Sarasota Thunder
 | |
| Founded | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 2013 |
| League | Ultimate Indoor Football League |
| Team history | Huntington Hammer (2011-2012) Sarasota Thunder (2013) |
| Based in | Sarasota, Florida |
| Arena | Robarts Arena |
| Colors | red, orange, white |
| Owner | Dale Taylor, Jeff Eberly |
| Head coach | Greg Walls |
| Website | SarasotaThunder.com |
The Sarasota Thunder were a professional indoor football team based in Sarasota, Florida. They played in the Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL) for part of the 2013 season before folding. The Thunder initially announced Robarts Arena as their home venue, though they played all their games on the road.
Franchise history
In August 2012, the Sarasota Thunder were announced as the third 2013 expansion team of the Ultimate Indoor Football League.[1][2] This was the second attempt to bring an indoor football team to Sarasota, the first being the Florida Scorpions of the National Indoor Football League. The team announced they would play their home games in Robarts Arena.[3] In September 2012, the Thunder named Greg Walls the franchise's first head coach.[4]
Before the season, however, the league took over control of the Thunder and shifted them to an all-travel schedule, with no home games in Sarasota. The team played very poorly, generally losing in blowouts. Their performance caused disruption through the league, as their host teams had difficulty drawing fans to such lopsided games. On May 9, the Florida Tarpons – whose owners also owned the UIFL – announced the Thunder had forfeited a scheduled game against them; the league subsequently folded the team.[5][6][7]
Coaches of note
Head coaches
Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2012 UIFL season.
| Name | Term | Regular Season | Playoffs | Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | Win% | W | L | |||
| 2013 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | ||
Coaching staff
| Sarasota Thunder staff | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front Office
Head Coach
Offensive Coaches
|
Defensive Coaches
| |||||
Statistics and records
Season-by-season results
Note: The Finish, Wins, Losses, and Ties columns list regular season results and exclude any postseason play.
| League Champions | Conference Champions | Division Champions | Wild Card Berth | League Leader |
| Season | Team | League | Conference | Division | Regular season | Postseason Results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Wins | Losses | Ties | ||||||||
| 2013 | 2013 | UIFL | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 0 | All-time regular season record (2013) | |||||||
| 0 | 0 | - | All-time postseason record (2013) | ||||||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | All-time regular season and postseason record (2013) | ||||||||
References
- ^ Dennis Maffezzoli (August 12, 2012). "FOOTBALL: Sarasota Thunder coming in 2013". www.htpreps.com. HT Preps. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
- ^ "Pro football: UIFL adds expansion franchise in Sarasota for 2013". Naples Daily News. August 12, 2012. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
- ^ "Indoor football: Sarasota team coming in 2013". Bradenton Herald. August 14, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 202.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Dennis Maffezzoli (September 13, 2012). "Sarasota indoor football team names Walls head coach". Herald Tribune. Retrieved September 17, 2012.
- ^ Maffezzoli, Dennis (February 5, 2013). "Sarasota Thunder have seven games - all on the road". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
- ^ Milligan, Del (May 21, 2013). "Raiders Reassessing Future in Lakeland". The Ledger. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
- ^ "UIFL, Tarpons swimming in murky waters". 239sports.com. May 29, 2013. Retrieved October 18, 2013.