The Macon Knights were a professional arena football team, playing in the af2 league. They were a 2001 expansion member of af2. They played their home games at Macon Coliseum. The Knights were owned and operated by Beverly Olson. The Knights were formerly coached by Derek Stingley, who was a Defensive Specialist with the Albany Firebirds in the original Arena Football League. And he also is the son of former New England Patriots' wide receiver Darryl Stingley.
| Macon Knights | |
|---|---|
| Established 2000 Folded 2006 Played in Macon Coliseum in Macon, Georgia | |
 | |
| League/conference affiliations | |
af2 (2001–2006)
| |
Current uniform | |
| Team colors | Blue, gold, black, white |
| Personnel | |
| Owner(s) | Beverly Olson |
| Head coach | Kevin Porter (2001–2003) Mike Hold (2002–2005) Derek Stingley (2006–2007) |
| Team history | |
| |
| Championships | |
| League championships (0) | |
| Conference championships (1) | |
| Division championships (1) | |
| Playoff appearances (4) | |
| Home arena(s) | |
| |
History
editThe franchise was created in 2001, the second year of the af2. Olson's first successful move as owner operator was to bring in local football star Kevin Porter to coach the upstart team. Porter, an alumnus of Auburn University, and the Kansas City Chiefs was also an arena football veteran. Under his leadership, the inaugural team made the playoffs and was named "Expansion Franchise of the Year" by the league. He went on to coach the New Orleans VooDoo and Kansas City Brigade of the AFL.
Two seasons later, Porter led the Knights to the ArenaCup, af2's championship game, where the Knights lost to the Tulsa Talons 58–40. Afterwards, he left for the parent AFL and a number of his players followed.
Porter was replaced by AFL veteran Mike Hold. Despite his success with other franchises, Hold did not have as good a fortune in Macon. In 2005, after a bad start, Hold was replaced by Derek Stingley.
Stingley took a club that had fallen to 2–5 and, by season's end, managed to get them into the playoffs. The Knights however, lost to the Louisville Fire in the opening round.
After the 2006 season, the team announced they would be shutting down operations.[1] However, on October 10, 2008, the Macon Telegraph reported that an investor is "deeply interested" in relaunching the Knights franchise in Macon, as early as 2009, but no later than 2010.[2]
Head coaches
editNote: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2006 af2 season.
| Name | Term | Regular Season | Playoffs | Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | Win% | W | L | |||
| Kevin Porter | 2001-2003 | 33 | 15 | 0 | .688 | 4 | 3 | |
| Mike Hold | 2004-2005 | 5 | 18 | 0 | .217 | 0 | 0 | |
| Derek Stingley | 2005-2006 | 14 | 11 | 0 | .560 | 0 | 1 | |
Statistics and records
editSeason-by-season results
editNote: 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 | ||||||||
| 2001 | 2001 | af2 | American | Southeastern | 2nd | 10 | 6 | 0 | Lost Round 1 (Quad City) 55-80 | ||
| 2002 | 2002 | af2 | American | Eastern | 1st | 13 | 3 | 0 | Won Round 1 (Augusta) 57-41 Lost AC Semifinals (Florida) 28-44 | ||
| 2003 | 2003 | af2 | American | Southern | 3rd | 10 | 6 | 0 | Won Wild card (Florida) 42-16 Won AC Semifinals (Albany) 59-47 Won AC Championship (Tennessee Valley) 51-48 Lost ArenaCup IV (Tulsa) 40-58 | ||
| 2004 | 2004 | af2 | American | Southern | 4th | 3 | 13 | 0 | |||
| 2005 | 2005 | af2 | American | Southern | 2nd | 8 | 8 | 0 | Lost Wild card (Louisville) 54-55 | ||
| 2006 | 2006 | af2 | American | Southern | 3rd | 8 | 8 | 0 | |||
| Totals | 52 | 44 | 0 | All-time regular season record (2001–2006) | |||||||
| 4 | 4 | - | All-time postseason record (2001–2006) | ||||||||
| 56 | 48 | 0 | All-time regular season and postseason record (2001–2006) | ||||||||
Notes
edit- ^ "Macon Knights cease operations". OurSportsCentral.com. 2006-08-09. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
- ^ Adams, Jay (2008-10-10). "Knights could re-emerge in af2". Macon.com. Macon Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2013-08-14. Retrieved 2008-10-13.