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.
| Sarasota Thunder | |
|---|---|
| Established 2013 Folded 2013 Played in Sarasota, Florida at the Robarts Arena | |
 | |
| League/conference affiliations | |
| Ultimate Indoor Football League (2013) | |
Current uniform | |
| Team colors | Red, Orange, and White |
| Personnel | |
| Owner(s) | Dale Taylor Jeff Eberly |
| Head coach | Greg Walls |
| Team history | |
| |
| Championships | |
| League championships (0) | |
| Conference championships (0) | |
| Division championships (0) | |
| Playoff appearances (0) | |
| 0 | |
| Home arena(s) | |
| |
Franchise history
editIn August 2012, the Sarasota Thunder was 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 at 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
editHead coaches
edit| Name | Term | Regular season | Playoffs | Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | Win% | W | L | |||
| Greg Walls | 2013 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | |
Coaching staff
edit| Sarasota Thunder staff | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front office
Head coach
Offensive coaches
|
Defensive coaches
| |||||
Season-by-season results
edit| 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 | 6th | 0 | 3 | 0 | |||||
| Totals | 0 | 3 | 0 | All-time regular season record (2013) | |||||||
| 0 | 0 | - | All-time postseason record (2013) | ||||||||
| 0 | 3 | 0 | All-time regular season and postseason record (2013) | ||||||||
References
edit- ^ 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, 2012.
- ^ 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.