Quad City Steamwheelers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Quad City Steamwheelers | |
|---|---|
 2009 af2 season |
|
 |
|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Home arena | i wireless Center |
| City, State | Moline, Illinois |
| Conference | American |
| Division | Midwest |
| ArenaCup championships | 2000, 2001 |
The Quad City Steamwheelers are a professional arena football team. They are a charter member of the af2. They play their home games at i wireless Center in Moline, Illinois.
The team was founded on September 1, 1999 when the Quad Cities was awarded an arena football franchise. Managing Owner (and inventor of arena football) Jim Foster coined the team's nickname.
Contents |
[edit] Team history
[edit] Back-to-back ArenaCup wins
The Steamwheelers played their inaugural season in 2000 and dominated the league for its first two seasons. They went undefeated in 2000 behind coach Frank Haege, even winning one game by a score of 103-3, en route to capturing the first-ever ArenaCup Championship. In 2001, the Steamwheelers nearly repeated that accomplishment by finishing 18-1 and winning a second-straight league title. During this two season span, the Steamwheelers set a record for the longest winning streak in the af2 at 24 consecutive wins.
[edit] Banned from 2002 playoffs
Allegations of rules violations plagued the Steamwheelers during the second season and they were eventually banned from the 2002 playoffs for salary cap violations under Haege.
[edit] Second coach
Coached by Rich Ingold from 2002-2004, the Steamwheelers were still successful as they clinched two more division titles. However, the team failed to win any additional league championships and lost 14 games over that three-year span. Ingold left the Steamwheelers after the 2004 season and was replaced by Rick Frazier, former coach for the Milwaukee Mustangs of the Arena Football League.
The 2006 season, under coach Frazier, was the first losing season for the franchise in its history.
[edit] New Ownership and the Search for a New League
In October 2006, the league awarded the right to operate the franchise to a new ownership group. The resulting change in ownership oversaw the change in team leadership from Frazier to new head coach Sean Ponder. Ponder was the team's offensive coordinator during the 2006 season. in 2009 the tenth and final af2 season The Steamwheelers had their second losing season in franchise history
With the folding of af2 the Steamwheelers are currently seeking a new league. They are considered candidates to possibly join the Indoor Football League in 2011 were they could have geographical rivalries with the Bloomington Extreme and the 2009 CIFL champion Chicago Slaughter. The current ownership is also considering joining the newly formed Arena Football 1[1].
[edit] Season-by-season
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties
| Season | W | L | T | Finish | Playoff results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 1st NC | Won Round 1 (Pensacola 55-19) Won Semifinal (Norfolk 75-27) Won ArenaCup I (Tennessee Valley 68-59) |
| 2001 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 1st NC Midwest | Won Round 1 (Macon 80-55) Won Semifinal (Carolina 35-16) Won ArenaCup II (Richmond 55-51) |
| 2002 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 2nd NC Midwest | Banned from playoffs |
| 2003 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 1st NC Midwest | Lost NC Semifinal (Arkansas 63-61) |
| 2004 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 1st NC Midwest | Lost NC Round 1 (Louisville 53-48) |
| 2005 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 3rd NC Midwest | Lost NC Round 1 (Rio Grande Valley 56-38) |
| 2006 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 5th AC East | -- |
| 2007 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 1st AC Midwest | Lost AC Round 1 (Green Bay 39-34) |
| 2008 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 3rd AC Midwest | Lost AC Round 1 (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 57-29) |
| 2009 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 3rd AC Midwest | -- |
| Totals | 108 | 53 | 0 | (including playoffs) | |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
