The Omaha Nighthawks 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

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest ...

, which played in the United Football League, joining the league 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 ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. During their first season, the Nighthawks played their home games at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium before moving to

TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Charles Schwab Field Omaha (formerly TD Ameritrade Park Omaha) is a baseball park in Omaha, Nebraska. Opened in 2011, the stadium serves as a replacement for historic Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium. Charles Schwab Field has a seating capacity of 24, ...

for 2011 and beyond. Zach Nelson, CEO of Internet software provider NetSuite, was announced as lead owner in August 2010.

Franchise history

2010 season

On April 15, 2010, Omaha was granted an expansion team in the UFL, with former

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classified ...

coach

Jeff Jagodzinski Jeff Jagodzinski (born October 12, 1963) is an American football offensive line coach and former player who is the offensive line coach for the Philadelphia Stars of the United States Football League (USFL). He was previously the offensive coord ...

being named the team's head coach. The team allowed fans to name the new team by either writing in a name or choosing from a preselected list (

Mustangs The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once- domesticated animals, t ...

, Spirit, Navigators or Stags). The Nighthawks name was officially unveiled on May 5, 2010 and won based on a strong write-in campaign. It was partially derived from the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the retired stealth fighter used in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

. On September 21, the Tuesday before the team's first ever game, it was announced that a sellout crowd of 24,000 tickets were sold for the first time in UFL history, to watch the Nighthawks take on the Colonials in the franchise's first ever game. Omaha defeated the Colonials, 27–26. On November 19, the Omaha Nighthawks played Florida in the UFL's first alternate uniform: a camouflage jersey was worn in honor of the Armed Forces. On January 3, 2011, Jagodzinski was fired by the Nighthawks. Omaha chose to not renew his contract for the 2011 season as he led the Nighthawks to four straight losses to close out the season at 3–5, tied for last place in the league for 2010. Just nine days later,

Joe Moglia Joseph Hugh Moglia (born April 1, 1949) is an American businessman and former football coach. He served as head football coach at Coastal Carolina University from 2012 to 2016 and again in 2018 after spending the 2017 season on medical leave. Du ...

was named team president and head coach. He was previously announced as the head coach for the expansion Virginia Destroyers.

Schedule

2011 season

Schedule

2012 season

Moglia departed the head coaching position with the Nighthawks in December 2011 to take the head coaching position at

Coastal Carolina University Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

, taking much of his staff with him. General manager Rick Mueller departed for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

in January 2012. Bart Andrus, former head coach of the

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally ...

Amsterdam Admirals, longtime NFL assistant and Moglia's

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach r ...

during the 2011 season, assumed the title of head coach and general manager on August 9, 2012. For the 2012 season, all UFL games were slated to be broadcast by

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known ...

. On October 20, 2012 the United Football League announced it would suspend all operations and intended on resuming the canceled schedule some time in spring 2013, with those games counting toward the 2012 season standings. The league never resumed in spring of 2013. In March 2013, 78 players filed suit against the league.

Schedule

Season-by-season records

Records vs. teams

This includes postseason games.

Home, away and neutral records

References

External links

Omaha Nighthawks
{{Nebraska Sports 2010 establishments in Nebraska 2012 disestablishments in Nebraska