Macon Knights

The Macon Knights were a professional arena football team, playing in the af2 league. They were a 2001 expansion member of af2. They played their home games at Macon Coliseum. The Knights were owned and operated by Beverly Olson. The Knights were formerly coached by Derek Stingley, who was a Defensive Specialist with the Albany Firebirds in the original Arena Football League. And he also is the son of former New England Patriots' wide receiver Darryl Stingley.

Macon Knights
Established 2000
Folded 2006
Played in Macon Coliseum
in Macon, Georgia
League/conference affiliations
af2 (2001–2006)
  • American Conference (2001–2006)
    • Southeastern Division (2001)
    • Eastern Division (2002)
    • Southern Division (2003–2006)
Team colorsBlue, gold, black, white
       
Personnel
Owner(s)Beverly Olson
Head coachKevin Porter (2001–2003)
Mike Hold (2002–2005)
Derek Stingley (2006–2007)
Team history
  • Macon Knights (2001–2006)
Championships
League championships (0)
Conference championships (1)
Division championships (1)
Playoff appearances (4)
Home arena(s)

History

The franchise was created in 2001, the second year of the af2. Olson's first successful move as owner operator was to bring in local football star Kevin Porter to coach the upstart team. Porter, an alumnus of Auburn University, and the Kansas City Chiefs was also an arena football veteran. Under his leadership, the inaugural team made the playoffs and was named "Expansion Franchise of the Year" by the league. He went on to coach the New Orleans VooDoo and Kansas City Brigade of the AFL.

Two seasons later, Porter led the Knights to the ArenaCup, af2's championship game, where the Knights lost to the Tulsa Talons 58–40. Afterwards, he left for the parent AFL and a number of his players followed.

Porter was replaced by AFL veteran Mike Hold. Despite his success with other franchises, Hold did not have as good a fortune in Macon. In 2005, after a bad start, Hold was replaced by Derek Stingley.

Stingley took a club that had fallen to 2–5 and, by season's end, managed to get them into the playoffs. The Knights however, lost to the Louisville Fire in the opening round.

After the 2006 season, the team announced they would be shutting down operations.[1] However, on October 10, 2008, the Macon Telegraph reported that an investor is "deeply interested" in relaunching the Knights franchise in Macon, as early as 2009, but no later than 2010.[2]

Head coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2006 af2 season.

Name Term Regular Season Playoffs Awards
W L T Win% W L
Kevin Porter 2001-2003 33 15 0 .688 4 3
Mike Hold 2004-2005 5 18 0 .217 0 0
Derek Stingley 2005-2006 14 11 0 .560 0 1

Statistics and records

Season-by-season results

Note: The Finish, Wins, Losses, and Ties columns list regular season results and exclude any postseason play.

League Champions Conference Champions Division Champions Wild Card Berth League Leader
Season Team League Conference Division Regular season Postseason Results
Finish Wins Losses Ties
2001 2001 af2 American Southeastern 2nd 10 6 0 Lost Round 1 (Quad City) 55-80
2002 2002 af2 American Eastern 1st 13 3 0 Won Round 1 (Augusta) 57-41
Lost AC Semifinals (Florida) 28-44
2003 2003 af2 American Southern 3rd 10 6 0 Won Wild card (Florida) 42-16
Won AC Semifinals (Albany) 59-47
Won AC Championship (Tennessee Valley) 51-48
Lost ArenaCup IV (Tulsa) 40-58
2004 2004 af2 American Southern 4th 3 13 0
2005 2005 af2 American Southern 2nd 8 8 0 Lost Wild card (Louisville) 54-55
2006 2006 af2 American Southern 3rd 8 8 0
Totals 52 44 0 All-time regular season record (2001-2006)
4 4 - All-time postseason record (2001-2006)
56 48 0 All-time regular season and postseason record (2001-2006)

Notes
  1. "Macon Knights cease operations". OurSportsCentral.com. 2006-08-09. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
  2. Adams, Jay (2008-10-10). "Knights could re-emerge in af2". Macon.com. Macon Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2013-08-14. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
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