Billings Wolves

Billings Wolves
Founded 2014
Current season 2016
League Indoor Football League (2015–present)
Conference Intense (2015–present)
Team history Billings Wolves (2015–present)
Based in Billings, Montana
Arena Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark
Colors Red, Black, and Silver
Owner(s) Ron Benzel
Head coach Chris Dixon
General Manager Marc Burr
Championships 0
Division titles 0
Dancers Shewolves
Website http://billingswolves.com/

The Billings Wolves are a professional indoor football team based in Billings, Montana. They are members of the Intense Conference of the Indoor Football League (IFL).[1] The Wolves began play in 2015 as an expansion team of the IFL. The Wolves are owned by Ron Benzel, and coached by Chris Dixon. The Wolves play their home games at the Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark.[2][3]

Personnel

The team will operate under the leadership of owner Ron "Shorty" Benzel, general manager Marc Burr, and head coach Chris Dixon.[4][5] The team's defensive coordinator will be Simon Bergen.[5]

History

After receiving unanimous approval by the IFL's existing 9 teams, the new Billings franchise was formally announced by IFL commissioner Mike Allshouse during a press conference on February 19, 2014.[5] The city was previously home to the IFL's Billings Outlaws who folded in 2010 after the so-called Father's Day Tornado heavily damaged their home arena.[4][6]

In April 2014, the team signed a two-year contract with the Yellowstone County Commission making the Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark the team's home arena in 2015 and 2016. The lease will cost the team $3,000 per game in 2015 and $3,500 per game in 2016, plus an "improvement fee" of $1.25 to $4.00, varying with the face value of the ticket. The contract waives the rental fee for the final home game of each season.[3] Season tickets went on sale April 7, 2014.[7] The team initially announced James Walton as head coach but on July 31, 2014, they signed just-retired former Billings Outlaws quarterback Chris Dixon for the job.[5][8][9]

Players of note

Current roster

Billings Wolves roster
Quarterbacks
  • 15 Mason Espinosa
  • 10 Cory Murphy

Running Backs

  •  2 Nate Burney

Wide Receivers

  • 26 Willie Downs
  • 21 David Lewis
  •  1 Alexander McCray
  •  7 Chip Reeves
Offensive Linemen
  • 54 Nick Chartain
  • 55 Kameron Neal
  • 51 Nathaniel Ryan

Defensive Linemen

  • 17 B. J. Butler
  • 99 Jesse Dickson
  • 53 Kelvin King
  • 42 Chris Martin
  • 13 Christopher Turner
Linebackers
  • -- Jerome Lewis
  •  8 Mikell Mair

Defensive Backs

  • 31 Michael Green
  •  9 Chris Frierson
  •  6 Chika Madu
  •  5 J. D. Roussel
  • 24 Vincent Taylor
  •  3 Norris Wrenn III

Kickers

  • 11 Blake Erickson
Injured Reserve
  •  4 Marcus Barnett WR
  • 11 Avonte Jones WR
  • -- Zaquoya Parham WR

Transfer List

  • Currently vacant

Refused to report

  •  5 Julian Laing RB
  • 11 LaSteven McKinney WR
  • -- Ike Williams DB

Rookies in italics
Roster updated April 28, 2016
24 Active, 6 Inactive

→ More rosters

All-League selections

Awards and honors

The following is a list of all Axemen players who have won league Awards

Season Player Position Award
2015 Michael Green Defensive Back Defensive Rookie of the Year[10]

Coaches

Head Coaches

Name Term Regular Season Playoffs Awards
W L T Win% W L
Chris Dixon 2015-present 9 14 0 .391 0 0

Statistics and records

Season-by-season results

Note: 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
2015 2015 IFL Intense 4th 5 9 0
2016 2016 IFL Intense 4 5 0
Totals 9 14 0 All-time regular season record (2015-2016)
0 0 - All-time postseason record (2015-2016)
9 14 0 All-time regular season and postseason record (2015-2016)

References

  1. ↑ "Indoor football to return to Billings in 2015". Billings Gazette (Billings, MT). January 6, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  2. ↑ Breen, Scott (January 6, 2014). "Billings close to deal with Indoor Football League". Missoula, MT: KPAX-TV. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  3. 1 2 Zimmer, Mike (April 1, 2014). "Wolves sign 2-year deal with Metra". Billings Gazette (Billings, MT). Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  4. 1 2 Crisp, David (January 9, 2014). "Indoor football returns". The Billings Outpost (Billings, MT). Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Zimmer, Mike (February 19, 2014). "Billings Wolves to bring indoor football back to Billings in 2015". Billings Gazette (Billings, MT). Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  6. ↑ Krieger, Dan (January 13, 2014). "Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report". Our Sports Central. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Season tickets on sale for Wolves". Billings Gazette (Billings, MT). April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Billings Wolves name Chris Dixon head coach". Billings Gazette (Billings, MT). July 31, 2014. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  9. ↑ Welsch, Jeff (July 31, 2014). "Dixon ready to take IFL by storm as coach". Billings Gazette (Billings, MT). Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Billings Wolves DB Michael Green honored". www.billingsgazette.com. Billings Gazette. December 29, 2015. Retrieved December 29, 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, May 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.