Post by DiamondThief on Sept 18, 2019 17:12:29 GMT -8
9/18/19 --
TUCSON, AZ - The Tucson Sugar Skulls will have a new face on the sidelines in 2020.
Dixie Wooten, who resigned last week after three years as head coach of the Iowa Barnstormers, will assume those duties as well as those of general manager with the Sugar Skulls for next season. Wooten's resignation from the Barnstormers was said to be due to taking over as head coach of the Texas Institute of Agriculture and Technology football team, a post to which he was hired in the spring. Texas A&T is a junior college in the Lone Star State which plays a seven-game, all-away schedule. That season is already under way. Wooten has told SCtoC that he will continue to coach the Drillers.
The team made the announcement today at a press conference located at Leo Ranch Theater inside Tucson Convention Center, the home arena of the Sugar Skulls.
Sugar Skulls co-majority owner Cathy Guy said the team was working with Coleman on a return for the team's second season, but as soon as Wooten became available, it was an "opportunity" they could not resist. She cited the franchise's desire to win a championship as the motivation for making the move.
“We had every intention in bringing Marcus back, but when the opportunity came up that Dixie was available, you have to make tough decisions,” Guy said at today's press conference. “We’re committed to winning a championship and we felt that we had to make a strong move. We have a great relationship with Marcus. I love Marcus to death. We wish him well and we’ll recommend him to any team that wants to hire him.”
Coleman led the Sugar Skulls to a 7-7 overall record and playoff berth in their 2019 expansion season. They took the Sioux Falls Storm to the limit in the First Round, but were defeated by the eventual United Bowl champion Sioux Falls Storm, 50-47. Coleman was Wooten's defensive coordinator with the Barnstormers when that team won the 2018 United Bowl. He is now the defensive backs coach at Trinity University in Texas.
Wooten compiled a 38-6 regular season record and was 2-2 in the playoffs with the Barnstormers. The team reached the playoffs all three years under him, and won the United Bowl in 2018 with a hard-fought 42-38 decision over the Storm. They finished 2018 with a 11-3 regular season mark. They finished 12-2 during the 2019 regular season, but were defeated by the Storm, 52-50, in the United Conference Championship game. In Wooten's first season with Iowa, the Barnstormers finished 13-3 in the regular season, but were eliminated by the Storm in the United Conference Championship Game, 45-24.
He won back-to-back IFL Head Coach of the Year awards in 2017 and 2018. He also coached back-to-back IFL Most Valuable Player winners; Drew Powell in 2018 and Daquan Neal in 2019. to joining the Barnstormers in the summer of 2016, he served as the offensive coordinator of the Cedar Rapids Titans (now River Kings).
“Today, it starts. It starts with getting the coaching staff together, getting the roster together, getting everything to be the number one team in the league, and that’s what it’s all about,” Wooten said at the team's press conference today. “Tucson, I’m going to make you proud. I promise you.”
The IFL will begin its 12th season in February 2020 with at least 11 teams. Nine of the 10 teams from last season are returning. The league has announced the move of the Duke City Gladiators of Albuquerque, New Mexico from Champions Indoor Football to the IFL, and the addition of the expansion Oakland Panthers. We at SCtoC have learned, through credible sources, that the league has approved the addition of two additional expansion teams which would be located in the Pacific Northwest.
The Nebraska Danger, which just completed their ninth season in the IFL have been put up for sale and, unless a new owner is found, are unlikely to return. No credible nor reliable information has been released regarding the Danger's situation. Last week the Gladiators announced they had hired former Danger player and coach Pig Brown as their new head coach.
-ANM