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The Macon Knights are a professional arena football team, playing in the af2 league. They are a 2001 expansion member of the af2. They play their home games at Macon Coliseum which seats 7,182. The Knights are owned and operated by Beverly Olson. The Knights are currently coached by Derek Stingley, son of former New England Patriots' running back, Darryl Stingley.
History
The franchise was born in 2001, the second year of the af2. Olson's first successful move as owner operator was to bring in local football hero Kevin Porter in to coach the fledgling team. Porter, an alumni of Auburn University, and the Kansas City Chiefs was also an arena football veteran. Under his leadership, the inaugural squad made the playoffs and was named "Expansion Franchise of the Year" by the league. Porter 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 fell to the Tulsa Talons 58 - 40. Afterwards, Porter left for the parent Arena Football League and a number of his players followed.
Porter was replaced by AFL veteran Mike Hold. Despite his success with other franchises, Hold was not so lucky in Macon. In 2005, after a miserable start, Hold was replaced by Derek Stingley.
Stingley took a club that had fallen to 2 and 5 and, by season's end, in 2005, managed to will them into the af2 playoffs. The Knights lost a heartbreaker against the Louisville Fire in the opening round, but the team's turnaround was remarkable.
Season-by-season
- |*2006 || 5 || 7 || 0 || 4th AC Southern || --
External links
"Macon Knights"