The San Jose SaberCats
were an Arena Football League team that began play as a 1995 expansion team. They played in the Western Division of the American Conference. Their final coach in the Arena Football League was Darren Arbet. The team has expressed interest to not fold and is likely to find a new league. Currently the team has no league.
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SAN JOSE SABERCATS TICKETS
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History
The SaberCats began play in
1995. The team played at the
HP Pavilion at San Jose in
San Jose, California, which is also home to the
San Jose Sharks franchise of the
National Hockey League. The SaberCats are one of Arena's premier organizations, having never drawn below 10,000 fans at any of their home games. The SaberCats compete in the Western Division of the American Conference. The SaberCats were
ArenaBowl champions in
2002,
2004, and
2007 beating the rival
Arizona Rattlers for their first two titles and the
Columbus Destroyers for the third.
On June 5, 2004, the SaberCats were fined
$20,000 for violations during their Quarterfinal Round
playoff game against the
Tampa Bay Storm. They were first fined $10,000 for distributing
cow bells, without advance approval, to fans entering the building, which was cited as a violation by the AFL as an intentional competitive advantage generated by the creation of
artificial noise. Also, during the game itself, the SaberCats refused to apply microphones to certain players and coaches during the
NBC broadcast, which led to an additional $10,000 fine.
The cowbells have since become a mainstay of many perennial Season Ticket holders, even as the SaberCats have not again distributed cowbells to fans since the incident in 2004.
San Jose was 9-7 in 2005, earning the fourth seed in the American Conference playoffs. They lost to #1 seed Colorado Crush 56-48 in the first round, after failing to score on six goal line opportunities in the final minute of play.
The SaberCats went 10-6 in 2006 and won a division title in the process, along with the AC's #2 seed. They got a Bye Week from the Wild Card Round and then, they won over the Arizona Rattlers in the Divisional Round 62-48. Because the
Colorado Crush (the AC's #1 seed) lost in the Divisional Round to the
Chicago Rush, they hosted the American Conference Championship game; however, they lost the game 59-56.
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In 2007, they got revenge against the Rush in the American Conference championship and advanced to
ArenaBowl XXI, where they beat the
Columbus Destroyers in front of a sellout crowd in
New Orleans Arena and claim their third Arena Bowl title in six seasons.
Team's intention to play on
On August 4, 2009, the Arena Football League announced that they were "suspending operations indefinitely", but more likely to fold. The SaberCats announced shortly afterward that they intend to field a team for 2010, even if it means moving to a new indoor football league.
[1]
Season-by-season
Note:
W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties''
| Season
| W
| L
| T
| Finish
| Playoff results
|
| 1995
| 8
| 4
| 0
| 1st AC Western
| Lost Quarterfinals (Orlando)
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| 1996
| 6
| 8
| 0
| 3rd AC Western
| --
|
| 1997
| 8
| 6
| 0
| 2nd AC Western
| Lost Quarterfinals (Iowa)
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| 1998
| 7
| 7
| 0
| 2nd AC Western
| Lost Quarterfinals (Tampa Bay)
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| 1999
| 6
| 8
| 0
| 3rd AC Western
| --
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| 2000
| 12
| 2
| 0
| 1st AC Western
| Won Quarterfinals (Oklahoma)
Lost Semifinals (Nashville)
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| 2001
| 10
| 4
| 0
| 1st AC Western
| Won Quarterfinals (Arizona)
Lost Semifinals (Nashville)
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| 2002
| 13
| 1
| 0
| 1st AC Western
| Won Quarterfinals (Tampa Bay)
Won Semifinals (Orlando)
Won ArenaBowl XVI (Arizona)
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| 2003
| 12
| 4
| 0
| 1st AC Western
| Won Quarterfinals (Georgia)
Lost Semifinals (Arizona)
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| 2004
| 11
| 5
| 0
| 2nd AC Western
| Won Quarterfinals (Tampa Bay)
Won Semifinals (Chicago)
Won ArenaBowl XVIII (Arizona)
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| 2005
| 9
| 7
| 0
| 2nd AC Western
| Lost Quarterfinals (Colorado)
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| 2006
| 10
| 6
| 0
| 1st AC Western
| Won Divisional (Arizona)
Lost AC Championship (Chicago)
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| 2007
| 13
| 3
| 0
| 1st AC Western
| Won Divisional (Colorado)
Won AC Championship (Chicago)
Won ArenaBowl XXI (Columbus)
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| 2008
| 11
| 5
| 0
| 1st AC Western
| Won Divisional (Colorado)
Won AC Championship (Grand Rapids)
Lost ArenaBowl XXII (Philadelphia)
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| 2009
| Did Not Play
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| Totals
| 150
| 79
| 0
| (including playoffs)
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Coaches
| Head coach
| Tenure
| Regular season
record (W-L)
| Post season
record (W-L)
| Most recent coaching staff
| Notes
|
| Todd Shell
| 1995 - 1998
| 29-25 [2]
| 0-3 |
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| Darren Arbet
| 1999 - 2008
| 107-45 [3]
| 15-6 | OC: Terry Malley
DC / ST Coordinator: Jeff Jarnigan
OL Coach / Dir. Player Personnel: Dave Witthun
DB / Ass. ST Coach: Lou Patrone
| Three ArenaBowl wins
as head coach (XVI, XVIII, XXI)
Also General Manager.
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Notable players
- Rashied Davis WR/DB
- Phil Glover LB
- Mark Grieb QB
- John Dutton QB
- George Williams DL
- Joe Jacobs OL/DL
- Matt Kinsinger FB/LB
- Bob McMillen FB/LB
- Pat McGuirk DS
- Aaron Mills K
- William Obeng - OL/DL
- James Roe WR/LB
- Omarr Smith DB
- Clevan Thomas DB
- Marquis Floyd DB
- Barry Wagner WR/DB/JLB
- Rodney Wright - WR
- Kevin Arbet WR/DB
- Tom Petithome
AFL Hall of Famers
References
- AFL suspends operations indefinitely, SaberCats website, August 4, 2009
- ArenaFan Online: AFL Coaches: Todd Shell
- ArenaFan Online: AFL Coaches: Darren Arbet