Memphis Maniax

Memphis Maniax

Founded	2001
League	XFL
Team history	Memphis Maniax 2001
Based in	Memphis, Tennessee
Arena	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
Colors	Teal, Maroon, Yellow & Black
Head coach	Kippy Brown
Championships	None
Division titles	None

The Memphis Maniax was an American football team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The team was part of the XFL begun by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment and by NBC, a major television network in the United States. Home games were played at the Liberty Bowl.

History

The team's name and logo were designed to lead the team's fans into calling the team "The Ax", a shortened form of the word "maniacs". Regardless, the name and logo were roundly criticized by advocates for the rights of the mentally ill, believing they were derived from a derisive term for a person suffering from mental illness, "maniac", and/or a depiction of a deranged axe-wielding murderer, though no picture of an axe was in the logo. Still, many of the fans formed their own cheering section at the Liberty Bowl unofficially known as "The Asylum".

Maniax alternate logo

The Maniax Director of Player Personnel was Steve Ortmayer, who had become respected in the pro football world for helping to build the Super Bowl XVIII-champion Los Angeles Raiders. Steve Ehrhart, who had managed both the Memphis Showboats and Memphis Mad Dogs, returned as general manager for the Maniax. The head coach was Kippy Brown.

At slightly over 20,000 fans per game, the Maniax were in the lower half of league average attendance; this figure was higher than the Mad Dogs had drawn, and comparable to that of the NFL's Tennessee Oilers during their lone season in Memphis, but lower than the Showboats.

They were in the Western Division with the Los Angeles Xtreme, San Francisco Demons, and Las Vegas Outlaws. They finished tied for second place at 5-5 with the Demons, but did not make the playoffs as the Demons had the better division record during the season. The Maniax were one of two teams to beat the eventual league champion Xtreme, and the only team to beat them twice, going 2-0 vs. their divisional rivals in the regular season; not coincidentally, they, along with the Xtreme and Demons, were the only three XFL teams to maintain the same starting quarterback through the entire season.

NBC officials wanted to move the XFL games to afternoons after the first season (2001) due to dismal ratings, and when, somewhat to McMahon's surprise and disappointment the United Paramount Network (UPN) wanted to follow suit, the league was then folded and the team disbanded.

Season by season

• Sunday February 4, 2001 W Memphis Maniax 22 at Birmingham Thunderbolts 20
• Sunday February 11, 2001 L Las Vegas Outlaws 25 at Memphis Maniax 3
• Saturday February 17, 2001 L San Francisco Demons 13 at Memphis Maniax 6
• Sunday February 25, 2001 W Memphis Maniax 18 at Los Angeles Xtreme 12
• Sunday March 4, 2001 L Orlando Rage 21 at Memphis Maniax 19
• Saturday March 10, 2001 W Chicago Enforcers 23 at Memphis Maniax 29
• Saturday March 17, 2001 L Memphis Maniax 15 at New York/New Jersey Hitmen 16
• Saturday March 24, 2001 L Memphis Maniax 12 at San Francisco Demons 21
• Sunday April 1, 2001 W Los Angeles Xtreme 12 at Memphis Maniax 27
• Saturday April 7, 2001 W Memphis Maniax 16 at Las Vegas Outlaws 3

Standings

^[1]

Team leaders

Rushing yards: 528 - Rashaan Salaam (1994 Heisman Trophy winner)

Receiving yards: 823 - Charles Jordan

Passing yards: 1,499 - Jim Druckenmiller

• all-XFL has the complete team stats

References