Iowa Woo
{{Short description|Arena football team}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox indoor American football team
| name = Iowa Woo
| current = 2024 The Arena League season
| logo =Iowa Woo.png
| helmet =
| founded = 2023
| city = The Hippodrome
in Waterloo, Iowa
| misc = [https://www.iowawoo.com IowaWoo.com]
| uniform =
| colors = Light blue, Yellow, Pink
{{color box|#00bce4}} {{color box|#d4d027}} {{color box|#d31b5d}}
| owner = Jeff Holmes
Julia Stone
| chairman =
| president =
| general manager = Vacant
| coach = Victor Mann
| mascot = Wacky Woo Loo
| cheerleaders = Woo Girls
| nicknames =
| league =
- The Arena League (2024–present)
| team_history =
- Waterloo Woo (2023)
- Iowa Woo (2024–present)
| no_league_champs = 0
| league_champs =
| no_conf_champs = 0
| conf_champs =
| no_div_champs = 0
| div_champs =
| no_playoff_appearances = 0
| playoff_appearances =
| arena_years =
- The Hippodrome (2024–present)
}}
The Iowa Woo are a professional indoor football team based in Waterloo, Iowa. They are currently members of The Arena League (The AL or TAL). They play their home games at The Hippodrome at the National Cattle Congress.
History
On May 4, 2023, Waterloo was announced as the third city of the Arena League.{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Chelsie |title=The Arena League bringing a professional football team to Waterloo in inaugural season |url=https://www.kcrg.com/2023/05/05/arena-league-bringing-professional-football-team-waterloo-inaugural-season/ |access-date=5 May 2023 |publisher=KCRG |date=4 May 2023}}
The Woo had North Cedar Elementary School in Cedar Falls take part in helping name the team's mascot. The top three names from each class were selected and fan voting took place to name the mascot.{{cite news |title=Students help name Waterloo Woo mascot |url=https://www.kwwl.com/news/waterloo/students-help-name-waterloo-woo-mascot/video_2dccc244-a8e4-5749-81e0-e47b0afb91ec.html |access-date=7 May 2024 |publisher=KWWL |date=6 May 2024}} The winning mascot name was Wacky Woo Loo, nicknamed Wacky.
=Team logo and name=
On June 28, 2023, the team name and logos were announced. Woo was selected for multiple reasons as it pertains to trains and wrestler Ric Flair's legendary "Wooooooo!".{{cite news |last1=Glidden |first1=Gabe |title=The new Waterloo football team officially has a name |url=https://k923.fm/the-new-waterloo-football-team-officially-has-a-name/ |access-date=28 June 2023 |agency=K92.3 |date=28 June 2023}} Waterloo is home to the Dan Gable Museum, a wrestling museum operated by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Waterloo also has a historical tie to the railroad industry. "Woo" is a callback to blaring train whistles.{{cite news |last1=Petrik |first1=Ethan |title=Arena Football: Waterloo arena football franchise name, logo unveiled |url=https://wcfcourier.com/sports/football/professional/arena/waterloo-woo-football-arena-football-bailey-mcrae-tim-brown-the-arena-league/article_087333da-15f3-11ee-90e9-53653719f475.html |access-date=29 June 2023 |issue=28 June 2023 |publisher=Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier}}
The primary logo depicts a robed, blonde haired wolf wearing sunglasses holding a football in one arm while striking the Heisman pose. The secondary logo shows the mascot wearing yellow boots. The logos were designed by Ryan Foose.
Iowa's General Manager, Bailey McRae, stated that many submissions consisted of variations of "woo" and "loo".{{cite news |title=Waterloo Arena League football team name unveiled |url=https://www.kwwl.com/news/waterloo/waterloo-arena-league-football-team-name-unveiled/article_35d2879a-15e4-11ee-abae-2bf6105aeace.html |access-date=28 June 2023 |agency=KWWL |date=28 June 2023}}
On October 19, 2023, the team changed their name from the Waterloo Woo to the Iowa Woo.{{cite news |title=New owners and name announced for Waterloo's arena football league |url=https://www.kwwl.com/news/waterloo/new-owners-and-name-announced-for-waterloos-arena-football-league/article_dc4a2046-6ec3-11ee-9364-073bf2eda125.html |access-date=20 October 2023 |publisher=KWWL |date=19 October 2023}}
On March 15, 2024, the team released an updated logo. The new logo depicts a white-haired wolf wearing sunglasses, a cowboy hat, and a Hawaiian shirt holding a football in one arm while striking the Heisman pose.
=Changes=
On January 14, 2025, head coach Mook Zimmerman had announced his resignation as head coach of the Woo. Mere days later, on January 23, they introduced Victor Mann as their new head coach.
Roster
The Woo hosted the team's first tryout on December 9, 2023.{{cite news |last1=Glidden |first1=Gabe |title=Want to Play Professional Football? Iowa Woo is Hosting Tryouts|url=https://k923.fm/want-to-play-professional-football-iowa-woo-is-hosting-tryouts/ |access-date=18 November 2023 |publisher=K92.3 |date=16 November 2023}} The team's second tryout was on March 2, 2024.
On February 23, 2024 the Woo signed their franchise's first player, Ellis Lankster.
| class="toccolours" style="text-align: left;" |
| colspan="7" style="{{NFLPrimaryStyle|Iowa Woo|border=2}};text-align:center;" | Iowa Woo roster |
|---|
style="font-size: 95%;vertical-align:top;" | Players
|
| d=|ATH|rookie=y|link=no}}
| style="width: 25px;" | | style="font-size: 95%;vertical-align:top;" | Reserve lists
|
| Ellis Lankster|d=|DB|rookie=y|link=yes}}
|
| Jaylen Becton|d=|LB|rookie=y|link=no}}
|
| Emmanuel Akingbulu|d=|OL|rookie=y|link=no}}
|
| Chris Boudreaux|d=|WR|rookie=y|link=no}}
|
| Bob Chase|d=|QB|rookie=y|link=no}}
|
| Liam Stone|d=|OG|rookie=y|link=no}}
|
| Quentin Chaplin|d=|WR|rookie=y|link=no}}
|
| Tyalen Shaw|d=|QB|rookie=y|link=no}}
|
| Everitt Cunningham|d=|LB|rookie=y|link=no}}
|
| Marcus Green|d=|DB|rookie=y|link=no}}
|
| J.J. Jones III|d=|WR|rookie=y|link=no}}
{{ubl |Rookies in italics | updated June 24, 2024 | 16 Active, 13 Inactive }} |
Staff
=Head coaches=
| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" | ||||||
| Name | Years | Won | Lost | Ties | Winning % | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="text-align:center"| Mook Zimmerman | 2024 | 1 | 7 | 0 | .125 | Lost ArenaMania I |
| style="text-align:center"| Vacant | 2025 | — | — | — | — | — |
| colspan="2"| Total | 1 | 7 | 0 | .125 |
=Current staff=
| class="toccolours" style="text-align: left;"
|+ colspan="7" style="{{NFLPrimaryStyle|Iowa Woo|border=2}}; text-align:center;"|Iowa Woo staff |
| colspan="7" style="text-align:right;"| |
| valign="top"|
| style="font-size:95%; vertical-align:top;"| Front office
|width="50"| |valign="top"| | style="font-size:95%; vertical-align:top;"|Head coaches
Offensive coaches
Defensive coaches
|width="50"| |
Management
On June 28, 2023, Bailey McRae was publicly addressed as the general manager of the team. Amanda McCormick was hired as the general manager for the 2025 season; however, on November 13, 2024 resigned of the title.
On October 19, 2023, Jeff Holmes and Julia Stone were announced as the team owners. They also own two recycling companies, Push Resource Recovery and A-Line Iron & Metals.
On February 29, 2024, the Woo announced Mook Zimmerman as the inaugural head coach.{{cite news |last1=Milone |first1=Andy |title=Iowa Woo head football coach confident heading into season one |url=https://wcfcourier.com/sports/iowa-woo-mook-zimmerman-coach/article_b74f195e-d746-11ee-b520-bb47177de15f.html |access-date=2 March 2024 |publisher=Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier |date=1 March 2024}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.iowawoo.com Official Website]
{{The Arena League}}
{{Iowa Sports}}
Category:The Arena League teams
Category:American football teams in Iowa
Category:American football teams established in 2023