The Indoor Football League announced that they have accepted into the league for the 2012 season the New Mexico Stars. The Stars will call the Santa Ana Star Center, in the city of Rio Rancho, home for the 2012 season and beyond.
“We have had an amazing response from the City of Rio Rancho, the Santa Ana Star Center and the Santa Ana Star Casino,” said Stars General Manager Dart Clark. “We feel that New Mexico will be a perfect match for the League and the New Mexico Stars Team. The area has a strong football heritage, and it is our hope to bring a first class operation to the Albuquerque and Rio Rancho area.”
The Stars also announced their first ever Head Coach, IFL veteran coach Chris Williams, formerly of the West Texas Roughnecks. Williams has won a league championship, in 2006, and was the head coach when the team set the record for longest regular season winning streak in professional football history at 27 games. In his eight seasons as Head Coach, the Roughnecks made the playoffs seven times. “I am excited to be staying in the IFL,” said Williams. “My family and I are excited to be moving to New Mexico and starting this new chapter of our lives. I am looking forward to building a competitive, winning team with the Stars, and am excited to be playing in one of the nicer arenas in the league in the Star Center.”
“We are confident that we have the right owners and the right league in place to bring our new team success,” said Star Center GM Gunnar Fox. “We are looking forward to our first season of play in 2012.”
“We are excited about how the Stars fit into our regional alignment out west,” stated League Commissioner Tommy Benizio. “We are continually working on building a group of strong, close playing partners for our western teams, New Mexico fits our plans perfectly.”
The Stars will be having their introductory press conference on October 20, 2011, with the team’s first open player tryout on October 29th (IFL Press Release).
