Salt Lake Screaming Eagles

The Salt Lake Screaming Eagles were a professional indoor football team based in West Valley City, Utah, near Salt Lake City. The Screaming Eagles started as an expansion team in the Indoor Football League (IFL) and began play in 2017 with home games at the Maverik Center. The team folded when ownership left the IFL to start their own league.

Salt Lake Screaming Eagles
Established 2016
Folded 2017
Played in Maverik Center
in West Valley City, Utah
SaltLakeScreamingEagles.com
League/conference affiliations
Indoor Football League (2017)
  • Intense Conference (2017)
Current uniform
Team colorsNavy blue, red, white
     
Personnel
Owner(s)Project Fanchise
PresidentThom Carter
Head coachMatthew Sauk
Team history
  • Salt Lake Screaming Eagles (2017)
Championships
League championships (0)
Conference championships (0)
Division championships (0)
Home arena(s)

History

The team was announced in April 2016 by a group called Project FANchise with the intent on creating an entirely fan operated indoor football team.[1] The project announced that fans would vote on every aspect of the team including the name of the team, signing players, and calling plays. On June 6, the name of the team was announced as the Screaming Eagles after the 101st Airborne Division.[2] The name was picked over the more controversial choices of "Teamy McTeamface," "Sandtroopers,"[3] and "Stormin' Mormons."[4] William McCarthy was voted in as the first head coach in franchise history.

The team made their debut at home against the Nebraska Danger on February 16, 2017. They lost 78–47 in a game which featured the fans storming the field after the Eagles scored the first fan-called touchdown in franchise history. Also, the team introduced their part-owner, Norm Macdonald, who helped call part of the game streamed live on SI.com (Sports Illustrated) and YouTube.[5] The team won their first game the next week defeating the Colorado Crush 42–41 on February 26. On March 1, the team then fired head coach William McCarthy due to philosophical differences[6] and then hired Matthew Sauk as its new head coach without using the fan vote system. However, the FANchise vote system made national news once again when their fans voted against signing former NFL player Greg Hardy on March 30, 2017.[7]

On April 20, 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that Project FANchise was planning on launching a new league called the "Interactive Football League". Project FANchise CEO Sohrob Farudi confirmed that the Screaming Eagles would finish the 2017 Indoor Football League season[8] and would be leaving the league afterwards.[9] The league was later re-branded as the Electronic Football League (eFL) in October 2017 and then as the Fan Controlled Football League (FCFL) in November 2017.[10] The new league planned to play all of its games in only one city with eight new teams and the Screaming Eagles did not appear to be one the team names considered. The new league eventually began play in February 2021 as Fan Controlled Football with four teams.

Statistics and records

Season-by-season results
League Champions Conference Champions Division Champions Playoff Berth League Leader
Season Team League Conference Division Regular season Postseason results
FinishWinsLosses
2017 2017IFLIntense 4th511

Head coach records
Name Term Regular season Playoffs Awards
WLWin%WL
William McCarthy201711.50000
Matthew Sauk2017410.28600

Personnel

Final roster
2017 Salt Lake Screaming Eagles roster
Quarterbacks
  •  1 Verlon Reed

Running backs

  • 17 Bubba Poole
  • 16 Lucien Walker

Wide receivers

  • 14 Dorian Buford
  • 21 Juwan Dotson
  •  8 Delric Ellington
  • 84 Devin Mahina
  •  7 Chris Robinson
  • 10 Dontrelle Sanford
  • 11 Tanqueray Towns
 Offensive linemen
  • 92 Siaosi Aiono
  • 99 Zach Fondal
  • 52 Royce Roxas

Defensive linemen

  • 75 Quinton Bradley
  • 97 Viliseni Fauonuku
  • 53 Sisale Hautau
  • 52 Michael Ward
  • 93 Seante Williams
 Linebackers
  • 25 Jerome McElroy
  •  9 Gionni Paul

Defensive backs

  •  6 Ed Burns
  • 11 James Calhoun
  • 12 Rashard Greene
  • 14 Kelvin Lee
  •  3 Don Unamba

Special teams

  • 13 Scott Thomsen
 Reserve lists
  •  2 Breon Allen RB (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  • 10 Trent Andrus K (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  • 99 David Gilbert DL (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  • 52 Ofa Hautau DL (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  • 51 Alex Land OL (Exempt)
  • 10 Derwyn Lauderdale WR (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  • -- Lene Maiava OL (Exempt)
  • 15 Gianni Olivas DB (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  •  9 Devon Price WR (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  •  5 Jesse Scroggins QB (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  • 13 Cy Strahm WR (IRTooltip Injured reserve)
  • rookies in italics
  • Roster updated June 13, 2017
  • 25 Active, 12 Inactive

→ More rosters

All-League selections
  • WR Devin Mahina
  • DB James Calhoun

Individual awards

Staff
Salt Lake Screaming Eagles staff
Front office
  • Majority owner – Project FANchise
  • President – Thom Carter
  

Head coach

Offensive coaches

  • Offensive coordinator – The Fans
  • Offensive line coach – Jaren Skinner

Defensive coaches

  • co-Defensive Coordinator – Sergio Gilliam
  • co-Defensive Coordinator – Kevin Bello

2017 season
2017 Salt Lake Screaming Eagles season
OwnerProject FANchise
Head coachWilliam McCarthy (2 games)
Matthew Sauk
Home fieldMaverik Center
Results
Record5–11
Conference place5th
Playoff finishDid not qualify

Schedule

Key:   Win   Tie   Loss   Bye

Week Day Date Kickoff Opponent Results Location Attendance
Score Record
1 Thursday February 16 7:00pm Nebraska Danger L 47–78[11] 0–1 Maverik Center 8,191
2 Sunday February 26 3:00pm at Colorado Crush W 42–41 (OT) 1–1 Budweiser Events Center
3 BYE
4 Monday March 13 7:00pm Spokane Empire L 35–41[12] 1–2 Maverik Center 4,196
5 BYE
6 Friday March 24 7:00pm at Spokane Empire L 36–53[13] 1–3 Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
7 Friday March 31 7:00pm Colorado Crush L 49–52[14] 1–4 Maverik Center 4,121
8 Saturday April 8 7:05pm at Wichita Falls Nighthawks L 33–39 1–5 Kay Yeager Coliseum
9 Friday April 14 7:00pm Arizona Rattlers L 60–73 1–6 Maverik Center 3,785
10 Saturday April 22 7:05pm at Nebraska Danger L 30–49 1–7 Eihusen Arena
11 Sunday April 30 3:00pm at Spokane Empire L 29–31 1–8 Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
12 Sunday May 7 4:30pm at Colorado Crush W 64–41 2–8 Budweiser Events Center
13 Friday May 12 7:00pm Colorado Crush W 38–37 3–8 Maverik Center 4,855
14 Saturday May 20 7:00pm at Arizona Rattlers L 33–63 3–9 Talking Stick Resort Arena
15 Monday May 29 7:00pm Cedar Rapids Titans W 64–27 4–9 Maverik Center 2,981
16 Friday June 2 7:00pm Iowa Barnstormers L 36–58 4–10 Maverik Center 3,873
17 Saturday June 10 7:05pm at Green Bay Blizzard L 34–37 4–11 Resch Center 4,657
18 Friday June 16 7:00pm Spokane Empire W 45–42 5–11 Maverik Center 4,581

Standings
2017 Intense Conference
W L T PCT PF PA CON GB STK
y - Arizona Rattlers 1240.7507826108–1—W8
x - Nebraska Danger 970.5637176605–23.0W1
Spokane Empire 880.5006546777–54.0L3
Salt Lake Screaming Eagles 5110.3136757624–87.0W1
Colorado Crush 3130.1886298212–108.0L4

References
  1. "Project FANchise Launches First-Ever Fan-Run Pro Sports Team". OurSports Central. April 21, 2016.
  2. "Fans Have Spoken: Team Name is "Screaming Eagles"". OurSports Central. June 7, 2016.
  3. "Teamy McTeamfaces losing ground in naming contest for Utah's Indoor Football team". KSTU. June 1, 2016.
  4. "Stormin' Mormons and Teamy McTeamFace lead fan vote to name Utah pro football franchise". Salt Lake Tribune. May 24, 2016.
  5. Joe Coles (February 16, 2017). "Fans rush the field, but Screaming Eagles fall to Nebraska Danger in inaugural game, 78-47". Deseret News.
  6. "Screaming Eagles Make Coaching Change". IFL. March 1, 2017.
  7. Shalise Manza Young (March 30, 2017). "Fans of Indoor Football League team vote no to adding Greg Hardy to roster". Yahoo Sports.
  8. "How Can Football Video Games Get More Realistic? Real Humans". The Wall Street Journal. April 20, 2017.
  9. "WEEKLY SPORTS LEAGUE & FRANCHISE REPORT". OurSports Central. April 24, 2017.
  10. "Hello World – Introducing the eFL and the FAN Token". Electronic Football League. October 11, 2017.
  11. Brennan Smith (February 17, 2017). "Arena football: Salt Lake Screaming Eagles drop opener to Nebraska Danger 78-47 (with video)". www.sltrib.com. The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  12. "Empire ground Screaming Eagles in IFL action". www.spokesman.com. The Spokesman-Review. March 13, 2017. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  13. "Spokane Empire thwarts Salt Lake – and its play-calling fans". www.spokesman.com. The Spokesman-Review. March 24, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
  14. "Screaming Eagles lose to Crush on last-second field goal". www.si.com. Time Inc. April 1, 2017. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
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