Carolina Cobras (NAL) | |
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Current season | |
Established 2017 Play in Greensboro, North Carolina at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex CarolinaCobras.com | |
League/conference affiliations | |
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Current uniform | |
Team colors | Black, silver, red, white |
Cheerleaders | Venom Hunnies [1] |
Personnel | |
Owner(s) | National Sports Ventures [2] Rob Storm (majority) John Kane Darren S. Hunter Theron Davis Paul C. Marquardt Sr. |
General manager | Brandon Negron |
Head coach | Brandon Negron |
Team history | |
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Championships | |
League championships (1)
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Conference championships (0) | |
Division championships (0) | |
Playoff appearances (5) | |
Home arena(s) | |
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The Carolina Cobras are a professional indoor football team in the National Arena League (NAL) and that began play for the 2018 season. Based in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Cobras play their home games at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. [3]
The Cobras is the third indoor/arena team to call Greensboro home, following the Greensboro Prowlers of the af2 (2000–2003) and the Greensboro Revolution of the National Indoor Football League (2006–2007). A previous team called the Carolina Cobras played in the Arena Football League from 2000 until 2004. The AFL Cobras played three seasons in Raleigh and two in Charlotte before folding. The NAL Cobras use a logo similar in style to the defunct AFL Cobras' logo, but otherwise has no direct connection to the AFL franchise.
The Cobras were officially announced as members of the National Arena League (NAL) on December 4, 2017. [3] In their introductory announcement, the team named former Cincinnati Commandos, Texas Revolution, Nashville Venom and Wichita Falls Nighthawks head coach Billy Back as their new coach. [4]
The Cobras inaugural season finished with a regular season record of 10–5, taking second place in the league. The Cobras then defeated the Jacksonville Sharks in the playoff semifinal and earned the right to host the 2018 NAL Championship game at home after the first place Massachusetts Pirates lost their semifinal to the Columbus Lions. [5] With the Lions missing several starting players including their quarterback Mason Espinosa and all running backs, [6] the Cobras dominated Columbus in the championship game 66–8. [7]
In their second season, the Cobras again made it to the championship game, where they lost to the Sharks 52–48. Following the season, head coach Billy Back and most of his staff left the team to coach the relaunched Spokane Shock in the Indoor Football League when the NAL was announced to merge with Champions Indoor Football for the 2020 season. [8] The Cobras initially hired Massachusetts Pirates' head coach Anthony Payton after the Pirates withdrew from the league due to the merger. [9] However, the merger fell apart [10] and the team then hired former defensive coordinator Josh Resignalo as head coach in December 2019. [11]
On September 22, 2022, head coach and general manager Josh Resignalo stepped down to "explore other opportunities". The next day, on September 13, the Cobras announced that their offensive coordinator and arena football veteran James Fuller would be tapped as only the team's third head coach in franchise history. [12]
League champions | Playoff berth | League leader |
Season | League | Regular season | Postseason results | ||||
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Finish | Wins | Losses | |||||
2018 | NAL | 1st | 10 | 5 | Won Semifinal (Jacksonville) 73–48 Won NAL Championship (Columbus) 66–8 | ||
2019 | NAL | 2nd | 9 | 5 | Won Semifinal (Massachusetts) 30–26 Lost NAL Championship (Jacksonville) 48–52 | ||
2020 | NAL | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic | |||||
2021 | NAL | 4th | 3 | 5 | Lost Semifinal (Albany) 41–55 | ||
2022 | NAL | 2nd | 9 | 5 | Won Semifinal (Columbus) 65–51 Lost NAL Championship (Albany) 20–47 | ||
2023 | NAL | 2nd | 10 | 4 | Won Semifinal (San Antonio) 52–36 Lost NAL Championship (Jacksonville) 45–54 | ||
2024 | NAL | 0 | 0 | ||||
Totals | 41 | 24 | All-time regular season record | ||||
5 | 4 | All-time postseason record | |||||
46 | 28 | All-time regular season and postseason record |
Quarterbacks
Running backs
Wide receivers
| Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen
| Linebackers
Special teams
| Reserve lists
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Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
| Defensive coaches
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Note: Statistics are correct through the 2023 National Arena League season.
Name | Tenure | Regular season | Playoffs | Awards | |||
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W | L | Win% | W | L | |||
Billy Back | 2018–2019 | 19 | 10 | .655 | 3 | 1 | |
Josh Resignalo | 2021–2022 | 12 | 10 | .545 | 1 | 2 | |
James Fuller | 2023 | 10 | 4 | .714 | 1 | 1 | NAL Coach of the Year (2023) |
Brandon Negron | 2024–present | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 |
The Spokane Shock were a professional indoor American football team based in Spokane, Washington, that played their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The team was initially a member of arenafootball2 (af2), the Shock won division titles in all four seasons and ArenaCups in 2006 and 2009 before they joined the Arena Football League (AFL) in its 2010 relaunch. The team advanced to the playoffs three times after joining the AFL, winning ArenaBowl XXIII in their first season, making them the only arena football franchise to win both the ArenaCup and the ArenaBowl.
Doug Kay is a retired American football coach who was most recently assistant head coach for the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League (AFL), which league ceased operations after the 2017 season. He has more than 55 years of football experience, including 12 seasons in the AFL. He was the head coach of the Charlotte Rage, Carolina Cobras and Columbus Destroyers. He was also the head football coach at Olivet College from 1971 to 1975.
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