2003 Rhein Fire season

2003 Rhein Fire season
Head coach	Pete Kuharchek
General manager	Alexander Leibkind
Home field	Arena AufSchalke
Results
Record	6–4
Division place	2nd
Playoff finish	Lost World Bowl XI

The 2003 Rhein Fire season was the ninth season for the franchise in the NFL Europe League (NFLEL). The team was led by head coach Pete Kuharchek in his third year, and played its home games at Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. They finished the regular season in second place with a record of six wins and four losses. In World Bowl XI, Rhein lost to the Frankfurt Galaxy 35–16.

Offseason

Free agent draft

2003 Rhein Fire NFLEL free agent draft selections
Draft order		Player name	Position	College
Round	Choice	Player name	Position	College
1	5	Derrick Ham	DE	Miami
2	11	Dwayne Ledford	G	East Carolina
3	14	Gillis Wilson	DE	Southern
4	23	Shad Criss	CB	Missouri
5	26	Lew Thomas	RB	Vanderbilt
6	35	Andre Arnold	LB	Grambling State
7	38	Todd DeLamielleure	LB	Hofstra
8	47	Jonathan Burrough	TE	New Mexico
9	50	Kwazi Leverette	WR	Syracuse
10	59	Greg Brown	S	Texas
11	62	Corey Callens	DE	Oklahoma
12	71	Jamel Smith	LB	Virginia Tech
13	74	Jeff McCurley	C	Pittsburgh
14	83	Ataveus Cash	WR	Hampton
15	86	Lawrence Story	WR	Jackson State
16	95	Frank Moreau	RB	Louisville
17	98	Kendall Newson	WR	Middle Tennessee
18	107	Shane O’Neill	S	Southern Methodist
19	110	Mike Watkins	QB	Louisville
20	118	Bob Dzvonick	DT	Buffalo

^[1]

Personnel

Staff

2003 Rhein Fire staff

Front office

General Manager – Alexander Leibkind

Head coaches

Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator – Pete Kuharchek

Offensive coaches

Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers – Mike Jones
Quarterbacks – Scott Milanovich
Running Backs – Barry Foster
Offensive Line – Whitey Jordan

Defensive coaches

Defensive Line/Special Teams – Ed O'Neil
National Coach/Linebackers – Jörn Maier
Defensive Backs – Adrian White

Strength and conditioning

Strength and Conditioning – Brian Ferguson

Roster

2003 Rhein Fire roster

Quarterbacks

14 Chris Greisen
12 Nick Rolovich
11 Mike Watkins

Running backs

23 Autry Denson
32 Frank Moreau
44 Matt Stanley FB

Wide receivers

81 Charlie Adams
89 LaVell Boyd
80 Todd Elstrom
88 Emmett Johnson
87 Kendall Newson

Tight ends

47 Dwayne Blakley
45 Chad Mustard
84 Ryan Prince

Offensive linemen

65 Luke Butkus C
73 Pat Crummey G
61 Jim Jones G
75 Dustin Keith C
76 Dwayne Ledford T
62 Scot Osborne T

Defensive linemen

91 Andre Arnold DE
92 Corey Callens DE
71 Derrick Ham DE
98 Brad Harris DT
95 Josh McKibben DT
96 Jesse Warren DE

Linebackers

51 Charles Burton OLB
56 Terrance Dukes MLB
52 Jason Johnson MLB
58 Dane Krager OLB
53 Courtney Ledyard MLB
57 Jamel Smith OLB

Defensive backs

25 Adesola Badon CB
24 Greg Brown S
30 Teddy Gaines CB
41 Abdual Howard S
20 Lemual Ligon S
37 Tony Lukins CB
39 Tierre Sams CB

Special teams

13 Todd France K
6 Jay Taylor P

National players

8 Ingo Anderbrügge K
74 Peter Heyer G
72 Bastian Lano DT
9 Christopher Liess WR
21 Oyeniran Olalere Odunayo Ojo RB
99 Dan Petersson DT
60 Patrick Venzke T
35 Richard Yancy S

Rookies in italics

^[2]

Schedule

Week	Date	Kickoff ^{[n 1]}	Opponent	Results		Game site	Attendance
Week	Date	Kickoff ^{[n 1]}	Opponent	Final score	Team record	Game site	Attendance
1	Saturday, April 5	7:00 p.m.	Amsterdam Admirals	L 15–17	0–1	Arena AufSchalke	28,206
2	Sunday, April 13	4:00 p.m.	at Berlin Thunder	W 21–10	1–1	Olympic Stadium	16,312
3	Saturday, April 19	7:00 p.m.	Scottish Claymores	W 34–17	2–1	Arena AufSchalke	43,985
4	Saturday, April 26	5:00 p.m.	at Barcelona Dragons	L 3–11	2–2	Mini Estadi	6,182
5	Saturday, May 3	7:00 p.m.	Frankfurt Galaxy	W 14–7	3–2	Arena AufSchalke	42,324
6	Saturday, May 10	7:00 p.m.	at Amsterdam Admirals	W 34–27	4–2	Amsterdam ArenA	11,672
7	Sunday, May 18	3:00 p.m.	at Scottish Claymores	L 0–33	4–3	Hampden Park	8,279
8	Sunday, May 25	4:00 p.m.	Berlin Thunder	W 28–21	5–3	Arena AufSchalke	27,895
9	Sunday, June 1	4:00 p.m.	at Frankfurt Galaxy	L 7–38	5–4	Waldstadion	25,539
10	Saturday, June 7	7:00 p.m.	Barcelona Dragons	W 33–7	6–4	Arena AufSchalke	28,678

Standings

NFL Europe League
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	Home	Road	STK
Frankfurt Galaxy	6	4	0	.600	252	182	4–1	2–3	L1
Rhein Fire	6	4	0	.600	189	188	4–1	2–3	W1
Scottish Claymores	6	4	0	.600	303	190	3–2	3–2	W4
FC Barcelona Dragons	5	5	0	.500	150	221	2–3	3–2	L3
Amsterdam Admirals	4	6	0	.400	230	273	2–3	2–3	L1
Berlin Thunder	3	7	0	.300	248	318	2–3	1–4	W1

^[3]

Game summaries

World Bowl XI

World Bowl XI: Rhein Fire vs Frankfurt Galaxy – Game summary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Rhein	3	6	0	7	16
Frankfurt	11	14	7	3	35

at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland

Date: Saturday, June 14
Game time: 5:06 p.m. BST
Game weather: 76 °F (24 °C), sunny with clear skies
Game attendance: 28,138
Referee: Pete Morelli
TV announcers (FOX): Curt Menefee and Brian Baldinger

Notes

↑ All times local to where the game was played.

References

↑ "Issa boogies to Barcelona in NFLEL free agent draft". NFL Europe League. February 5, 2003. Archived from the original on February 19, 2003. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
↑ "2003 Rhein Fire roster". SI.com. June 13, 2003. Archived from the original on August 4, 2003. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
↑ "NFL Europe standings". SI.com. June 8, 2003. Archived from the original on August 4, 2003. Retrieved October 6, 2012.

Rhein Fire
Founded in 1995 Folded in 2007 Based in Düsseldorf, Germany
The Franchise	Franchise Coaches
Stadiums	Rheinstadion Arena AufSchalke LTU arena
Head coaches	Galen Hall Pete Kuharchek Jim Tomsula Rick Lantz
World Bowl appearances (5)	'97 '98 2000 X XI
League championships (2)	1998 2000
Seasons	1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

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