Amid mass defections on the coaching staff and rumors of financial difficulty, the Bonecrushers, Milwaukee's first-year franchise in the Continental Indoor Football League, went on the offensive late last night.

The team issued a press release headlined: "With apologies to Mark Twain, the news of our death has been greatly exaggerated."

Here is the text of the release, which also is available at mkebonecrushers.com.

"Let's cut to the chase. Pretty much everything you've heard is wrong.

"Several news outlets have been reporting changes with the Milwaukee Bonecrushers organization, but they are fabrications and innuendo. Here are the facts. We came to Milwaukee to put together a winning team, a team the fans could be proud of. But with an abysmal 0-3 start, we felt it was critical we make a change and make it fast. On Monday evening, we made sweeping changes in the front office and brought in a new General Manager, Jordan Kopac, and a new coaching staff led by Michael Tumbleson. We would have liked our head coach, Gilbert Brown, to remain with the organization, but we respect his decision to resign.

"We are not bankrupt. We have paid all our players. We are not folding nor canceling the season. We are here to stay."

The Bonecrushers will introduce their new coach at a news conference this morning. The situation this week is generating more news coverage than the tea did for its first three games.