Philadelphia Soul
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| Philadelphia Soul | ||
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| Conference | National | |
| Division | Eastern | |
| Year founded | 2004 | |
| Home arena | Wachovia Center & Wachovia Spectrum(alt.) |
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| City, State | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |
| Wild card titles | 1 (2006) | |
| Division titles | none | |
| Conference titles | none | |
| ArenaBowl championships | none | |
- For the music genre, see Philadelphia soul.
The Philadelphia Soul is a team in the Arena Football League. They began play as a 2004 expansion team.
Contents |
[edit] History
The team is owned in part by Jon Bon Jovi, Craig Spencer and Ron Jaworski (former QB of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles). The Soul began play in February of 2004, and plays its home games at the Wachovia Center, home of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League and the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association. When there is a scheduling conflict with the NBA or NHL, games are played at the Wachovia Spectrum--the former home of the Flyers and 76ers and the current home of the Philadelphia Phantoms AHL hockey team and the Philadelphia KiXX MISL soccer franchise. The Soul play in the Eastern Division of the National Conference of the AFL. The name "Soul" refers to the the Philadelphia soul music genre, as the team is owned in part by musician Jon Bon Jovi.
In 2005, the Soul got off to a great start, beating the Austin Wranglers 66-35. However, after five games, the Soul had 2 wins and 3 losses, which lead to the firing of head coach Michael Trigg.
Critics say that the Soul erred that off-season when they made Tony Graziani the highest-paid player in Arena League history. The move left them with little money under the salary cap to improve their defense, and as a result, they were not in this year's Drive to the ArenaBowl Playoffs. The elimination came even after NBC scheduled 14 games of the Soul to be shown on national or regional television. NBC, along with the AFL, was clearly hoping for Philadelphia to develop a good team to justify the hype given them before the season.
In the 2006 season, the Soul got off to a 2-0 start. They went 2-0 against division rival Dallas Desperados (who finished a league best 13-3), and finished the season at 9-7 and earned their first playoff berth through the wild card. In their wild card playoff game, the Soul defeated the Austin Wranglers in Austin, 52-35. The score was 21-21 at halftime, but the #5 seed Soul outscored the #4 Wranglers 21-7 in the third quarter and ran away with the game. Their Divisional Round Playoff Game was in Orlando against the #2 seed Predators on Sunday, May 28, at 3:00PM. Unfortunately, the Soul had some scoring opportunities slip by, as they fell 31-27.
The official mascot of the Soul is the Blues Brother-like Soul Man[1].
[edit] Season-by-season
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties
| Season | W | L | T | Finish | Playoff Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 5th NC Eastern | -- |
| 2005 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 3rd NC Eastern | -- |
| 2006 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 3rd NC Eastern | (1-1) Lost Week 2 (Orlando) |
| *2007 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2nd NC Eastern | -- |
| Totals | 24 | 29 | 0 | (including playoffs) | |
* = Current Standing
[edit] Head coaches
- 2004-2005: Michael Trigg, 7-14
- 2005: James Fuller, 4-7
- 2006-present: Bret Munsey, 10-8
[edit] Current Roster (as of 2/26/2007)
- 1 Larry Brackins - WR
- 2 Idris Price - LB
- 4 Todd France - K
- 5 J.J. McKelvey - WR/LB
- 6 Eddie Moten - DB
- 7 Tony Graziani - QB
- 8 Aric Williams - DB (Injured Reserve)
- 9 Steve Gonzalez - WR
- 10 Brian Mance - DB
- 11 Mike Brown - WR/DB
- 12 Juston Wood - QB
- 19 Charles Pauley - WR
- 22 George Layne - FB (Injured Reserve)
- 24 Raheem Orr - LB
- 37 Johnnie Harris - DB
- 40 Wes Ours - FB
- 45 Matt Bernstein - FB (Injured Reserve)
- 55 Martin Bibla - OL
- 65 Mike Mabry - OL
- 70 Kelvin Chaisson - OL (Injured Reserve)
- 77 Phil Bogle - OL
- 88 Sean Scott - WR/LB
- 91 Felipe Claybrooks - DL
- 92 Jason Davis - DL
- 95 Dwayne Missouri - DL
- 97 Gabe Nyenhuis - DL (Injured Reserve)
- 98 Bryan Save - DL
[edit] Front Office Staff
- Jon Bon Jovi - Founder, Majority Owner, and Co-Chairman of the Board
- Craig A. Spencer - Majority Owner and Co-Chairman of the Board
- Richie Sambora - Member of the Ownership Group
- Leo Carlin, Jr. - Member of the Ownership Group
- Stephen Perna - Member of the Ownership Group
- Ron "Jaws" Jaworski - Team President
- Rich Lisk - General Manager
- John Adams - Assistant General Manager
- John M. Adderly - Team Executive
