Clint Dolezel (born March 25, 1970) is an

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 with ...

coach and former 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 ...

player in 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 ...

(AFL). Dolezel was a

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 Ame ...

in the AFL before becoming the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the AFL's

Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often feat ...

from 2013 until the league folded in 2019. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at East Texas State, and was in the AFL for 13 seasons from 1995 to 2008. Dolezel first became a head coach in 2010 with the

San Angelo Stampede Express The San Angelo Stampede Express was a professional indoor football team from San Angelo, Texas owned by Darlene Jones. They were announced as a charter member of the Lone Star Football League but folded before play began in 2012. They played t ...

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). After just a single season, Dolezel returned to the AFL as the head coach of the

Dallas Vigilantes The Dallas Vigilantes were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Dallas, Texas. Like its AFL predecessor, the Dallas Desperados, the Vigilantes played at the American Airlines Center. The Vigilantes and the Jacksonville Sharks began play ...

. After the Vigilantes franchise suspended operations, Dolezel joined the

as their offensive coordinator under head coach

Doug Plank Douglas Walter Plank (born March 4, 1953) is a former American football safety and coach in the National Football League. Early life Plank attended Norwin High School in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where he played baseball, basketball, an ...

. Plank left the Soul following the 2012 season, and the Soul promoted Dolezel to head coach. He was named the inaugural head coach of the

Frisco Fighters The Frisco Fighters are a professional indoor football team based in Frisco, Texas. A member of the Indoor Football League, the Fighters play their home games at the Comerica Center. The team was set to participate in the 2020 season, but were ...

in the

before the 2020 season. On December 7, 2022, it was announced that Dolezel would return to his alma mater

Texas A&M University-Commerce Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

to serve as the school's head football coach. As an AFL player, he was originally signed by the Milwaukee Mustangs. In his career, he also played for the Texas Terror/Houston Thunderbears,

Grand Rapids Rampage The Grand Rapids Rampage was an arena football team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The team began play in 1998 in the Arena Football League as an expansion team. They were last coached by Steve Thonn. Their home arena was the Van Andel Arena. ...

Las Vegas Gladiators {{Cat main, Thomas & Mack Center Paradise, Nevada University of Nevada, Las Vegas Wikipedia categories named after buildings and structures in the United States Wikipedia categories named after sports venues ...

, and the

Dallas Desperados The Dallas Desperados were a professional arena football team based in Dallas, Texas. The Desperados played in the Eastern Division of the Arena Football League from 2002 to 2008. The franchise began play in as an expansion team, and have post ...

. Dolezel was also a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

2007.

Early life

Born in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the ...

, to Johnnie and Judy Dolezel, Clint attended Robinson High School in

Robinson, Texas Robinson is a city in McLennan County, Texas, United States. The population was 12,443 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Waco Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Robinson is located at (31.470518, –97.119361). Demographics As of t ...

, where he was a standout quarterback and golfer.

College career

After graduating from Robinson, Dolezel attended

Cisco College Cisco College is a community college in Cisco, Texas located in Eastland County between Fort Worth and Abilene, where Highways 183, 206, and 6 intersect Interstate 20. The main campus is outside of Cisco, and the Abilene Educational Center i ...

and was a student and a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. In football, he was a second-team All-Conference selection as a sophomore. After graduating from Cisco, he committed to the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

. However, a coaching change landed Dolezel at

East Texas State University East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

to play for coach Eddie Vowell. Dolezel was a letterman in football,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

, and track and field at East Texas State, becoming one of just three documented three-sport athletes in the history of the university. He quarterbacked the Lions in 1992 and 1993 and ended his career as a Lion throwing for 3,152 yards and 23 touchdowns over 2 seasons. The Lions finished 8-2 during his junior year and finished second in the Lone Star Conference.

Professional career

After establishing himself as one of the best young quarterbacks in the AFL, Dolezel signed with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

in 2000. Dolezel, along with wide receiver

Terrill Shaw Terrill Shaw (born February 4, 1976) is a former American football wide receiver who played nine seasons in the Arena Football League with the Buffalo Destroyers, Grand Rapids Rampage, Las Vegas Gladiators, Philadelphia Soul, Dallas Desperados ...

, helped the

win the 2001 ArenaBowl. Dolezel and Shaw became teammates again playing for the Dallas Desperados in 2006. In September 2003, the Rampage traded Dolezel to the

for Sedrick Robinson, Paul LaQuerre and Hardy Mitchell. On March 12, 2006, Dolezel threw his 700th career touchdown, becoming just the third quarterback in AFL history to do so. The Desperados won that game versus the

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The f ...

64–35. On April 16, 2007, in a 51–41 home win against the

, Dolezel became the first professional quarterback to throw 800 touchdown passes. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, Dolezel became the first quarterback in league history to lead his team to 15 wins in a season. Despite the 15–1 record, Dallas lost to the 7–9

Columbus Destroyers The Columbus Destroyers were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Columbus, Ohio, with home games in Nationwide Arena. The team was founded in as the Buffalo Destroyers, based in Buffalo, New York, and relocated to Columbus in . They fold ...

in the first round of the playoffs. In a

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

game versus the

, Dolezel became the first quarterback in league history to throw for 900 touchdown passes in a career.

Statistics

''Stats from ArenaFan'':

Coaching career

Dolezel had said that he would like to be a coach after his career is over. It was announced that on January 19, Dolezel would become the offensive coordinator for the

Florida Firecats The Florida Firecats were a professional arena football team based in Estero, Florida. They played in the AF2, the Arena Football League's developmental league, from 2001 to 2009. They did not join the AFL following the leagues' reorganization in ...

' 2009 season (due to the Arena Football League suspending operations for 2009). He was the head coach of the

of the

in 2010. Dolezel was announced as the head coach for the

for the 2011 season. The team did not play in 2012 for unknown reasons. On August 21, 2012, Dolezel was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach of the

. On September 16, 2014, Dolezel re-signed with the Soul for two more seasons. In June 2016, Dolezel was announced as the first head coach of the

China Arena Football League The China Arena Football League (), often abbreviated as the CAFL, was a professional arena football league that played its games in the China, People's Republic of China. It featured players from the now-defunct Arena Football League (AFL) and ...

Beijing Lions The Beijing Lions are a professional arena football team based in Beijing, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most po ...

. He was named an All-Pro North Division All-Star as a head coach. On November 6, 2016, the Lions won the first

China Bowl China Bowl may refer to: * China Bowl (NFL), a proposed football game by the National Football League * China Bowl (CAFL), the championship football game for the China Arena Football League * China Bowl (1945), a game between US Army and Navy play ...

and finished the season undefeated. Clint Dolezel (cropped)

On August 25, 2016, Dolezel was named the 2016 Marcum-Moss Head Coach of the Year. A day later, he won his first ArenaBowl championship as a coach when the Soul defeated the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

, 56–42, in

ArenaBowl XXIX ArenaBowl XXIX was the championship game of the 2016 Arena Football League season. It was played between the American Conference Champion Philadelphia Soul and the National Conference Champion Arizona Rattlers. The game was played at Gila River A ...

Glendale, Arizona Glendale () is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located approximately northwest of Downtown Phoenix. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 248,325. History In the la ...

. On August 26, 2017, the Soul beat the

ArenaBowl XXX ArenaBowl XXX was the championship game of the 2017 Arena Football League season. The game was broadcast on AFLNow, Twitter and WPVI-TV. It was played between the Philadelphia Soul and Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional ar ...

by a score of 44–40. In 2019, the AFL folded and Dolezel was hired as the inaugural head coach of the

in the

before the 2020 season. However, the 2020 season was cancelled due to the onset of 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 identif ...

. He returned to Frisco for the 2021 season, leading the team to a 10–3 record and made it to the league semifinal. Near the end 2021 season, Dolezel was signed to a multi-year extension, but ultimately chose to leave the team to pursue other opportunities. Dolezel served as a quarterback coach consultant for

Zachary Levi Zachary Levi Pugh ( ; born September 29, 1980) is an American actor. He received critical acclaim for starring as Chuck Bartowski in the series ''Chuck'', and as the title character in '' Shazam!'' and its 2023 sequel, as a part of the DC Ext ...

in preparation for the 2021 film, American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story. Levi starred as

Kurt Warner Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend fr ...

, the Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame NFL quarterback, in the film. Dolezel assisted in training Levi with mechanics, physical training and throwing. Dolezel played against Warner when the duo played in the

. Dolezel was named the 21st head coach in the history of the football program at Texas A&M University-Commerce, his alma mater, on December 7, 2022. He became just the third alum to take the reigns of the Lion football program, and the first since 1930.

Head coaching record

Notes

External links

Clint Dolezel on ArenaFan.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dolezel, Clint 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Waco, Texas American football quarterbacks Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football players Milwaukee Mustangs (1994–2001) players Texas Terror players Houston ThunderBears players Grand Rapids Rampage players Las Vegas Gladiators players Dallas Desperados players Philadelphia Soul coaches Players of American football from Texas Cisco Wranglers football players Dallas Cowboys scouts China Arena Football League coaches Dallas Vigilantes coaches Florida Firecats coaches Indoor Football League coaches