The Omaha Beef are an indoor football team and a charter member of the Champions Indoor Football (CIF). Based in Omaha, Nebraska, the Beef play their home games at the Ralston Arena in nearby Ralston.
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History
Omaha originally played in the Indoor Professional Football League in 2000 and 2001 as an expansion team. The Beef made the playoffs their inaugural season, and again in their second season, advancing to the 2001 IPFL Championship. With the IPFL folding, the Beef moved to the National Indoor Football League (NIFL) on October 10, 2001. The Beef then joined the newly formed United Indoor Football (UIF) in 2005 as a charter member. In 2008, the UIF merged with the Intense Football League to create the Indoor Football League.
From 2009 to 2011, the organization went through several general manager and head coaching changes. Despite those changes, the team finished in the top tier of the league. In 2009, James Kerwin was head coach of the Beef and led the team to a 12-2 record and to the second round of the IFL playoffs. The Beef continued their consecutive playoff qualification streak, which ended after 14 years across five leagues when the Beef failed to qualify for the playoffs in 2014.
The organization entered their thirteenth year of existence and fourth year as a member of the IFL in 2012. Despite constant changes within the league of expansion and contraction, the Beef were a constant and competitive member. 2012 saw the addition of new general manager Josh Roehr from the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League (UFL) and the hiring of Bruce Cowdrey as head coach. Neither lasted a full season. As the rest of the 2012 season unfolded, the ownership of the team was then taken over by the IFL due to the owner not paying the fees associated with being a member. The head coach was let go, the general manager left for new employment, and several other changes were made to cut costs. Despite this, Andy Yost and James Kerwin took over as co-head coaches and the Beef qualified for the playoffs with some key wins, but the league determined they were not going to be allowed to participate in the playoffs. This resulted in the ending of a 12-year playoff appearance streak.
The Omaha Beef were not included on the 2013 IFL schedule released on October 22, 2012. Their position in the United Conference was taken by the Texas Revolution being realigned from the Intense Conference. This was due to negotiations with the possible sale of the team or a new replacement team taking over the Beef's position. There were discussions that the team might change leagues and move into the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL). In December 2012, the Omaha Beef was accepted by the CPIFL to begin play in March 2013.
The Beef posted a 123-65 (.654) record up to this time.
New ownership
In December 2012, the Omaha Beef were bought by Cornhusker Beef, Inc. On December 6, 2012, the Beef announced the new ownership group composing of Rich Tokhiem, Gerard Daly and Jim Tokhiem. As of early 2013, the new ownership group made up of brothers Rich Tokheim and Jim Tokheim began administering the day-to-day operations of the Omaha Beef franchise, which was entering its 14th season of competition.
In their first season in the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL), the Beef hired Andy Yost as head coach, who had finished the previous season as interim co-head coach. Yost led the Beef to a 10-2 record and qualified for the playoffs as they finished second, in a three-way tie (Sioux City(1), Wichita(3)) in the league. Despite a valiant effort the Beef fell to Wichita in the first round 31-25.
After leading the team to the playoffs in 2013, Yost moved from head coach to quarterback coach for the 2014 season. The Beef hired Steve Heimann as head coach and he coached the Beef to a win in their 2014 exhibition game. However, he then resigned before coaching a regular season game. The Beef promoted defensive coordinator Dan Thurin to head coach. The Beef finished with a record of 4-8, which was an all-time franchise worst at that time.
On January 7, 2015, the Beef announced that former Cornhusker and NFL veteran Cory Ross would be the head coach for the 2015 season. Ross previously coached the Lincoln Haymakers of the CPIFL, also owned by Beef owner Rich Tokhiem, which ceased operations after the 2014 season.
In 2015 season, the Beef started playing in Champions Indoor Football (CIF), created by the merger of the CPIFL with the Lone Star Football League (LSFL).
Omaha opened 2015 with their worst start in franchise history at 0-5. On April 1, defensive coordinator Demetrius Ross opined that the Beef's poor start was in part due to preparations beginning in January instead of October and that the coaches did not get to select the players that they wanted. The Beef finished the 2015 season with a record of 1-11, their worst record in franchise history. The Beef also finished in ninth place in the nine-team CIF, marking the first time the Beef ever finished last in a league. In their 11 losses, the Beef lost by an average of 25.0 points per game, were last in the league in points with given up at 672 (56.0/game), points scored at 395 (32.9/game), and a turnover differential of -16.
In 2016, the Omaha Beef took advantage of their schedule to improve their record to 7-5. Omaha played six of their 12 games against first year franchises (Chicago Eagles and Salina Liberty) in which the Beef recorded five of their seven wins. Omaha only had one win over a team with a winning record when they played (Wichita Force 4-1 on April 16) and only played three games all season against teams that came into the contest with a winning record. In the Beef's seven wins, the opponent's combined 2016 records were 29-54. Despite playoff expansion for the CIF in 2016, where half of all teams in the league qualified for the playoffs, the Beef failed to make the playoffs for the third year in a row, the longest playoff drought in franchise history.
The 2017 season saw the team return to the playoffs. Wide receiver Kayne Farquharson would continue to play for the Beef in the 2017 season, despite already being indicted on federal charges in January 2016. Omaha would be forced to release their star WR on March 29 as his plea agreement would lead to a 21-month federal prison sentence that began in April. The Beef took advantage of an again increased playoff field, where the top four of seven division teams qualified for the playoffs, a schedule with five of 12 games against first-year expansion teams and a division with three first-year expansion teams to qualify for the 2017 playoffs. Omaha was outscored by their opponents during the regular season, and only played four games against teams with winning records at the time of the game, winning only one (Bloomington on March 18) and dropping three (Sioux City on March 31, Sioux City on May 27, and Dallas on June 3). Omaha's seven regular season wins came against teams with a combined 2017 record of 25-59. In fact, the Beef's wins during the last two seasons have come against teams with a combined 54-113 record. Omaha qualified as the North Division representative for the CIF Championship game. The South division saw six of the seven teams post winning regular season records as the Texas Revolution came out of the tougher division for the Champions Bowl III bid. Texas controlled most of the championship game, never trailing. The Revolution played conservatively in the fourth quarter, with a 30-point lead to defeat the Beef 59-49 and claim the league title.
The Beef have only qualified for the playoffs twice under their current ownership and have posted a 30-36 (.454) record since taking over the team before the 2013 season.
Rivalries
Omaha has had some very heated battles in their time together with the Sioux City Bandits (since the NIFL days) and also Sioux Falls who also went from the NIFL to the IFL. Omaha's rivalry with Sioux City has become one sided, as the Bandits have defeated the Beef in 10 of their last 12 meetings, including the last seven regular season contests. A new rivalry developed when the IFL expanded to Grand Island, Nebraska, in 2011 as the Nebraska Danger creating the I-80 rivalry. However, Sioux Falls and Nebraska stayed in the IFL (Indoor Football League) when the Beef moved to the CPIFL before the 2013 season.
Omaha Beef Football Video
Season-by-season
Note: The finish, wins, losses, and ties columns list regular season results and exclude any postseason play.
* Season currently in progress
Players
Current roster
Awards and honors
The following is a list of all Beef players who have won league Awards
Non-player personnel
The Beef organization have the only all-male dance team in indoor football, the Rump Roasters, along with an all-female dance team, the Prime dancers. The Prime dancers have won several awards including the best dance team three times in the UIF and 2009 dance team of the year in the IFL. They are ambassadors for the Beef organization as well and perform in conjunction with the Rumproasters, including a routine for the last regular-season home game which can include ballroom dancing. The Prime were named Dance team of the Year once again for 2012.
The mascot for the Beef is an Angus bull named Sir Loin. He won mascot of the year three times in UIF and was named 2009 Mascot of the year in the IFL and is a fan favorite. He was named Mascot of the Year for 2011 and again in 2012.
Past seasons
2013
Season schedule
2014
Season schedule
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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