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56-613: The Marshals started out as the Waco Marshals in 2004, but finished their inaugural season with a disappointing 2–8 record. For the next season they relocated to Cincinnati and became the Cincinnati Marshals. Waco/Cincinnati Marshals players and coaches of note: Brett Dietz , Ickey Woods , Ray Jackson , Wayne Walker , Ed Biles , Lew Carpenter , Mark Ricker , Odell James, Ron Carpenter, Hubbard Alexander , Rayshawn Askew , Louis Fite. The NIFL took over operations midway through

112-467: A Division III playoff record for completions and attempts after going 46–78 for 520 yards and 4 TDs and 4 INTs. He was once again a first team all-Heartland Conference selection and set school records for completions and attempts going 314–497 for 3,511 yards with 35 TDs and 12 INTs. Dietz also played basketball, baseball, and golf at Hanover. Dietz is the only player in AFL and af2 history to win "rookie of

168-700: A logo was developed and venues had begun to be lined up, the league and its nine teams were purchased by the AF2 on July 29, 1999, and the Xtreme Football League never played a single game. The AF2 finally took the field in March 2000 in a game between the Birmingham Steeldogs and Tennessee Valley Vipers (two of the acquired XFL teams). Fifteen teams were fielded in 2000 with the rights for several more cities quickly secured. The Orlando Predators also purchased

224-572: A new coaching staff led by head coach Steve Carpenter and the return of the Diamond Deputies. Former NFL star Ickey Woods served as an assistant coach in 2006 and former Tennessee Titan Ray Jackson led the Marshals in rushing. The team matched their 2005 regular season output, going 8–6 in the season, and clinched the #5 seed in the Atlantic Conference playoffs. The Marshals could not avoid

280-526: A new league record for scoring with 282 points, overcoming the mark of 276 points set by Baron Dockery of the Ohio Valley Greyhounds in 2002. Askew finished the regular season leading the league in scoring (282 points), touchdowns (46), rushing yards (719 yards) and all-purpose yards (2236 yards) Former Cincinnati Marshals quarterback Brett Dietz would move up to play for the Tampa Bay Storm of

336-462: A return of the league for 2013, but that did not materialize. Kurz had also mentioned af2 in an interview on The AFL Podcast in 2024. The ArenaCup was the AF2's championship game, held annually in August. For the league's first five years, it was held at the home arena of the higher-seeded remaining team. However, as the old AFL has changed, the AF2 also changed. In the same year that ArenaBowl XIX

392-409: A success, the league returned for a second season and returned all 15 original teams as well as 13 expansion teams. For legal purposes, the league was effectively dissolved on September 8, 2009, when no team submitted the paperwork to return in 2010. Since the original AFL had suspended 2009 operations and later suspended all operations indefinitely after declaring bankruptcy , the minority owners (as

448-727: Is an American college football coach and former quarterback . He is the head football coach for DePauw University , a position he has held since 2020. Dietz played college football at Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana and professionally with several teams including the Turku Trojans in Finland Vaahteraliiga and in Arena Football League (AFL), Af2 , and the National Indoor Football League (NIFL) for

504-523: The Arena Football League . He won Co-Rookie of the Year in the AFL for the 2007 season. The Marshals have been mentioned on ESPN when they talk about Dietz's career. In the following months, the team's status was left largely undetermined. On December 20, 2005, after many months of speculation, the Marshals announced a return to the NIFL for the 2006 season with a new ownership group led by Doug Hortman and P.J. Conboy,

560-655: The California Redwoods of the United Football League in the UFL Premiere Season Draft in 2009. He signed with the team on August 18. He was released on September 23. Dietz was the quarterbacks coach for Cascade High School in Clayton, Indiana for the 2006 season. Dietz was announced as the head coach of DePauw on January 2, 2020. Dietz has coached at the school since 2010 as a position coach and

616-536: The Cincinnati Marshals , Louisville Fire , Tampa Bay Storm and California Redwoods . Dietz played high school football at Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky . He was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 2020. He then attended Hanover College becoming the starter his junior and senior seasons. In 2002 , he led the team to an undefeated regular season before falling to Wittenburg in

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672-688: The Daytona Beach ThunderBirds , from the WIFL , and the Austin Wranglers moved down from the AFL . After the season, Austin and Daytona Beach folded, along with Louisville , Lubbock , and Texas . The league was expected to expand to Toledo, Ohio and Worcester, Massachusetts by 2011. When AF2 folded, some teams joined the AF2 Board of Directors in forming the new "Arena Football 1" that soon became

728-782: The Fort Wayne Fusion , the Cincinnati Jungle Kats , and the Laredo Lobos . The Everett Hawks , Alabama Steeldogs , and the Bakersfield Blitz also ceased operations. For 2008, the league fielded one team fewer, at 29. Two teams were reactivated: the Iowa Barnstormers and the Peoria Pirates , and the league admitted three new teams that were transferring from other leagues. The Lexington Horsemen came from UIF ;

784-768: The National Indoor Football League (NIFL). Dietz attended training camp with the Tampa Bay Storm and was assigned to the practice squad on January 27. After spending six weeks on practice squad, he was released on March 9 to join the af2's Louisville Fire . He spent the remainder of 2006 with Fire as starting quarterback and was named af2 Spalding Rookie of the Year and first-team American Conference All-af2. Set af2 single-game high with 12 touchdown passes 6/17/06 at Albany, where he completed 23 of 31 passes for 314 yards. He led af2 in completion percentage (71.2%) and pass efficiency (126.7). Dietz became starting quarterback in 2007 after both John Kaleo and Stoney Case were injured . He propelled them to an 8–1 record and led them to

840-486: The National Indoor Football League , a rival indoor league, saw large numbers of expansion teams after beginning play in 2001 but many struggled financially and played only briefly, incurring considerable financial losses before folding. In more recent years, the American Basketball Association has exhibited the same situation to an even greater degree. Nine new expansion teams were approved for 2007 in

896-798: The Steel before ultimately folding after the 2016 AFL season. After the 2014 AFL season, the Iowa Barnstormers changed leagues from the AFL to the Indoor Football League. After the conclusion of the 2015 season, the last AF2 team remaining in the AFL, the Spokane Shock, joined the Barnstormers in the IFL as the Spokane Empire , and then also folded in 2017. After the conclusion of the 2019 AFL season ,

952-481: The 2004 season after realizing that the ownership had "floated" a phony check for the franchise and the league had to assume financial burden to a team that had never paid a penny to even join the league due to the fraudulent payment by ownership. The league then agreed to sell the rights to Tony Williams and Manuel Ramos, who was serving as the Defensive Coordinator and Special Teams Coordinator respectively, at

1008-592: The 2015 season. The Milwaukee Iron rebranded itself in 2011 as the Mustangs, adopting the name of a previous Milwaukee team . Tulsa relocated to San Antonio before the start of the 2012 season, retaining the Talons' name and history and folded after the 2014 season. Milwaukee suspended operations for the 2013 season, and the team relocated to Portland, Oregon for the 2014 season, becoming the Portland Thunder , later renamed

1064-409: The AF2 fielded teams in cities which are part of metropolitan statistical areas ranging in size from Milwaukee (with 1,739,497 residents) to Albany, Georgia (with 164,000 residents). Also in common with other minor professional sports leagues, players also earned less than in the AFL, with each player making $ 200-$ 500 per game, with a minimum $ 50 victory bonus. The AF2 was founded in 1999 by

1120-467: The AF2 played using the same arena football rules and style of play. League seasons ran from April through July with the postseason and ArenaCup championship in August. The AF2 continued to operate while the AFL suspended operations for its 2009 season. The league was effectively disbanded in September 2009 when no team committed to playing in 2010, but several of the stronger franchises transferred into

1176-545: The AF2, saying how one day he envisioned the league growing to 100 teams. The AF2 started off with 15 teams in 2000, then expanded to 28 teams in 2001, and finally to 34 in 2002. The number of teams the league fielded dropped every year from there on after, until the 2006 season; 27 teams were fielded in 2003, 25 in 2004, and 20 in 2005. Finally, in 2006, the AF2 saw its first expansion in four years, fielding 23 teams, and continued that into 2007 with 30 teams. The drop in teams between 2002 and 2006 could be partially attributed to

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1232-839: The AF2: the Boise Burn , the Cincinnati Jungle Kats , the Fort Wayne Fusion , the Laredo Lobos , the Lubbock Renegades , the Mahoning Valley Thunder , the Texas Copperheads , the Tri-Cities Fever , and the Corpus Christi Sharks . The Texas, Laredo, and Tri-Cities teams moved to the AF2 from other indoor football leagues. For the 2007 season, the league fielded 30 teams. After the 2007 season, three of those teams folded,

1288-483: The AFL owned 50.1%) of AF2 were wary of being owned by and paying money owed to the bankrupt league's creditors. The remaining teams and Board of Directors of AF2, and some former members of the AFL joined to create a new league, originally called "Arena Football One", which was announced at a press conference on September 28, 2009. Legally, Arena Football One, later doing business as the Arena Football League,

1344-596: The AFL remained in the league. The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz ceased operations after the 2010 season. In the 2011 season, the Alabama Vipers relocated to suburban Atlanta and assumed the identity and history of the former Georgia Force before folding after the 2012 season, while the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings moved to New Orleans and became a continuation of the VooDoo and then ceased operations after

1400-669: The American and National Conferences. The conferences were further subdivided into three divisions each. Each division represented a region of the country in which teams played. Unlike most sports leagues, the alignment of teams into divisions was not even; in 2009, the Central division featured three teams while the West featured five teams. Teams were placed in divisions based on geographic rivalries to reduce travel costs as teams played division opponents more often than non-divisional opponents. Alignment

1456-539: The Arena Football League in an attempt to bring the game to mid-sized markets following the success of AFL on the national level. The AF2 was not intended to be a farm system for the AFL like the American Hockey League and Minor League Baseball are to the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball , respectively. The league was instead designed as a league that would develop the players in

1512-647: The Equipment Director Josh Reasoner followed Coach Biles out. Despite all this, new head coach Tony Wells, quarterback Brett Dietz and running back Rayshawn Askew led the team to the finish of an 8–6 record, which tied them for 2nd in their division with the Dayton Warbirds. In the First round of playoffs they upset the River City Rage, who was ranked first in the same division as the Marshals with

1568-737: The Marshals with 67 points and the Rage with 64 points. In the next playoff round they defeated the Fayetteville Guard 70 to 69. In the Atlantic Conference Championship they had no such luck, falling to the Rome Renegades 51 to 41. In 2005, Rayshawn Askew broke or tied many league records that year en route to being named an All-Star. He tied the single season touchdown record of 46 when he scored three touchdowns against Wyoming on July 4, 2005. The three touchdowns allowed Askew to set

1624-628: The Marshals' season. On October 18, 2006, it was announced that the AF2 had granted a new expansion team to the U.S. Bank Arena , in the form of the Cincinnati Jungle Kats , who took over the indoor football contract for the arena. As a consequence, the Marshals had no arena to call their own. It was originally thought that they were moving to Wall2Wall Soccer in nearby Mason for 2007, [1] . However, they moved to Hara Arena in Dayton for 2007, and changing their name to The Marshals . [2] . The announcement

1680-540: The competitor Indoor Football League; several teams would be absorbed into the AF2 for the 2001 season . The first season concluded with over 868,000 people attending AF2 games, averaging over 7,200 per game; several teams ended with average attendances over 10,000 fans. In addition over 9,200 fans attended ArenaCup I between the Tennessee Valley Vipers and Quad City Steamwheelers in Moline, Illinois . Deemed

1736-407: The final home game in 2006 that the team would return to Cincinnati in 2007. However, the promise was once again kept unfulfilled, and the team went away quietly, along with the rest of the NIFL. Running backs Wide receivers Defensive backs Kickers Practice Squad [3] updated July 26, 2004 21 Active, 0 Inactive Brett Dietz Brett Dietz (born October 8, 1981)

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1792-471: The first round of the playoffs. He threw for 2,296 yards on 182 completions on 309 attempts with 26 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, also added two rushing touchdowns. He was tabbed first-team all- Heartland Conference . His senior season, Dietz again led the Panthers to a playoff berth after leading the team to a 8–3 record and another conference title. In the first round playoff loss to Baldwin-Wallace, Dietz set

1848-407: The first round, and asked Cincinnati to host the game. However, Cincinnati had been thrown out of their arena due to setup for a concert. Osceola offered a compromise, where the Marshals would travel to Lakeland, Florida, but team ownership shot down the idea and forfeited the game. A few days after the announced forfeit, it was revealed that Osceola failed to file paperwork so they could advance into

1904-518: The game had some traction in the smaller cities. With Jim Foster 's patent on arena football, the AF2 had the advantage of being the same game as was being seen on the national level with the use of the rebound nets. Working on a smaller scale, the AF2 would try to capitalize on local and regional rivalries. The Xtreme Football League was another upstart league trying to capitalize on the arena football phenomenon. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama , with

1960-403: The game of "musical teams" that seemed to doom the league (the consequence of a failed expansion project) even before the playoffs began. Cincinnati's 5th seed was supposed to equal a road trip to a rematch of a late-season loss to Osceola. Osceola, however, commenced a tug-of-war with the league and the Marshals regarding the site of the game. Osceola's home arena was hosting a rodeo the weekend of

2016-780: The intent to begin play in 2000 , this XFL (which was not related to the WWE-backed outdoor league ) used East Coast Hockey League ownership to keep team costs low while providing established ownership and arenas for play. The cities that were to take part in the Xtreme Football League were: Birmingham, Alabama ( Birmingham Steeldogs ), Greenville, South Carolina ( Carolina Rhinos ), Huntsville, Alabama ( Tennessee Valley Vipers ), Jacksonville, Florida ( Jacksonville Tomcats ), Norfolk, Virginia ( Norfolk Nighthawks ), Pensacola, Florida ( Pensacola Barracudas ), Richmond, Virginia ( Richmond Speed ), Roanoke, Virginia ( Roanoke Steam ), and Tallahassee, Florida ( Tallahassee Thunder ). Although

2072-437: The interest of the higher league as a whole. The lack of AFL–AF2 team affiliations would prevent the AFL from "stashing" players in the lower league for later use. Players in the AF2 were signed to one-year contracts, after the expiration of which they essentially became free agents to sign with whichever league and team they would prefer. The 16-week contracts with the individual AF2 teams also prevented players from leaving for

2128-424: The league expanding too rapidly in its first three seasons. Many teams were financially unstable and folded . This could have been at least in large measure due to higher expenses, even compared to those of similar leagues. Franchise fees in the league ranged from $ 600,000 to $ 1 million. Historically, massive sports league expansions have had little success, either in indoor football or other sports. For instance,

2184-589: The new Arena Football League. Iowa, Milwaukee, Tennessee Valley (which changed its name to Alabama to reflect the state, rather than the region), Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Bossier-Shreveport, and Spokane all moved to the new AFL to join "old" AFL teams Arizona, Orlando, Tampa Bay, Chicago, and Cleveland, along with expansion teams in Dallas and Jacksonville, and the American Indoor Football team in Utah that had also been in

2240-528: The old AFL. Kentucky, Tri-Cities, and Arkansas also committed to the new league, but Kentucky folded, and Tri-Cities and Arkansas followed Green Bay and Amarillo to the Indoor Football League . Albany did not play in 2010 while seeking an expansion into the "new" AFL in 2011, along with a planned addition in Toledo. By the conclusion of the 2015 AFL Season , none of the seven AF2 franchises that moved into

2296-474: The original arena arrangement for the 2008 season. With the exception of ArenaCup V , all AF2 championships were televised either nationally or locally. The inaugural and second ArenaCups were broadcast on TNN Motor Sports/TNN Sports , which carried AFL games on Sunday afternoons at the time. However, when the AFL broadcast rights were purchased by NBC , the ArenaCup national telecast was lost. The 2002 ArenaCup

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2352-689: The parent league mid-season; this preserved the quality of play in the lower league and did not destroy team dynamics with players coming and going throughout the season as they do in the NHL and MLB. The foundation of the AF2 was a response to the launch of several small-market indoor football leagues in the mid-to-late 1990s, including the Professional Indoor Football League , Indoor Professional Football League , and Indoor Football League . Each of these leagues, though they would eventually fold, managed to last for multiple seasons, proving that

2408-559: The playoffs after a 1–6 start, although they lost 56–55 in his first playoff game. However, for his efforts during the season, Dietz was named co- rookie of the year in the league. After the Arena Football League returned for the 2010 season, Dietz returned with the Storm. He led them to a 13–6 record, but the team was defeated in ArenaBowl XXIII by the Spokane Shock . Dietz was drafted by

2464-480: The playoffs. Osceola was given a choice: either play Cincinnati in St. Louis with the winner playing the River City Rage the next night, or forfeit the game and allow Cincinnati to advance to play River City. Osceola declined, and Cincinnati was allowed to advance. With only three days and one practice to prepare for the game, Cincinnati traveled to St. Louis, where the Rage defeated the Marshals at Scottrade Center, 43–30, ending

2520-405: The reconstituted AFL. Like most other minor sports leagues, the AF2 existed to develop football players and also to help players adapt to the style and pace of arena football . In addition, the AF2 was similar to other minor leagues because AF2 teams played in smaller cities and smaller venues. While the AFL was played in cities like Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Chicago,

2576-599: The team after he did not pay players for well over a month, and then fled the United States entirely after being suspected of money laundering . The mismanagement resulted in the resignation of the team's head coach, former Houston Oilers head coach Ed Biles , and the dissolution of the Diamond Deputies cheerleading squad, after they claimed weeks of unpaid game checks. In addition, the Assistant Coaches Hubbard Alexander and Lew Carpenter , as well as

2632-462: The time. Williams and Ramos reign as owners didn't last much longer after it was found that they could not make payments either to the H.O.T. and had bounced employee paychecks, did not pay bills to companies for services and did not have the required insurance for the players; same as their predecessors. Several new players were signed, as the NIFL managed the Marshals for the remainder of the 2004 season. In 2005, owner H. P. Patterson first surrendered

2688-567: The year" in back-to-back seasons (2006 with Louisville Fire (af2), 2007 with Tampa Bay Storm (AFL)). Dietz began his career in 2004 playing for the Turku Trojans in Finland Vaahteraliiga . He led the Trojans to the top-ranked pass offense, while guiding the team to the Maple Bowl championship game before losing to the Helsinki Roosters . In 2005, Dietz played with the Cincinnati Marshals of

2744-483: Was an entity-model league in which the league owned the individual teams and hired local management groups to operate them, rather than the traditional North American sports league model where each team is a separate business and the league is a non-profit association formed and controlled by the various team owners in order to co-ordinate and govern operations. There had been rumors of a possible return of AF2, after Arena Football League commissioner Jerry Kurz had stated

2800-405: Was an entity independent of the original Arena Football League and AF2 and was made up of former AFL and AF2 teams with several new (expansion) teams and one team from another league. After acquiring the assets of the former Arena Football League in a bankruptcy court sale, the new entity formally became the "new" Arena Football League. Unlike the previous Arena Football League and AF2, the new AFL

2856-504: Was even more of a shock to players and staff, seeing as no formal conference was given, no owner-team meeting was ever held, and all but owner Doug Hortman and his assistant were made to research the information through a short press release on a skeletal form of the Marshals website, leaving fans irate. The Marshals went quietly up to Dayton, a move similar to the 1983 overnight move of the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis. The 2007 season

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2912-672: Was played at a neutral site in Las Vegas , ArenaCup VI was the first AF2 championship to be played at a neutral site in Bossier City, Louisiana . The practice continued the following year when ArenaCup VII was played in Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan ; the title game returned to Bossier City in ArenaCup VIII . Citing lower attendances at the neutral site ArenaCup games, the league returned to

2968-448: Was played, but was not completed in full, due to the collapse of the NIFL. At the time the team was 2–4. Owner Doug Hortman was interviewed by the Dayton Daily News , in which he accused the NIFL of lying to him and other owners about league development and scheduling. Hortman would then go on to promise the return of the team for 2008, which proved to be a lie. This was the same promise Hortman had made when he announced during halftime of

3024-442: Was subject to change each year as new teams joined the league and others dropped out. Because of legal issues regarding the bankruptcy and subsequent dissolution of the original Arena Football League, no team committed to continue with arenafootball2 operations. This list is the final alignment of AF2 at the end of the 2009 season. In a June 2003 interview with Sports Illustrated , AFL commissioner David Baker briefly mentioned

3080-438: Was televised by the Vision Network , and ArenaCup IV was televised by KWHB , a local station in Tulsa, Oklahoma . After having no television coverage in 2004, the national telecasts returned to the airwaves with Fox Sports Net in 2005 and Comcast Sports Net in 2006, 2007, and 2008. ArenaCup IX, as well as the season in its entirety, was broadcast online via NiFTy TV. The league's teams were divided into two conferences,

3136-402: Was the offensive coordinator the previous six seasons. He coached his team to 2–0 record in his first season during the COVID-19 shortened season. # denotes interim head coach AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2 , and short for arenafootball2 ) was the Arena Football League 's developmental league ; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL,

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