| San Diego Strike Force | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Current season | |||
| |||
| General information | |||
| Founded | 2018 | ||
| Headquartered | Oceanside, California atFrontwave Arena | ||
| Colors | Flight suit green, stealth black, yellow, white | ||
| Website | sdstrikeforce | ||
| Personnel | |||
| General manager | Geno Gerbo[1] | ||
| Head coach | Taylor Genuser | ||
| President | Burt Grossman[1] | ||
| Team history | |||
| |||
| Home fields | |||
| |||
| League / conference affiliations | |||
Indoor Football League (2019–present)
| |||
| Playoff appearances (2) | |||
TheSan Diego Strike Force are a professionalindoor football team based inSan Diego County, California, that competes in theIndoor Football League (IFL). The team plays its home games atFrontwave Arena. The Strike Force began play in the2019 season.
The team was initially announced as a 2019Indoor Football League expansion team in November 2018 and was owned by Roy Choi, who was also the owner of the IFL'sCedar Rapids River Kings.[2] The team announced their colors as black, navy blue, silver, as well as their initial staff on December 17, 2018.[3] Brian Cox, a formersports agent and quarterback, was hired as the general manager, while ex-Chargers defensive endBurt Grossman was named head coach.[4][5]
The Strike Force are the second professional football team in San Diego that began play in spring 2019, after theSan Diego Fleet of theAlliance of American Football, more than a year after the departure of theNFL'sSan Diego Chargers in 2017.
The Strike Force is the third indoor team to play in San Diego, after theSan Diego Riptide ofAF2 (2002–2005) and theSan Diego Shockwave of theNational Indoor Football League (2007).[6] The team may have planned on being called the San Diego Lightning, as the organization's original email addresses and internal website links used that name.[7]
The Strike Force struggled throughout its inaugural season with Grossman remarking the games were like he was "Southwestern College going to playClemson or something."[8] In their season opener against theQuad City Steamwheelers, they allowed 43 points in the first half and lost 67–49;[9] Grossman attributed the team's struggles to a lack of headsets for the coaches. He eventually fired the defensive coordinator and released four players on defense; the offensive coordinator had also been fired two weeks prior, though Grossman noted both coaches were on the staff prior to his arrival.[10] The Strike Force's first home game, a 65–44 defeat by theTucson Sugar Skulls,[11] saw a poor playing field consisting of carpet pieces held together with duct tape; four additional players were released a day later.[12] After a 0–3 start, owner Choi brought in the River Kings' general manager Ryan Eucker to replace Cox.[13] The team finished the season with a 1–13 record and last place in the league; their lone win was a 40–34 victory over the River Kings.[14]
Following the 2019 season, Eucker announced the team would undergo a minor rebrand with a new logos and colors, choosing more military tones in olive green, black, silver, and brass to better represent the city.[15] After playing one game, a 50–36 win over theBismarck Bucks,[16] the rest of the2020 season was canceled due to the onset of theCOVID-19 pandemic.
The Strike Force also withdrew from the2021 season due to continued pandemic restrictions in California.[17] During the hiatus, Eucker left the team and was replaced by football operations director Geno Gerbo as interim general manager by April 2021.[18] In May 2021, Vivian Lin was announced as the team president and claimed to be the first Asian American woman to be a president of a professional football team.[19][20]
By November 2021, Gerbo had left the organization and Todd Durkin was named general manager.[21] while Grossman was replaced as head coach by formerChristian High School athletic director and football offensive coordinator, David Beezer.[22] In March 2022, it was announced that the team had been sold to a new group of local investors, with Vivian Lin as the controlling owner, when Choi no longer wanted to be the owner.[23] However, by December 2022, Lin was no longer listed on the team website and former coach Burt Grossman was listed as team president.[24] Gerbo also returned as the General Manager in guiding the team back to relevance in 2023 and 2024 - where the Strike Force made the playoffs as the #4 seed, and beat the #1 seed Bay Area Panthers in the first playoff game in Strike Force history.
On October 1, 2024, the IFL and the Strike Force announced a three-year partnership withFrontwave Arena in nearbyOceanside, California; the team will play home games in the arena starting with the 2025 season.[25]
| League champions | Conference champions | Playoff berth | League leader |
| Season | League | Conference | Regular season | Postseason results | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Wins | Losses | ||||
| 2019 | IFL | 10th | 1 | 13 | ||
| 2020 | IFL | 1 | 0 | Season cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic | ||
| 2021 | IFL | Dormant year | ||||
| 2022 | IFL | Western | 6th | 3 | 13 | |
| 2023 | IFL | Western | 5th | 6 | 9 | |
| 2024 | IFL | Western | 4th | 10 | 6 | Won First round (Bay Area) 49–40 Lost Western Conference Championship (Arizona) 58–23 |
| 2025 | IFL | Western | 3rd | 10 | 6 | Won First round (Arizona) 49–48 Lost Western Conference Championship (Vegas) 74–68 |
| Totals | 31 | 47 | All-time regular season record | |||
| 2 | 2 | All-time postseason record | ||||
| 33 | 49 | All-time regular season and postseason record | ||||
SeeCategory:San Diego Strike Force players
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