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