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Colorado Crush (IFL)

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For the defunct Arena Football League franchise, see Colorado Crush.
Colorado Crush
Established 2006
Folded 2017
Played in Budweiser Events Center
in Loveland, Colorado
ColoradoCrushFootball.com
League/conference affiliations
United Indoor Football (2007–2008)
  • Western Division (2007–2008)

Indoor Football League (2009–2017)

  • Intense Conference (2009)
    • Pacific Division (2009)
  • United Conference (2010)
    • Central West Division (2010)
  • Intense Conference (2011–2017)
    • Mountain West Division (2011)
Current uniform
Team colorsNavy blue, orange, Carolina blue, white
       
MascotAmbush
CheerleadersTitan Dolls
Personnel
Owner(s)Project Fanchise
Head coachMarvin Jones
Team history
  • Colorado Ice (2006–2015)
  • Colorado Crush (2016–2017)
Championships
League championships (0)
Conference championships (0)
Division championships (1)
Mountain West: 2011
Playoff appearances (6)
UIF: 2007, IFL: 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Home arena(s)

The Colorado Crush were a professional indoor football team. The Crush played its home games at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado, outside Fort Collins.

The Crush began play in 2007 as the Colorado Ice, an expansion member of United Indoor Football (UIF) and joined the Indoor Football League as part of the UIF-Intense Football League merger of 2009. Ahead of the 2016 season, the team changed its name to the Colorado Crush, after the John Elway-owned team of the same name that played in the Arena Football League from 2003 until its suspension of operations in 2008. Despite the same name, this Crush organization is not connected to the original.[1]

History

[edit]

In July 2006, Colorado real estate executive, Danny DeGrande, was awarded an expansion franchise of United Indoor Football to begin play in 2007.[2] The Ice were a sub-.500 team during their first four years of existence but still managed to make the playoffs twice in 2007 and 2009.

On April 1, 2010, Tom Wigley was announced as the new owner of the Ice.[3] The 2011 season saw an overhaul of the team's roster and a reversal of its fortunes as the Ice began the season with seven straight wins and finished with an 11–3 record plus the Mountain West Division title and their first winning season. The Ice fell to the Tri-Cities Fever in the first round of the playoffs. This was Collins Sanders' last season as head coach before his promotion to general manager in 2012.[4]

In 2012, Heron O'Neal was hired as head coach. They recorded an 8–6 record and reached the playoffs but lost to the Tri-Cities Fever in the first round. O'Neal returned as head coach for 2013 and a strong start with three consecutive home wins. Both of the Ice's 2012 All-IFL Team players returned for the 2013 season.

Heron O'Neal returned as head coach for a third season in 2014.[5] From 2011 to 2014, the team made the playoffs for four straight seasons but remained winless in the postseason. They competed Intense Conference Championship game in back-to-back seasons, losing both to the Nebraska Danger.

On July 15, 2015, the Colorado Ice became the new Colorado Crush one year after the trademark for the original AFL franchise name expired. On March 7, 2016, owner Thomas Wigley announced the team was for sale after he was diagnosed as terminally ill.[6] Wigley assured that the team would finish 2016 season, but due to his health he would not be able to continue operations himself. In October 2016, the Crush's new owners were announced as Project FANchise,[7] a group that also started the 2017 expansion Salt Lake Screaming Eagles. Project FANchise-owned teams planned to be operated in conjunction with fan input by allowing them vote on every aspect of the team including hiring the head coach, signing players, and calling plays.[8] Due to purchasing the team late in the offseason, this system was not implemented for the Crush in the 2017 season. However, during their first season under Project FANchise, it was announced that FANchise was planning its own league for the 2018 season, called the Interactive Football League, and would not be operating any teams in the Indoor Football League.[9][10] After the 2017 season ended, the Crush website was shut down and no formal announcement on the team's future was made.[11]

Players

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Final roster

[edit]
Colorado Crush roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

  • 13 Josh Ford
  •  1 Zavier Steward

Wide receivers

  • 12 Anthony Jones Jr.
  •  8 Kyle Kaiser
  •  4 Rose Love III
  • 88 Kendall Sanders
 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

  • 59 Kwame Bell
  • -- Terrance Evans
  • 48 Tevin Hood
  • 99 Phillip Lewis
  • 95 Terrance Surratt
 Linebackers
  • 21 Ace Clark
  • 10 Azziz Higgins

Defensive backs

  •  6 Cardelro Jones
  • 18 Daniel Lindsey
  •  7 Antonio Marshall
  •  2 Derrick Morgan
  • 25 Keith Trumps

Special teams

  • 32 Miles Bergner
 Reserve lists
  • 12 Aaron Aiken QB (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  • -- Nnamdi Agude WR (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  •  3 Erick Brundidge WR (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  • 22 Paris Cotton RB (Did not report)
  •  9 Chris Gant WR (Did not report)
  •  1 Terry Johnson DB (Did not report)
  • 79 Chad Kolumber OL (IR-DFR)
  • 66 Lance McDowdell DL (Did not report)
  • 91 Jamil Merrell DL (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  • 20 Deante Purvis DB (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  • rookies in italics
  • Roster updated June 1, 2017
  • 25 Active, 10 Inactive

Awards and honors

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The following is a list of all Ice/Crush players who have won league Awards

All-IFL players

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

  • QB Willie Copeland (1)
  • WR Kyle Kaiser (4), Demarius Washington (1)
  • OL Collin Cordell (1), Michael Trice (2), James Atoe (1)
  • DL Gabe Knapton (1), Michael Stover (1), Jason Jones (1)
  • LB Landon Jones (1)
  • LB/DB Joe Thornton (1)
  • DB Idly Etienne (1), Jovan Jackson (1), Corey Sample (2), Rashard Smith (1)
  • K Aric Goodman (1)
  • KR Daniel Lindsey (1)
  • Ironman Eryk Anders (1)

Individual awards

[edit]

Staff

[edit]
Colorado Crush staff
Front office
  • Principal owner – Project FANchise
  • General manager – Anthony Taylor
  • Director of operations – Aaron Ontiveros
  • Account Representative - George Martinez
  • Director of group sales – Nick Rezvani
  • Business Operations, Sales Representative - Josh Swado
  • Public Relations, Sales Representative - Breanne Jackson
  

Head coach

  • Head coach – Marvin Jones

Offensive coaches

Offensive Coordinator –

  • Wide receivers – Tristan Johnson

Defensive coaches

  • Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs –Brian Arndt

Special Team coaches

  • Special teams coordinator –

Statistics and records

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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
2007 2007 UIF Western 3rd 6 9 0 Lost Western Division Semifinals (Sioux Falls) 16–44
2008 2008 UIF Western 4th 6 8 0
2009 2009 IFL Intense Pacific 3rd 5 9 0 Lost Wild Card (Fairbanks) 14–42
2010 2010 IFL United Central West 5th 2 12 0
2011 2011 IFL Intense Mountain West 1st 11 3 0 Lost Intense Conference Semifinals (Tri-Cities) 42–45
2012 2012 IFL Intense 4th 8 6 0 Lost Intense Conference Semifinals (Tri-Cities) 43–52
2013 2013 IFL Intense 2nd 9 5 0 Lost Intense Conference Championship (Nebraska) 50–55
2014 2014 IFL Intense 1st 10 4 0 Lost Intense Conference Championship (Nebraska) 15–45
2015 2015 IFL Intense 3rd 6 8 0
2016 2016 IFL Intense 4th 4 12 0
2017 2017 IFL Intense 4th 3 13 0
Totals 70 89 0 All-time regular season record (2007–2017)
0 6 — All-time postseason record (2007–2017)
70 95 0 All-time regular season and postseason record (2007–2017)

Head coach records

[edit]
Name Term Regular season Playoffs Awards
W L T Win% W L
Collins Sanders 2007–2011 30 41 0 .423 0 3
Heron O'Neal 2012–2016 37 35 0 .514 0 3 IFL Coach of the Year (2014)
Jose Jefferson 2017 2 6 0 .250 0 0
Marvin Jones 2017 1 7 0 .125 0 0

Radio

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Games and weekly coach's show are broadcast on KFKA (1310 AM).

References

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  1. ^ "Introducing the Colorado Crush". GoIFL.com. Indoor Football League. July 15, 2015. Archived from the original on July 16, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  2. ^ Andy Vuong (July 18, 2006). ""Ice" to join Colorado's team ranks". www.denverpost.com. The Denver Post. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  3. ^ "Colorado Ice Announces New Owner". www.oursportscentral.com. OurSports Central. April 1, 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  4. ^ Mike Brohard (July 7, 2011). "Ice make changes; O'Neal new head coach". www.reporterherald.com. Loveland Reporter-Herald. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  5. ^ "Colorado Ice announce 2014 coaching staff". Fort Collins Coloradoan. Fort Collins, CO: Gannett Company. September 6, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
  6. ^ "Colorado Crush Owner Ill, Team for Sale". OurSportsCentral. March 7, 2016.
  7. ^ "Colorado Crush Acquires New Ownership". www.goifl.com. OurSports Central. October 17, 2016. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  8. ^ "Project FANchise Launches First-Ever Fan-Run Pro Sports Team". OurSports Central. April 21, 2016.
  9. ^ "How Can Football Video Games Get More Realistic? Real Humans". The Wall Street Journal. April 20, 2017.
  10. ^ "WEEKLY SPORTS LEAGUE & FRANCHISE REPORT". OurSports Central. April 24, 2017.
  11. ^ "Colorado Crush indoor football franchise apparently folds". Coloradoan. September 27, 2017.
  12. ^ "Colorado Ice Linebacker Named IFL Defensive Rookie of the Year". www.oursportscentral.com. OurSports Central. June 23, 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
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