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New indoor football team confident Madison will embrace Wolfpack

Dennis Punzel  —  11/25/2008 10:15 pm

The way Jordan Kopac sees it, for most football players their careers are over just as they're getting ready to play their best football.

He's talking about the guys who excelled in high school, went on to play in college, but weren't quite NFL caliber talents.

"Now he's 22-years-old and he hasn't reached the peak of his experience, the peak of his ability, the peak of his strength, and his football days are over," said Kopac. "That's a very, very depressing thing to happen."

Kopac is doing his best to cheer up players like that. As coach of the new Wisconsin Wolfpack indoor football team, Kopac aims to provide opportunities for players to extend their football days.

The creation of the Wolfpack was formally announced Wednesday at the team's new home, the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the Alliant Energy Center. The Wolfpack will be members of the Continental Indoor Football League, playing in the same division as the Milwaukee Bonecrushers; the Chicago Slaughter, based in Hoffman Estates, Ill.; and the Rock River Raptors, based in Rockford, Ill. The season will kick off in March and extend to June with playoffs.

The team's owner is Lowe Entertainment, a Rockford firm that also owns the Raptors and a Rockford women's fast-pitch softball team.

"We feel that we can bring a product that everybody in Madison will be proud of ... even a Bucky Badger fan would be proud of," said Bob Lowe, CEO of Lowe Entertainment.

Lowe has partnered with Kopac, a Milwaukee-area businessman, professor of business at Carroll College in Waukesha and longtime semipro football advocate.

Kopac, who formerly coached the Racine Raiders, became owner and defensive coordinator of the Wisconsin Wolfpack outdoor football team last year when that team -- which plays its home games in the Milwaukee area and Waukesha -- was formed in the merger of two other semipro teams. Former University of Wisconsin athlete Darius Jones and former Madison Memorial and UW-Whitewater athlete Joey Schultz are listed on the outdoor team's roster online.

Kopac was introduced to the indoor version of football last year coaching the Milwaukee team and made a quick transition. Teams play seven-on-seven with just three linemen, putting a premium on quickness over size.

"I was intrigued by the game," said Kopac. "It has a different style, it has a different tempo and I think it's all upbeat and very exciting. The personnel is based on quickness. Everybody on the field has to be very fast. You can do a lot more things outside than you can indoors. You have to pare down what you try to do, and you have to do it very quickly. Speed, speed, speed -- that's the name of this game."

CIFL teams have 20-man rosters for each game, with an extra player available for special teams only. Each team has a budget of $6,000 per game to spend on players, to be distributed as each team sees fit.

Kopac said he has already begun the recruiting process for the Wolfpack, focusing on former college players from around the state. He figures to draw heavily from the outdoor Wolfpack's 60-man roster. The team also will hold tryouts in January in Madison and Milwaukee, with practice beginning in February.

"We're in contact with all the state schools," Kopac said. "There's some wonderful football being played in Wisconsin, and I think that we're going to be able to put together a nice team who can represent who we are."

Season ticket orders are being taken (for information contact www.wiwolfpack.com). Lowe said tickets will be priced at $200 per season for the first four rows of seating and $65 for the season for all other seats. The Wolfpack will play seven home games.

"We feel this is the most affordable family entertainment you can find," Lowe said.

Lowe, who also serves as attorney for the CIFL, believes this league can learn from the failures of previous leagues. The Madison Mad Dogs were members of the Professional Indoor Football League and the Indoor Football League from 1998 to 2000, when the Mad Dogs were disbanded and the league was sold.

"It needs to be a bus league," said Lowe. "Travel expenses are very important to keep under control. The old league we were in had it under control and then they lost sight of it. That happens over and over. It seems like they can never learn from their mistakes. This league, I think they have a group of owners that have checked their egos at the door and they know they have to keep the business side of it in control."

Lowe is equally confident indoor football can succeed in Madison the second time around. That feeling was enhanced by the positive reception he has received from officials at the Alliant Energy Center.

"I wouldn't say it failed," he said. "We had looked at several locations and when we walked into this environment, we actually felt welcome. They want to work with you, they want to see a team and they want to see you succeed."

Lowe also thinks the presence of Kopac helps give the team a better chance of succeeding.

"The man knows football and the man knows Wisconsin," Lowe said. "He has a built-in network here. I needed somebody that I knew the football organization would be sound. It's all right here, it's all very local."

Dennis Punzel  —  11/25/2008 10:15 pm