The Houston Roughnecks were a professional
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
team based in
Houston, Texas. The Roughnecks competed in the
XFL football league. The team was founded by
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy McMahon (; born August 24, 1945) is an American media proprietor and retired professional wrestling promoter, executive, and performer. From 1982 to 2022, he served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of WWE, the ...
’s Alpha Entertainment and were an owned-and-operated by
Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the develop ...
’s Alpha Acquico. The Roughnecks played their home games at
TDECU Stadium
John O'Quinn Field at TDECU Stadium is an American football stadium on the campus of the University of Houston. The stadium serves as the home of the Houston Cougars football team, which represents the University of Houston in collegiate ...
. The Roughnecks had a franchise regular season record of 12-3 (.800), the highest win percentage among all XFL teams (tied with
DC Defenders
The DC Defenders are a professional American football team based in Washington, D.C. The team was founded by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment and is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL owned by Dwayne Johnson’s Alpha Acquico. Th ...
).
Following the merger of the
USFL
The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...
and XFL in 2024 as the
United Football League, the Houston Roughnecks branding was transferred to the
Houston Gamblers
The Houston Gamblers were an American football team that competed in the United States Football League in 1984 and 1985. The Gamblers were coached by veteran NFL head coach Jack Pardee in both their seasons. They were noteworthy for introducing ...
.
History
McMahon Era (2020)
On December 5, 2018, Houston was announced as one of eight cities that would join the newly reformed XFL, as well as
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
,
New York,
DC,
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...
, and
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
. On May 13, 2019,
June Jones
June Sheldon Jones III (born February 19, 1953) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the Offensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons. Jones was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 1 ...
left his position with the
Hamilton Tiger-Cats to become Houston's head coach. The XFL confirmed the hire May 20.
On October 15, 2019, the Roughnecks announced their first player in team history, being assigned former
Temple Owls
The Temple Owls are the athletic teams that represent Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current athletic director is Arthur Johnson.
The owl has been the symbol and mascot for Temple University since its founding in the 1 ...
QB
P. J. Walker.
On February 8, 2020, the Roughnecks defeated the
Los Angeles Wildcats Los Angeles Wildcats is a name shared by several American football teams from Los Angeles:
*Los Angeles Wildcats (AFL)
The Los Angeles Wildcats (also reported in various media as Pacific Coast Wildcats, Los Angeles Wilson Wildcats and Wilson's ...
in the second game in league history by a score of 37–17. The XFL announced that the remainder of the
2020 XFL season
The 2020 XFL season was the first season in the reboot of the XFL, and the second in the history of the XFL brand created and owned by professional wrestling magnate Vince McMahon, coming 19 years after the 2001 XFL season.
The season began on ...
had been canceled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. The team finished with an undefeated regular season 5–0 record. On April 10, 2020, the XFL suspended operations, with all employees, players, and staff being terminated.
Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia Era (2023)
On August 3, 2020, it was reported that a consortium led by
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson,
Dany Garcia
Dany Garcia (born November 29, 1968) is an American businesswoman, film producer, and IFBB professional bodybuilder. Garcia is the founder of GSTQ, and the CEO and chair of The Garcia Companies and TGC Management, overseeing a portfolio of bra ...
, and Gerry Cardinale (through Cardinale's fund RedBird Capital Partners) purchased the XFL for $15 million just hours before an auction could take place; the purchase received court approval on August 7, 2020.
The XFL hired
Wade Phillips
Harold Wade Phillips (born June 21, 1947) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the Houston Roughnecks of the XFL. He has served as head coach of the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, and Dallas Cowboys. He has also ser ...
as a head coach on April 13, 2022, with the expectation that he would be coaching the Houston team. On July 24, 2022, the return of a Houston XFL franchise was confirmed, as well as the hiring of Wade Phillips. On October 31, 2022, the XFL officially announced that the Roughnecks name would be returning, with a new logo.
Logo change
On January 8, 2021, it was revealed that the
NFL filed an opposition against the XFL's trademark application for the Houston Roughnecks logo on December 28, 2020, claiming that the logo was too similar to the
Houston Oilers
The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...
logo. It was then later revealed that the NFL filed another trademark opposition to the Roughneck's secondary logo on behalf of the
New England Patriots, claiming that the secondary logo was too similar to the Patriots' current logo. On April 7, 2021, it was revealed that the two logos were abandoned "with prejudice" which means that new applications for the logos could not be made.
The Roughnecks revealed their new logo on October 31, 2022, which is similar in shape to the previous
derrick
A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and ...
logo but with greater emphasis on the H (stylized to appear as if constructed from steel girders) and the star portion lowered so that the logo no longer explicitly resembles a derrick.
Merger with the Houston Gamblers
The Roughnecks released a large portion of its roster ahead of the 2024 season and reassigned Phillips and his staff to the
San Antonio Brahmas
The San Antonio Brahmas are a professional American football team based in San Antonio, Texas. The team is an owned-and-operated member of the XFL, owned by RedBird Capital, Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia's Alpha Acquico, LLC.
History
The XF ...
. At the same time, the
United States Football League
The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...
, ahead of its planned merger with the XFL for 2024, indicated that its putative Houston team, the
Gamblers
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...
(which never played in Houston during its two years in that league), would be one of the four surviving teams in said merger in a notice to its players union.
With the announcement of the merger on December 31, ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' reported that the merged league's Houston team would take on the Roughnecks identity.
The UFL confirmed this on January 1, 2024.
UNITED FOOTBALL LEAGUE REVEALS TEAM MARKETS AND HEAD COACHES FOR 2024 SEASON
Press release. Retrieved January 1, 2024.
Coach History
Head Coach History
Offensive Coordinator History
Defensive Coordinator History
Player History
Current NFL Players
Notable Players
Overall Regular Season Record vs. Opponents
Records
References
External links
*
{{XFL (2020)