The Wenatchee Valley Venom were a professional indoor football team based in

Wenatchee, Washington Wenatchee ( ) is the county seat and largest city of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925, and was estimated to have increased to 34,360 as of 2019. Located in the north-central part ...

. The team was most recently a member of the Pacific Division of the Intense Conference 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 amon ...

(IFL). The Venom were founded in 2009 as an expansion member of the

American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

(AIFA). The Venom played their home games at

Town Toyota Center Town Toyota Center is a 4,300-seat multi-purpose arena in Wenatchee, Washington. The arena was built and is owned and managed by the Wenatchee Public Facilities District (PFD). It is the home venue of the Wenatchee Wild, an ice hockey team in the ...

History

On June 15, 2009, co-owner and general manager Mark Helm announced that the Wenatchee Valley Venom would become 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

(AIFA) for the 2010 season. The ownership named Keith Evans the franchise's first head coach and assistant general manager. In January, 2010, the Venom adding Kyle Skalisky to the ownership group and named him team president. After a 2–5 start, the team fired Keith Evans and named

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 ...

Brian Smith as the team's interim head coach. On May 28, 2010, ownership removed the interim tag from Smith and he took over as the full-time head coach. Smith guided the Venom to a 6–1 record during the remainder of the season, but the team missed the playoffs. The ownership group announced that the team would be returning for the 2011 season, but were unsure what league the franchise would play in. On September 11, 2010, the Venom joined the

(IFL) for the 2011 season. The Venom won their IFL debut 45–37 over the

Fairbanks Grizzlies The Fairbanks Grizzlies were a professional indoor football team based in Fairbanks, Alaska. The team was a member of the Pacific Division of the Intense Conference in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Grizzlies began play in 2008 as a member ...

. The Venom started 2–0, but followed with a seven-game losing streak. Recently added rookie quarterback Charles Dowdell ended the Venom's losing streak by leading them to a 41–36 victory over the

Wyoming Cavalry The Wyoming Cavalry were an American professional indoor football team based in Casper, Wyoming. They were most recently members of the Intense Conference in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Cavalry began play in 2000 as an expansion member ...

. The Venom then lost the final four games of the season. On June 21, 2011 The Venom announced they had ceased operations citing low ticket sales since their debut season in 2010 despite the 8–6 season. Though they moved to the more financially stable IFL for the 2011 season, the team posted a 3–11 record and continued to have issues drawing fans.

Season-by-season results

Personnel

Final roster

All-IFL players

The following Venom players have been named to All-IFL Teams: * WR Timothy Simmons (1)

Head coaches

2011 season

Preseason

Regular season

Standings

References

External links

W.V. Venom's official site

Venom's 2010 stats
{{2011 IFL season American football teams in Washington (state)