The Texas Copperheads were a professional

arena football Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...

that played in

AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

, the

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

for the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

. The team was founded in 2006 as member of the

National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, A ...

(NIFL). They played their home games at the

Richard E. Berry Educational Support Center The Berry Center of Northwest Houston (commonly known as Berry Center) is a multi-purpose sports complex located in Cypress, Texas. It was completed in March 2006 and consists of five separate facilities: an arena, stadium, theater, conference cen ...

Cypress, Texas Cypress is an unincorporated community in Harris County, Texas, United States, located completely inside the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of Houston. The Cypress area is located along U.S. Highway 290 (Northwest Freeway) is twenty-fo ...

. They were coached by Ollie Guidry.

Team history

The team started as the Katy Copperheads of the

in 2005. They moved to the

Leonard E. Merrell Center The Leonard E. Merrell Center (commonly known as the Merrell Center) is a 7,200-seat multi-purpose arena in Katy, Texas. It was built in 2005 and was the former home of the Katy Copperheads (National Indoor Football League) and the Katy Ruff Rider ...

in 2006. In 2006, they gained national attention on ''

Cold Pizza ''Cold Pizza'' is an American television sports morning talk show that aired weekdays on ESPN2 from 2003 to 2007. The show's style was more akin to '' Good Morning America'' than '' SportsCenter''s straight news and highlights format. It included ...

'', a show on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

, in a segment called "A Day In A Life Of An NIFL Team". The same year, they got into the NIFL playoffs but were eliminated by the

Rapid City Flying Aces The Rapid City Flying Aces were a professional indoor American football team in Rapid City, South Dakota. Like their predecessors, the Black Hills Red Dogs, they played their home games at the Don Barnett Arena in Rapid City. As of April 2007, t ...

, 60-38. After the 2006 season, the team announced they were changing their name to the Texas Copperheads, moving to the AF2, and moving to the

Records

On June 25, 2006, the Copperheads scored 132 points in a game against the West Palm Beach Phantoms – final score 132-3. This record stands as the highest point total for an indoor football game at any level. The team also has the dubious distinction of being only the second AF2 team (after the

Peoria Pirates The Peoria Pirates were a professional arena football team that last played in AF2, the minor league to the Arena Football League (AFL). They played their home games at Carver Arena, part of the Peoria Civic Center in Illinois, and were coached ...

' opening-day loss to the

Quad City Steamwheelers The Quad City Steamwheelers were a professional arena football team. They were a charter member of the AF2 and played their home games at iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois. The team was founded on September 1, 1999 when the Quad Cities was ...

in 2001) ever to suffer a shutout loss (a 52-0 road defeat to the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings on April 14, 2007).http://www.af2.com/ViewArticle.dbml?B_OEM_ID=3525&ATCLID=864897&SPID=1603&ISWIDE=1
/ref> In March 2006, the Copperheads became the first indoor football team to produce a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

. In 2006 and 2007 the show was hosted by Chris Doelle. Former NFL RB

Bam Morris Byron "Bam" Morris (born January 13, 1972) is a former American football running back who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bears, Baltimore Ravens, and the Kansas City Chiefs. Early life Morris attended Texas Tech University where he ...

played for the Copperheads in 2006.

Legal trouble

The Copperheads were accused by

Katy Independent School District The Katy Independent School District (KISD) is a public school district based in Katy, Texas, United States with an enrollment of over 85,700 students. As of August 2009, the district was rated as "Recognized" by the Texas Education Agency. ...

of not paying their rent for the season when they were at the

Merrell Center The Leonard E. Merrell Center (commonly known as the Merrell Center) is a 7,200-seat multi-purpose arena in Katy, Texas. It was built in 2005 and was the former home of the Katy Copperheads (National Indoor Football League) and the Katy Ruff Rider ...

playing as the Katy Copperheads (Katy I.S.D. owns the Merrell Center). At the end of the season, they owed Katy I.S.D. US$38,892.43. The owner, Bryan Blake would later pay the money in February 2007. In order to do this, he had to sell some of the Texas Copperheads ownership, to the owner of the

Austin Wranglers The Austin Wranglers were an arena football team based in Austin, Texas. They played four seasons in the Arena Football League from 2004 to 2007 and spent one season in af2, the AFL's developmental league, in 2008. They made playoff appearances i ...

, Doug McGregor. Afterwards, Katy I.S.D gave Blake back $38,000 worth of supplies. The Copperheads moved out of Katy to Cypress to play in the Berry Center as a result. The former head coach is now coaching with the Austin Turfcats of the newly formed Southern Indoor Football League.

Season-by-season

, - , colspan="6" align="center" , Katy Copperheads (NIFL) , - , 2006 , , 11 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1st Pacific South , , Won PC Quarterfinals (

Beaumont Beaumont may refer to: Places Canada * Beaumont, Alberta * Beaumont, Quebec England * Beaumont, Cumbria * Beaumont, Essex ** Beaumont Cut, a canal closed in the 1930s * Beaumont Street, Oxford France (communes) * Beaumont, Ardèche * ...

)
Lost PC Semifinals (

Rapid City Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...

) , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Texas Copperheads (af2) , - , 2007 , , 2 , , 14 , , 0 , , 4th NC Southwest , , -- , - , 2008 , , 2 , , 14 , , 0 , , 5th NC Southwest , , -- , - !Totals , , 16 , , 31 , , 0 , colspan="2", (including playoffs)

Coaching staff

* Ollie Guidry – Head Coach * Ed Jenkins –

Defensive Coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

* Richard Kitterman –

Offensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

Special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

Coach * Jerry Hornsby –

Defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

Linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

s * Chris Scarborough – Wide receivers

Notes

External links

Official Site
{{Af2 Defunct Defunct af2 teams Harris County, Texas Sports in Houston American football teams established in 2005 American football teams disestablished in 2008 American football teams in Texas Defunct American football teams in Texas Arena Football League in Texas 2005 establishments in Texas 2008 disestablishments in Texas