whiplash. And you read it here first last year: "Kozubal had averaged 84 wins a season over the previous four years, so if he can get back on track next season he may just have his first Rintel Award."

The second-biggest improvement was turned in by Jamie Landsman, who in just his second year in the league piloted what had been a 101-loss team in 2006 into a playoff team in 2007. The 20-win, 6-place improvement is all the more noteworthy when you consider the franchise he purchased, the Columbia Crusaders/Rattlesnakes, never made the post-season in 14 seasons. The third-best improvement was Anthony "Bocci" Pucci, who improved the Philadelphia Endzone Animals from a bitter 84-win, 7th-place finish -- they missed the post-season after losing a play-in game -- to a triumphant 103-win, 2nd-place finish as the Morris Division champions. And the other division champion, Craig "Butch" Garretson's Newark Sugar Bears, surprisingly had the fourth-best improvement -- from a league-best 111 wins last year to a league-best 118 wins this year. Somehow we don't think he'll win the Rintel Award next year. Mark Hrywna's Hoboken Cutters (4 wins) and David Landsman's Marietta Mighty Men (2 wins) also had positive gains.

The biggest loser by any measure this year were Eric Wickstrom's Las Vegas Rat Pack. The Rats dropped 35 wins (and 9 places) in the standings, from an 87-win 5th place finish last year to a last-place 52-win season this year. Interestingly, it is almost exactly the same performance turned in last year by the Sharks (33 wins, 9 places), so maybe Wickstrom can follow the same rebuilding plan to a post-season berth and a Rintel Award next year. Big reverses also were suffered by Yaro Zajac's Vancouver Iron Fist, which lost 17 wins and 6 "and a half" places (from 2nd overall to an 8th place tie), and Chris Pucci's Carolina Mudcats, which dropped 13 wins and from 3rd overall to an 8th place tie. This year's other decliners were Paul Barbosa's South Boston Gang and Mike "Stump" Matiash's Arkansas Golden Falcons, which each lost 6 wins, and last year's Rintel Award winner, Brent Campbell, whose Hillsborough Hired Hitmen had 5 less wins. 

Two new teams started play last year and were founded by dispersal draft, so there's no previous record with which to compare. Mike Hornick led New Jersey Team Buddah to a 68-win, 12th-place finish; co-owners Chris and Greg Calvosa led the Sardine City Straphangers to a 58-win, 13th-place finish. The two teams were founded from the remnants of the Phoenix Dragons, which won 60 games and finished in 13th, and the Westwood Deductions, which won 66 games and finished in 11th. Average those together and you get 63 wins, so in theory we could say the Buddahs improved by 5 wins and the Straphangers declined by 8.

Let's take a look at the previous award winners: