The Billings Wolves were a professional indoor football team based in

Billings, Montana Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Met ...

and members of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams am ...

(IFL). The Wolves began play in 2015 as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

of the IFL. The Wolves were owned by Ron Benzel and coached by

Chris Dixon Chris Dixon is an American internet entrepreneur and investor. He is a general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and previously worked at eBay. He is also the co-founder and former CEO of Hunch. He was #1 on the Midas ...

. The Wolves played their home games at the

Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark First Interstate Arena (colloquially known as The Metra) is a multi-purpose arena located at MetraPark, the fairgrounds of Billings, Montana. The arena has a capacity of 8,700 for ice hockey and indoor football games, 10,500 for basketball, and u ...

History

After receiving unanimous approval by the IFL's existing 9 teams, the new Billings franchise was formally announced by IFL commissioner Mike Allshouse during a press conference on February 19, 2014. The city was previously home to the IFL's Billings Outlaws who folded in 2010 after the so-called

Father's Day Tornado A destructive EF2 tornado hit Billings, Montana on Sunday, June 20, 2010 (Father's Day). Known as the 2010 Father's Day tornado, the strong tornado was on the ground for about 12 minutes and took the roof off the Rimrock Auto Arena at Met ...

heavily damaged their home arena. In April 2014, the team signed a two-year contract with the Yellowstone County Commission making the

the team's home arena in 2015 and 2016. The lease cost the team $3,000 per game in 2015 and $3,500 per game in 2016, plus an "improvement fee" of $1.25 to $4.00, varying with the face value of the ticket. The contract waives the rental fee for the final home game of each season. Season tickets went on sale April 7, 2014. The team initially announced James Walton as head coach but on July 31, 2014, they signed just-retired former Billings Outlaws quarterback

for the job. The Wolves played their first ever game on February 28, 2015, losing 30–17 to the

Tri-Cities Fever The Tri-Cities Fever were a professional indoor football franchise based in Kennewick, Washington. The Fever joined National Indoor Football League (NIFL) in 2005 as an expansion team. The Fever were owned by Teri Carr. From 2005 to 2016, the Fe ...

. The Wolves struggled to win early on, beginning the season on a 4 game losing streak. On April 18, 2015, the Wolves picked up their first ever victory, 56–37 over the

Green Bay Blizzard Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

. The Wolves offense was being paced by rookie

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

Dakaratalib Britt, who had thrown for 13 touchdowns in his first 3 games, but during the Wolves first victory, Britt suffered an injury that sidelined him for the next three games, where the Wolves would fail to win a game. Upon Britt's return to the team, the Wolves improved dramatically on offense and the Wolves won 4 of their last 5 games. The Wolves finished their first season 5–9, finishing fourth in the Intense Conference. At the conclusion of the season, defensive back Michael Green was named the Defensive Rookie of the Year. With the return of Britt for the 2016 season, the Wolves looked to be a playoff contender out of the gates. However after a 2–2 start, Britt injured his elbow forcing the Wolves to start rookie Jawad Yatim. Yatim lost what ended up being his only start due to suffering an injury. The Wolves then signed

Mason Espinosa Mason Espinosa is a former professional American football quarterback and current coach for the DePauw Tigers football team. He has also played for the Albany Empire, the Erie Explosion and the Billings Wolves. Espinosa played college football ...

away from the

Columbus Lions The Columbus Lions are a professional indoor football team based in Columbus, Georgia and are a member of the American Indoor Football Alliance. The were a founding member of the National Arena League (NAL) for the 2017 season. The Lions were f ...

. Espinosa stepped in immediately, and put up passing numbers that made him the IFL Week 10 Offensive Player of the Week and Week 9 IFL Honorable Mention Player of the Week, tying a franchise record for TD passes in consecutive weeks. After Espinosa was sidelined due to injury, going 3–3 as the starter, the Wolves turned to another rookie, Cory Murphy, who ran for a franchise record 6 rushing touchdowns in a 49–39 victory over the

Colorado Crush The Colorado Crush were an arena football team based in Denver, Colorado. They began play as a 2003 Arena Football League expansion team. The Crush played in the Central Division of the American Conference until the Arena Football League suspen ...

. The Wolves finished the season 8–8, earning the 2 seed in the Intense Conference, however they lost their first playoff game in franchise history 52–64 to the

Nebraska Danger The Nebraska Danger was a professional indoor football team based in Grand Island, Nebraska, and a member of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The team was founded in 2011 by Charlie Bosselman as an expansion member of the IFL. The Danger played ...

. During the 2016 season, the Wolves' website was hacked, was never completely fixed, and was non-operational for months. Several former staff members claimed that the team had folded after the completion of the season. On October 24, 2016, the Wolves announced they had left the IFL because of state regulations and failing to find new ownership for the team.

Players of note

Final roster

All-League selections

* OL Nathaniel Ryan (1) * DB Michael Green (2),

Travonti Johnson Travonti Johnson (born May 9, 1984) was an American football safety. He was signed by the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He played college football at UCF. Early life Johnson attended Dr. Michael M. Krop High School in Mi ...

(1)

Awards and honors

The following is a list of all Wolves' players who have won league Awards

Head coaches

Season-by-season results

References

External links

Billings Wolves official website
{{Billings Wolves seasons 2014 establishments in Montana 2016 disestablishments in Montana