Fort Wayne Freedom

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Fort Wayne Freedom
Fort Wayne Freedom logo
Founded 2003
League Continental Indoor Football League
Team History Fort Wayne Freedom 2003-2006, 2008-present
Arena Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
Based in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Team Colors Red, White, & Blue
President Mark Chappuis, Bill Fahlsing
Head Coach Matt Land
Championships 0
Division Titles 0
Dancers The First Ladies
Mascot Uncle Sam and Kooka Bird

The Fort Wayne Freedom is a team in the Continental Indoor Football League, beginning play in the 2008 season. Like the original Freedom, they will retain a red, white, and blue color scheme, and play in the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

The 2008 Freedom's owner was originally Todd Ellis, who formerly owned the Mississippi Mudcats. Ellis was ousted in April, 2008 - less than 2 months into his first season as owner - amid reports of financial troubles and organizational turmoil. Minority owners Mark Chappuis and Bill Fahlsing assumed control of the team after Ellis proved unable to meet financial obligations and Ellis fell into default with the CIFL. As of April, 2008, the only regular front office member is Assistant General Manager Elvis Ahlborn, who had previously worked in the af2 with the Fort Wayne Fusion (2007) and Green Bay Blizzard (2003-2006).

Willie Davis, Jr. was named the head coach for the 2008 season, but after posting a 3-5 record with an ineffective offense, Davis was released the morning of the Freedom's May 17th game against the Chicago Slaughter. His replacement was former Freedom head coach Matt Land, who was asked to lead the team for the final four games by Fahlsing. With only 15 minutes of practice, Land's second term began with a 41-33 loss, despite a solid performace by the Freedom defense.


Contents

[edit] Season-By-Season

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties

Season W L T Finish Playoff results
*2008 5 7 0 3rd Great Lakes East Missed Playoffs

* = Current Standing

[edit] 2008 Season Schedule

Date Opponent Home/Away Result
March 21 Miami Valley Silverbacks Home Won 52-48
March 27 Kalamazoo Xplosion Home Lost 34-50
April 4 Rock River Raptors Away Lost 29-64
April 12 Muskegon Thunder Away Lost 33-39
April 19 Rock River Raptors Home Won 55-54
April 26 Marion Mayhem Home Won 55-40
May 2 Miami Valley Silverbacks Away Lost 29-35
May 10 Saginaw Sting Home Lost 21-34
May 17 Chicago Slaughter Away Lost 33-41
May 24 Muskegon Thunder Home Won 42-38
May 31 Chesapeake Tide Away Won 37-31
June 7 Kalamazoo Xplosion Away Lost 32-39

[edit] Original Team

Original logo of the Freedom.
Original logo of the Freedom.

The original Fort Wayne Freedom was a professional indoor football team. They were founded by Richard Coffey, who had spent ten years as the General Manager of the Fort Wayne Fury of the CBA (Continental Basketball Association) the development league of the NBA. The CBA folded in 2001 when Isiah Thomas bankrupted the League. They were most recently a member of the United Indoor Football league (UIF), and played their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. In 2004, the Freedom set the single game record for attendance at 10,225. In 2005, the Freedom moved to the UIF after 2 years in the NIFL. The Freedom won the 2005 UIF Midwest Division Championship, went 14-2 in the regular season, while clinching the #1 seed in the playoffs, but lost 57-22 in the first round of the UIF Playoffs to the Tennessee Valley Raptors.

[edit] Team History

The Freedom selected a new coach for the 2006 season, after Matt Land left the Freedom to coach Tri-State University in NCAA Division III. The Freedom selected one of their own as they signed Dan Pifer to be their new head coach. Pifer is also the offensive coordinator for NCAA Division III Tri-State under former coach Matt Land. He also was an assistant coach at the University of St. Francis, a NAIA institution, and NCAA Division II Hillsdale College in Michigan. Pifer also was a high school assistant and played quarterback at the University of California in Pennsylvania. After completing its fourth year of football, the Freedom was sold Jeremy Golden, who moved the franchise to af2.

[edit] Freedom's death knell

The team had been heavily rumored to move to arenafootball2 for quite some time, and Coffey sold the assets to Golden on November 10, 2006. Golden had already applied for and was awarded an af2, but because only the assets and not the Freedom's corporate entity were sold, the Fort Wayne Fusion af2 franchise is not a continuation of the UIF team.

[edit] Fans

The Freedom Force is the official fan club of the Fort Wayne Freedom.

[edit] Head Coaches

[edit] Former Staff

  • Head Coach - (Daran Bushele)
  • Head Coach - Dan Pifer
  • Offensive Coordinator - Dan Pifer
  • Defensive Coordinator - Mike Smith
  • Offensive Line Coach / Defensive Line Coach - Toney Bergman
  • Assistant Coach - Troy Abbs

[edit] Season-By-Season

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties

Season W L T Finish Playoff results
Fort Wayne Freedom (NIFL)
2003 8 6 0 3rd Atlantic East --
2004 8 6 0 3rd Atlantic North Won Round 1 (Believers)
Lost Semifinal (Greyhounds)
Fort Wayne Freedom (UIF)
2005 14 2 0 1st Midwest Lost Round 1 (T.V. Raptors)
2006 4 11 0 4th East --
Totals 35 27 0 (including playoffs)

[edit] 2003 Season

[edit] Game-by-Game results

Date Opponent Result Record
March 22, 2003 vs. Evansville BlueCats W - 41-40 (1-0)
March 29, 2003 vs. Tupelo Fire Ants W - 57-22 (2-0)
April 12, 2003 vs. Ohio Valley Greyhounds L - 41-54 (2-1)
April 19, 2003 at Tennessee Riverhawks L - 48-65 (2-2)
April 25, 2003 at Ohio Valley Greyhounds L - 42-48 (2-3)
May 3, 2003 vs. Sioux Falls Storm W - 55-19 (3-3)
May 17, 2003 vs. Myrtle Beach Stingrays W - 51-25 (4-3)
May 24, 2003 at Evansville BlueCats W - 62-33 (5-3)
May 30, 2003 at Lacrosse Night Train W - 59-06 (6-3)
June 6, 2003 vs. Tennessee Riverhawks W 74-15 (7-3)
June 14, 2003 at Sioux Falls Storm L 49-52 (7-4)
June 21, 2003 at Myrtle Beach Stingrays L - 41-50 (7-5)
June 26, 2003 at Lexington Horsemen L - 43-59 (7-6)
July 5, 2003 vs. Lexington Horsemen W - 76-62 (8-6)

[1]

[edit] 2004 Season

[edit] Game-by-Game results

Date Opponent Result Record
March 14, 2004 vs. Show-Me Believers W - 66-37 (1-0)
March 20, 2004 vs. Evansville BlueCats W - 80-41 (2-0)
April 3, 2004 at Lexington Horsemen L - 21-49 (2-1)
April 10, 2004 vs. Lexington Horsemen L - 48-51 (2-2)
April 24, 2004 vs. Atlantic City CardSharks W - 63-54 (3-2)
May 1, 2004 at Evansville BlueCats L - 68-71 (3-3)
May 8, 2004 vs. Ohio Valley Greyhounds W - 43-35 (4-3)
May 15, 2004 at Staten Island Xtreme L - 41-42 (4-4)
May 21, 2004 vs. Staten Island Xtreme W - 56-07 (5-4)
May 28, 2004 at Show-Me Believers W - 49-35 (6-4)
June 5, 2004 at Ohio Valley Greyhounds L - 23-52 (6-5)
June 12, 2004 at Atlantic City CardSharks L - 27-41 (6-6)
June 19, 2004 at Tupelo Fire Ants W - 61-40 (7-6)
June 26, 2004 vs. Carolina Stingrays W - 48-03# (8-6)

# = set single game indoor football attendance record with 10,225 fans.[2]

[edit] 2005 Season

The 2005 season was a season for the ages, and statistically is the best season the Freedom have had in franchise history. Finishing a league-best 14-2, the Freedom had high hopes as they went into the first-round of the UIF playoffs. On the other hand, the Tennessee Valley Raptors had other plans. Considering the game was in Fort Wayne, the Freedom were heavily favored, and the Raptors didn't take that into consideration when they destroyed the Freedom 57-22. A phenomenal season for the Freedom came to an end with a miserable showing in the first-round against a team that had more heart and more poise.

[edit] Game-by-Game results

Date Opponent Result Record
March 20, 2005 vs. Ohio Valley Greyhounds W 29-25 (1-0)
April 10, 2005 at Ohio Valley Greyhounds W 31-20 (2-0)
April 16, 2005 vs. Black Hills Red Dogs W - 59-34 (3-0)
April 23, 2005 at Tupelo Fire Ants W - 51-15 (4-0)
April 30, 2005 at Sioux Falls Storm W - 34-31 (5-0)
May 7, 2005 vs. Sioux City Bandits W - 57-50 (6-0)
May 13, 2005 vs. Peoria Rough Riders W - 52-32 (7-0)
May 21, 2005 at Peoria Rough Riders W - 41-13 (8-0)
May 28, 2005 vs. Tupelo Fire Ants W - 45-20 (9-0)
June 5, 2005 vs. Omaha Beef W - 42-40 (10-0)
June 11, 2005 at Omaha Beef L - 30-33 (10-1)
June 18, 2005 vs. Lexington Horsemen L 41-58 (10-2)
June 25, 2005 at Peoria Rough Riders W - 56-35 (11-2)
July 2, 2005 at Black Hills Red Dogs W - 40-26 (12-2)
July 8, 2005 at Ohio Valley Greyhounds W - 44-34 (13-2)
July 17, 2005 vs. Ohio Valley Greyhounds W - 41-31 (14-2)

[3]

[edit] 2006 Season

[edit] Game-by-Game results

Date Opponent Result Record
March 25, 2006 vs. Sioux City Bandits W - 28-23 (1-0)
April 1, 2006 at Bloomington Extreme W - 51-28 (2-0)
April 8, 2006 vs. Ohio Valley Greyhounds W - 37-32 (3-0)
April 15, 2006 at Sioux City Bandits L - 27-41 (3-1)
April 22, 2006 vs. Sioux Falls Storm L - 44-47 (3-2)
April 28, 2006 at Lexington Horsemen L - 65-32 (3-3)
May 6, 2006 at Sioux Falls Storm L - 25-44 (3-4)
May 12, 2006 vs. Rock River Raptors L - 36-49 (3-5)
May 20, 2006 vs. Evansville BlueCats L - 31-33 (3-6)
June 3, 2006 at Ohio Valley Greyhounds L - 29-52 (3-7)
June 10, 2006 at Evansville BlueCats L - 37-43 (3-8)
June 17, 2006 at Rock River Raptors L - 27-29 (3-9)
June 24, 2006 vs. Ohio Valley Greyhounds W - 42-40 (4-9)
July 1, 2006 vs. Lexington Horsemen L - 44-70 (4-10)
July 8, 2006 at Omaha Beef L - 13-52 (4-11)

[4]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Freedom's 2003 Season Stats
  2. ^ Freedom's 2004 Season Stats
  3. ^ Freedom's 2005 Season Stats
  4. ^ Freedom's 2006 Season Stats
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