Sarasota Thunder

Sarasota Thunder

Founded	2013
Folded	2013
Team history	Huntington Hammer (2011-2012) Sarasota Thunder (2013)
Based in	Sarasota, Florida at the Robarts Arena
Home arena	Robarts Arena (2013)
League	Ultimate Indoor Football League (2013)
Colors	Red, Orange, and White
Personnel
Head coach	Greg Walls
Owners	Dale Taylor Jeff Eberly
Playoff appearances ()
0

The Sarasota Thunder were a professional indoor football team based in Sarasota, Florida. They played in the Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL) for part of the 2013 season before folding. The Thunder initially announced Robarts Arena as their home venue, though they played all their games on the road.

Franchise history

In August 2012, the Sarasota Thunder was announced as the third 2013 expansion team of the Ultimate Indoor Football League. ^{[1] [2]} This was the second attempt to bring an indoor football team to Sarasota, the first being the Florida Scorpions of the National Indoor Football League. The team announced they would play their home games at Robarts Arena. ^[3] In September 2012, the Thunder named Greg Walls the franchise's first head coach. ^[4]

Before the season, however, the league took over control of the Thunder and shifted them to an all-travel schedule, with no home games in Sarasota. The team played very poorly, generally losing in blowouts. Their performance caused disruption through the league, as their host teams had difficulty drawing fans to such lopsided games. On May 9, the Florida Tarpons – whose owners also owned the UIFL – announced the Thunder had forfeited a scheduled game against them; the league subsequently folded the team. ^{[5] [6] [7]}

Head coaches

Name	Term	Regular season				Playoffs		Awards
		W	L	T	Win%	W	L
Greg Walls	2013	0	3	0	.000	0	0

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
2013	2013	UIFL			6th	0	3	0
Totals						0	3	0	All-time regular season record (2013)
						0	0	-	All-time postseason record (2013)
						0	3	0	All-time regular season and postseason record (2013)

References

1. Dennis Maffezzoli (August 12, 2012). "FOOTBALL: Sarasota Thunder coming in 2013". www.htpreps.com. HT Preps. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
2. "Pro football: UIFL adds expansion franchise in Sarasota for 2013". Naples Daily News. August 12, 2012. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
3. "Indoor football: Sarasota team coming in 2013". Bradenton Herald. August 14, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
4. Dennis Maffezzoli (September 13, 2012). "Sarasota indoor football team names Walls head coach". Herald Tribune. Retrieved September 17, 2012.
5. Maffezzoli, Dennis (February 5, 2013). "Sarasota Thunder have seven games - all on the road". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
6. Milligan, Del (May 21, 2013). "Raiders Reassessing Future in Lakeland". The Ledger . Retrieved October 18, 2013.
7. "UIFL, Tarpons swimming in murky waters". 239sports.com. May 29, 2013. Retrieved October 18, 2013.

External links

• Sarasota Thunder official site