Texas Revolution (indoor football)

Texas Revolution
Nickname Revs, Cannons
Founded 2000
Current season 2017
League af2 (2000–2009)
IFL (2010–2014)
CIF (2015–present)
Conference South
Team history Arkansas Twisters (2000–2009)
Arkansas Diamonds (2010)
Allen Wranglers (2011–2012)
Texas Revolution (2013–present)
Based in Allen, Texas
Arena Allen Event Center
Colors Blue, Red, White
              
Owner(s) Championship Sports Group
President Charlie Hildbold
Head coach Victor Mann
General manager Tim Brown
Championships 1
Conference titles 0
Division titles 2: (Lonestar East: 2010, Lonestar:2011)
Playoff berths 12: (af2: 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, IFL: 2010, 2011, 2012, CIF: 2015, 2016, 2017)
Dancers Texas Revolution Dancers
Mascot Alamo
Website www.texasrevs.com

The Texas Revolution is an American professional indoor football team which is a founding member of Champions Indoor Football (CIF), and the current Champions Cup holders. Based in Allen, Texas, the Revolution plays its home games at the Allen Event Center.[1] The 2015 season was the team's seventeenth season as a football franchise, sixth in Texas, fourth as the "Revolution", and second in Champions Indoor Football.

Founded in 2000 as the Arkansas Twisters, the Little Rock-based team played 10 seasons in af2 before that league folded. The team jumped to the Indoor Football League as the Arkansas Diamonds for the 2010 season. Remaining in the IFL, the team moved to Texas to become the Allen Wranglers for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The franchise grabbed headlines in 2012 when former NFL standout Terrell Owens played 8 games for the Wranglers before being cut in late May 2012. The team became the Texas Revolution after a shift in ownership before the 2013 season. After five seasons in the IFL, the team shifted to Champions Indoor Football for its inaugural season in 2015.[2]

History

Arkansas Twisters

Team logo from founding in 2000 through 2009.

The franchise began play as the Arkansas Twisters in 2000 as the only professional football team in the state of Arkansas. The team played 10 seasons as a charter member of af2, the "developmental" league of the original Arena Football League. The Twisters played their home games at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The team enjoyed success on the field, twice reaching the league's championship game. After the AFL took a season off and was forced into bankruptcy in 2009, the af2 was dissolved and the Twisters were announced as a planned charter member of Arena Football 1.[3]

Arkansas Diamonds

Concerns for stability with Arena Football 1 lead to a November 2009 shift by Arkansas to the Indoor Football League.[4] However, the rights to the Twisters name and logo belonged to Arena Football 1 so the Arkansas franchise held a "name the team" contest in late January and became the Arkansas Diamonds of the IFL's Intense Conference for the 2010 season.[5][6][7] The new team colors for 2010 were Carolina blue, black, and gray.[8] Arena football veteran Danton Barto took over as head coach, leading the team to an 11-3 regular season record and first place in the 2010 Lonestar East Division.[9] The team's playoff run ended with a loss to the Billings Outlaws in the Intense Conference Finals.[10] With the team struggling financially, co-owners Jim Smith and Jeff Everetts announced in September 2009 that the franchise was relocating to Allen, Texas, a prosperous suburb of Dallas.[11][12]

Allen Wranglers

After a name-the-team contest, the team announced on September 29, 2010, it would be called the Allen Wranglers, starting with the 2011 Indoor Football League season.[1][13] The relocated Intense Conference team would play their home games at the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas.[14] The team shared the name with a previous indoor football team in Allen, the Texas Wranglers, who played the 2009 and 2010 seasons in the Independent Indoor Football Alliance.

In October 2010, the team announced that Chris MacKeown would be the Wranglers' head coach for the 2011 season.[15][16] Former Dallas Cowboys player Drew Pearson was named general manager of the franchise in early December 2010.[17] The team finished with a 10-4 regular season record and first place in the Lonestar Division. They advanced through two rounds of the IFL playoffs before losing the Intense Conference Championship to the Tri-Cities Fever of Kennewick, Washington.[18][19]

The Wranglers started the 2012 season strong under new head coach Pat Pimmell but after consecutive losses dropped their record to 5-3 in April, Pimmel was let go and the team's offensive and defensive coordinators shared the title "co-interim head coach" through the end of the season.[20][21] The team finished with a 9-5 regular season record and reached the IFL playoffs but lost in the Intense Conference semi-finals to the Wichita Wild.[22]

National attention was focused on the Wranglers in 2012 when NFL veteran wide receiver Terrell Owens joined the team.[23][24] Recovering from surgery and receiving no offers from NFL teams, Owens accepted a generous contract and partial ownership in the franchise to play in Allen.[25][26] He swelled attendance at Wranglers home games. His debut drew a crowd of 5,711 people, larger than the Wranglers' home attendance for the entire 2011 season,[25] but his contract allowed him to skip many away dates.[27][28] Although his play was solid,[29] with three games left in the season, citing his "lack of effort both on and off the field", failure to show up for a scheduled appearance at a children's hospital, and refusal to play in two upcoming road games,[30] Owens was released by the Wranglers on May 29, 2012.[31] Along with his release, Owens also relinquished his ownership stake in the team.[32]

Texas Revolution

Following the folding of the Wranglers in June 2012, a new team was launched in its place for the 2013 season, the team announced that it was staying in Allen but making several critical changes.[33] On September 19, 2012, the team unveiled its new nickname and colors as the Texas Revolution.[34] Leadership of the new organization was provided by Tommy Benizio, a former commissioner of the Indoor Football League.[35] After three seasons in the Intense Conference, the team was realigned to the United Conference for the 2013 season.[36] This is not the first football team in the Metroplex to bear the name. In 2005, a "Texas Revolution" competed in the Independent Women's Football League.[37] In November 2012, the team named Billy Back as head coach for the 2013 season.

After a disappointing 5-9 campaign, the Revolution let Head Coach Billy Back go, and hired Chris Williams away from the New Mexico Stars.[38][39] The league released its 2014 schedule in late October 2013 with the Revolution staying in the United Conference but the Chicago franchise replaced by the Bemidji Axemen in the 9-team IFL.[40] The team re-signed several key players for 2014 and, in mid-January, announced the signing of running back Jennifer Welter as the first female professional football player for a position other than kicker.[41] The team started strong but stumbled to a 3–11 finish, missing the post-season. Head coach Chris Williams resigned after the season.

In late August 2014, the team hired former Dallas Cowboys cornerback Wendell Davis as head coach and director of football operations.[42] Days later, the team announced it was leaving the Indoor Football League for the new Champions Indoor Football.[2] [43] The team's 2015 schedule began with a pre-season home game on February 27 and two regular season road games before the home opener on March 20.[43][44][45] On March 30, after just four regular season games, the team released Wendell Davis and promoted defensive coordinator Devin Wyman to head coach.[46] The team made its best playoff run since moving to Allen, advancing to Champions Bowl I but falling to the Sioux City Bandits, 76-61. Later that year, a team named the Mesquite Marshals weds created in nearby Mesquite. The Revolution are expected to form a strong rivalry with the Marshals.

In 2017, the Revolution won Champions Bowl III.

Season-by-season

Season W L T Finish Playoff results
Arkansas Twisters (af2)
2000 7 9 0 6th NC --
2001 6 10 0 5th NC South Central --
2002 11 5 0 2nd NC Central Lost Week 1 (Tulsa 34-32)
2003 9 7 0 2nd NC Central Won NC Round 1 (Bakersfield 36-28)
Won NC Semifinals (Quad City 63-61)
Lost NC Championship (Tulsa 63-52)
2004 4 12 0 4th AC Mid-South --
2005 5 11 0 3rd AC South --
2006 10 6 0 3rd NC Midwest Won NC Round 1 (Oklahoma City 47-43)
Won NC Semifinals (Tulsa 53-51)
Lost NC Championship (Spokane 48-30)
2007 12 4 0 2nd NC Central Lost NC Round 1 (Bossier-Shreveport 62-40)
2008 11 5 0 2nd NC Central Lost NC Round 1 (Central Valley 68-55)
2009 11 5 0 2nd NC Southwest Lost NC Round 1 (Boise 77-36)
Arkansas Diamonds (IFL)
2010 11 3 0 1st Intense Lonestar East Won Intense Quarterfinal (Corpus Christi 44-29)
Won Intense Semifinal (Amarillo 36-31)
Lost Intense Conference Championship (Billings 53-42)
Allen Wranglers (IFL)
2011 10 4 0 1st Lonestar Won Round 1 (Wyoming 27-20)
Won Conference Semi-Final (Fairbanks 72-54)
Lost Intense Conference Championship (Tri-Cities 62-46)
2012 9 5 0 3rd Intense Lost Intense Semi-Final (Wichita 43-40)[47]
Texas Revolution (IFL)
2013 5 9 0 4th United --
2014 3 11 0 4th United --
Texas Revolution (CIF)
2015 8 4 0 2nd League Won Semi-Final (Wichita 39-27)
Lost Champions Bowl I (Sioux City 76-61)
2016 10 2 0 1st Southern Lost Northern Championship (Amarillo 53–57)
2017 8 4 0 2nd South Won Champions Bowl III (Omaha 59-49)
Totals 157 127 0 (including playoffs)

Players of note

Current roster

Texas Revolution roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers
  • Currently vacant

Defensive backs

  • 10 Cody Berry
  • 21 Marcel Brooks
  •  9 Jeremy Coleman
  •  7 Jerico Nelson
  • 16 Austin Smith
  • 15 Frankie Solomon Jr.

Special teams

  • 17 Adam Peden
Reserve lists
  • -- Deonte Cruse DB (Susp.)
  •  4 Jonathan McKnight DB (IR)
  • -- Carl Miles Jr. DB (IR)
  • -- Brandon Sheperd WR (Susp.)
  • -- Michael Wormley OL (Did Not Report)

Rookies in italics
Roster updated June 5, 2017
24 Active, 5 Inactive

→ More rosters

All-IFL players

The following Revolution players have been named to All-IFL Teams:

Notable players

References

  1. 1 2 Welch, Matt (September 29, 2010). "City wrangles itself up new indoor football team". Allen American-Star. Allen, Texas: Star Newspapers. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Krieger, Dan (September 22, 2014). "Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report". Our Sports Central. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Twisters join new AF1 league". The Victoria Advocate. Victoria, Texas: John M. Roberts. Associated Press. September 29, 2009. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Arkansas Twisters Join IFL". Our Sports Central (Press release). Arkansas Twisters. November 19, 2009. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Twisters taking suggestions for new name". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Little Rock, Arkansas. Associated Press. January 29, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Twisters now the Diamonds". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Little Rock, Arkansas: WEHCO Media. February 4, 2010. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  7. ↑ Walker, Nick (February 5, 2010). "Twisters fans take shine to Diamonds nickname". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Little Rock, Arkansas: WEHCO Media. p. 25. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  8. ↑ Zimmer, Mike (July 8, 2010). "Arkansas to test Outlaws on both sides of the ball". Billings Gazette. Billings, Montana. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Arkansas Twisters Name Barto Head Coach". Our Sports Central. November 19, 2009. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  10. ↑ Zimmer, Mike (July 10, 2010). "Outlaws move on to the title game". Billings Gazette. Billings, Montana. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  11. ↑ Irvin, Lindsay (September 16, 2010). "Diamonds Update: Indoor Football Unlikely to Continue in Arkansas". Arkansas Sports 360. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  12. ↑ Welch, Matt (September 16, 2010). "Indoor football team bound for Allen, team name contest begins". Allen American-Star. Allen, Texas: Star Newspapers. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  13. ↑ "The Allen Wranglers". GoIFL.com.
  14. ↑ Carlisle, Candace (November 1, 2010). "Cowboys disappointing? Check out Wranglers". Dallas Business Journal. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Allen Wranglers, new arena football team, hires head coach". Pegasus News. Dallas. October 23, 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  16. ↑ "Wranglers Announce Head Coach" (Press release). Allen Event Center. November 5, 2010. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
  17. ↑ Heinz, Frank (December 7, 2010). "Drew Pearson Named GM of IFL's Allen Wranglers". Blue Star. KXAS-TV. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  18. ↑ "Fever a team of big believers". Tri-City Herald. Kennewick, Washington. July 12, 2011. Retrieved October 11, 2012. That 70th victory came last Saturday, when his Fever beat the host Allen Wranglers 67-46 for the Intense Conference title.
  19. ↑ "Fever Wins Intense Conference Championship". KVEW-TV. July 10, 2011. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  20. ↑ "Wranglers Move in a New Direction" (Press release). Allen Wranglers. Our Sports Central. April 30, 2012. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
  21. ↑ Welch, Matt (June 27, 2012). "Picking and grinning: Late turnover topples Wranglers in playoff loss to Wichita". Allen American-Star. Allen, Texas: Star Newspapers. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
  22. ↑ Eagle staff (June 26, 2012). "Wild pull off playoff win over Allen". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
  23. ↑ Farrar, Doug (December 30, 2011). "Terrell Owens reportedly close to accepting offer from Indoor League team". Shutdown Corner. Yahoo! Sports Canada. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  24. ↑ "Allen Wranglers Extend Offer To Terrell Owens". Allen Wranglers. November 2, 2011. Archived from the original on January 7, 2012. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  25. 1 2 Machota, Jon (February 25, 2012). "Huge crowd sees ex-Cowboy Terrell Owens's 3 TD Allen Wranglers debut". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
  26. ↑ Watkins, Calvin (January 19, 2012). "Terrell Owens to join Allen Wranglers". ESPN Dallas/Fort Worth. ESPN. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  27. ↑ Boyle, John (February 29, 2012). "T.O. expected to be a no-show for Raptors' home debut". The Herald. Everett, WA. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
  28. ↑ Herron, Gary (March 7, 2012). "Wranglers will bring Owens here for game". Rio Rancho Observer. Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
  29. ↑ "IFL Statistics". Indoor Football League. April 11, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
  30. ↑ MacMahon, Tim (May 20, 2012). "IFL team releases Terrell Owens". ESPN Dallas/Fort Worth. ESPN. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  31. ↑ Tomaso, Bruce (May 29, 2012). "Yet another football team shows Terrell Owens the door". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  32. ↑ "Terrell Owens again without team, released by indoor Allen Wranglers and loses ownership stake". Yahoo! Sports. Associated Press. May 29, 2012. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  33. ↑ Kirby, Troy (January 24, 2014). "Texas Revolution Rebuilds a Broken Franchise Into a Success". Ticketing Today. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  34. ↑ "So You Say You Want a Revolution". OurSports Central. September 19, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2012.
  35. ↑ Cummings, Tommy (September 19, 2012). "Allen indoor football league team gets new name". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  36. ↑ "2013 IFL Schedule Announced". Indoor Football League. October 22, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2012.
  37. ↑ "IWFL Announces New Teams". Our Sports Central (Press release). Independent Women's Football League. October 13, 2004. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  38. ↑ Herron, Gary (August 4, 2013). "Williams leaves Stars, heads to Allen, Texas". Rio Rancho Observer. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  39. ↑ "Revolution Introduce Chris Williams as Head Coach". Indoor Football League. August 14, 2013. Archived from the original on August 26, 2013. Retrieved October 21, 2013.
  40. ↑ Hildbold, Charlie. "Texas Revolution Release 2014 Schedule". Texas Revolution. Retrieved October 21, 2013.
  41. ↑ Welch, Matt (January 21, 2014). "Female football standout Welter to try out for Texas Revolution". Allen American. Allen, Texas: Star Local News. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  42. ↑ Lunsford, Mat (August 20, 2014). "Revs Make Change, Hire Former Cowboy To Take Helm". Texas Revolution. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  43. 1 2 Lunsford, Mat (September 26, 2014). "Revs Hire Super Bowl Champ". Texas Revolution. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  44. ↑ Lunsford, Mat (October 18, 2014). "2015 Schedule Released" (Press release). Allen, Texas: Texas Revolution. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  45. ↑ "Revs announce 2015 schedule". Allen American. Allen, Texas: Star Local News. October 21, 2014. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  46. ↑ Grant, Ethan (April 2, 2015). "Wyman supplants Davis as Revs HC: Former DC promoted four games into CIF season". Allen American. Allen, Texas: Star Local News. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
  47. ↑ Schnabel, Mark (June 27, 2012). "Wild wins playoff game over Wranglers". The Newton Kansan. Newton, Kansas. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
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