Tucson Sugar Skulls

Tucson Sugar Skulls
Current season
Established 2018
Play in Tucson Arena
in Tucson, Arizona
League/conference affiliations
Indoor Football League (2019–present)
  • Western Conference (2022-present)
Current uniform
Team colorsBlack, gold, red, white
       
MascotBones
Personnel
Owner(s)Cathy Guy
Ali Farhang
PresidentJay Gonzales[1]
Head coachBilly Back[2]
Team history
  • Tucson Sugar Skulls (2019–present)
Championships
League championships (0)
Conference championships (0)
Division championships (0)
Playoff appearances (3)
  • 2019, 2022, 2023
Home arena(s)

The Tucson Sugar Skulls are a professional indoor American football team based in Tucson, Arizona. They are members of the Indoor Football League (IFL) since the 2019 season as an expansion team. They play home games at Tucson Convention Center's Tucson Arena. The team are led by owners Cathy Guy, wife of Arizona Rattlers' head coach Kevin Guy, and Ali Farhang. Their head coach is Billy Back.

History

[edit]

The franchise was announced by the ownership group led by Kevin and Cathy Guy at a press conference held on August 23, 2018, at the Tucson Convention Center.[3] As Kevin Guy was also the head coach of the Arizona Rattlers, Cathy was named the majority owner of the Tucson team to oversee primary operations along with Mike Feder and Ali Farhang.[4] The team announced Marcus Coleman as its first head coach on September 12, 2018.[5] The team name was revealed on September 20, 2018, after a name-the-team contest originating from the local tradition of creating sugar skulls for Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) and the Roman Catholic holiday of All Souls Day.[6]

The team qualified for the playoffs in their first season with a 7–7 record. They lost to the eventual league champion Sioux Falls Storm 50–47 in the first round. After the season, the Sugar Skulls hired two-time IFL coach of the year Dixie Wooten away from the Iowa Barnstormers as head coach and general manager for the 2020 season.[7] However, the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic before the Sugar Skulls played any games.[8]

Personnel

[edit]

Current roster

[edit]
Tucson Sugar Skulls roster
Quarterbacks
  •  0 Kenyatta Allen
  • 12 Quincy Patterson


Running backs

  •  8 Mike Jones
  •  5 Devonte Sapp-Lynch


Wide receivers

  •  1 Mike Carrigan
  •  7 Tyron Laughinghouse
  • 10 Brian Smith
  •  6 Jatavian Toles


 Offensive linemen
  • 66 Eric Abojei
  • 55 Cody Bollig
  • 73 Andrew Carter
  • 79 Brandon Nicholson


Defensive linemen

  • 44 D'Jimon Brooks
  • 41 KJ Milner
  • 18 Jaylen Parks
  • 24 Brayden Utley
  • 20 Jordan Williams


 Linebackers
  •  2 Ja'Quez Jackson


Defensive backs

  • 22 AJ Beach
  • 23 Ahmad Lyons
  • 15 Derrick Maxwell
  •  3 Derrion Rakestraw
  •  4 Robert Sheffield


Kickers

  • 19 Brad Namdar


 Reserve lists
  • Currently vacant

Rookies in italics
Roster updated June 26, 2024
25 Active, 0 Inactive

→ More rosters

Staff

[edit]
Tucson Sugar Skulls staff
Front office
  • Co-owners – Cathy Guy, Ali Farhang
  • CEO – Cathy Guy
  • President – Jay Gonzales
  • Assistant general manager – Anton Zimanek
  • Director of sales – Dan Reich
  

Coaches

  • Head coach and general manager – Billy Back

Statistics

[edit]

Season-by-season results

[edit]
League champions Playoff berth League leader
Season League Conference Regular season Postseason results
Finish Wins Losses Ties
2019 IFL 6th 7 7 0 Lost first round (Sioux Falls) 47–50
2020 IFL Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021 IFL 9th 6 8 0
2022 IFL Western 3rd 9 7 0 Lost first round (Northern Arizona) 30-49
2023 IFL Western 3rd 9 6 0 Lost first round (Bay Area) 46-34
2024 IFL Western 8th 2 14 0
Totals 33 42 0 All-time regular season record (2019–2024)
0 3 0 All-time postseason record (2019–2024)
33 45 0 All-time regular season and postseason record (2019–2024)

Head coaches

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Note: Statistics are correct through the 2022 IFL season.

Name Term Regular season Playoffs Awards
W L Win% W L
Marcus Coleman 2019 7 7 .500 0 1
Dixie Wooten 2020–present 15 15 .500 0 1

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Jay Gonzales named Sugar Skulls President". Sugar Skulls. July 24, 2019.
  2. ^ "Sugar Skulls hire five-time champion Billy Back as Head Coach, Hurtis Chinn resigns". Tucson Sugar Skulls. September 1, 2023.
  3. ^ "Tucson Indoor Football". Facebook.com. August 23, 2018.
  4. ^ Richard Obert (August 23, 2018). "Tucson joins Indoor Football League with Rattlers coach Kevin Guy and wife as co-owners". azcentral.com.
  5. ^ "Tucson's Indoor Football League team has its first coach — and he's a reigning champion". Tucson.com. September 12, 2018.
  6. ^ Ryan Finlay (September 20, 2018). "Sweet: Tucson's new Indoor Football League team picks a name with local significance". tucson.com.
  7. ^ "Sugar Skulls Hire Championship Coach". OurSports Central. September 18, 2019.
  8. ^ "IFL Cancels Remaining 2020 Games". IFL. April 13, 2020.
[edit]
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