Colorado Crush (IFL)

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)
Team colors	Navy blue, orange, Carolina blue, white
Mascot	Ambush
Cheerleaders	Titan Dolls
Personnel
Owner(s)	Project Fanchise
Head coach	Marvin 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)
Budweiser Events Center (2007–2017)

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

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 shutdown and no formal announcement on the team's future was made. ^[11]

Players

Final roster

Colorado Crush roster
Quarterbacks  5 Sean Goldrich 16 Liam Nadler Running backs 13 Josh Ford  1 Zavier Steward Wide receivers 12Anthony Jones Jr.  8 Kyle Kaiser  4 Rose Love III 88Kendall Sanders		Offensive linemen 68Daniel Anousheh 65 Sean Brown 78 Forrestal Hickman 66Casey Perry 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 25Keith Trumps Special teams 32Miles Bergner		Reserve lists 12 Aaron Aiken QB (IR) -- Nnamdi Agude WR (IR)  3 Erick Brundidge WR (IR) 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) 66Lance McDowdell DL (Did not report) 91 Jamil Merrell DL (IR) 20 Deante Purvis DB (IR) Rookies in italics Roster updated June 1, 2017 25 Active, 10 Inactive

Awards and honors

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

All-IFL players

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

Defensive Rookie of the Year Season Player Position 2010 Landon Jones [12] LB

Most Improved Player Season Player Position 2011 David Knighton QB

Most Valuable Player Season Player Position 2014 Willie Copeland QB

Offensive Player of the Year Season Player Position 2016 Demarius Washington WR

Staff

Colorado Crush staff
	Front Office Principal Owner – Project FANchise General Manager - vacant 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

Season-by-season results

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

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

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

References

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.

External links

• Colorado Crush official website