Austin Wranglers The Austin Wranglers were an American football team from Austin , Texas in the arenafootball2 . They began play as a 2004 expansion team in the Arena Football League . History . The Wranglers began play in February of 2004 , and played home games at the Frank Erwin Center on the University of Texas campus , playing in the Southern Division of the National Conference . The franchise is not to be confused with another Arena Football team called the Oklahoma Wranglers , who played the 2000 and 2001 seasons in Oklahoma City . In 2004 , the Wranglers accumulated an 8 - 8 record with such notables as quarterback John Kaleo , Charlie Davidson , and Darryl Hammond leading the Wrangler ' s respectable offensive campaign . The Wranglers however were unable to qualify for the playoffs , after stumbling to 3 losses to close out the season . The 2004 off - season was relatively quiet ; signings included former All - Rookie teamer OL / DL Bryan Henderson , OS Ira Gooch , and QB John Fitzgerald . Departed was former starting quarterback John Kaleo , traded to the Los Avengers for cash and future considerations . The original mascot for the Austin Wranglers was named Blaze , who was a horse , and in 2005 he was joined by a cowboy - Red Eye ( whose eyes glowed red ) . Due to the expansion team in Utah , the Blaze , the Austin Wranglers changed the name of their mascot to avoid confusion , so the final mascot had a " wilder " appearance than before and went by the name " Trigger " . The training camp which ensued was headlined by the competition between free agent pick up John Fitzgerald , fresh off leading the expansion VooDoo to the playoffs , against 2004 back - up Bobby Pesavento . Pesavento would ultimately defeat Fitzgerald for the starting job though Fitzgerald would take over four games into the season . John Fitzgerald remained one of the only bright spots on a depleted team , as the Wrangler ' s finished 2005 with a 6 - 10 record . Realizing the past failures in 2004 and 2005 , the Wranglers management had an active off - season . Team presidents Doug MacGregor and Glyn Milburn both made important re - signings and signings , including Sedrick Robinson , AFL all time leading tackler Damon Mason , Donvetis Franklin , Donovan Arp , Derrick Lewis , Chance Mock , and Marcus McKenzie . On Wednesday , April 26 , 2006 , Deion Sanders , the multi - talented athlete who retired from playing in the NFL , became one of the franchise ' s owners . On May 7 , 2006 , the Wranglers clinched their first ever playoff berth with a win over the Grand Rapids Rampage . Unfortunately the Wranglers were eliminated from the playoffs after losing to the Philadelphia Soul in the first round of the wild card playoffs . Shortly after the end of the Wranglers ' season , team owner Doug MacGregor announced the firing of Skip Foster , after leading the Wranglers to a franchise best 10 - 6 season . This shocking move led to many to speculate what the Wrangler ' s intentions were for the future . After a month full of searching for the future head coach of the Wranglers , Austin announced on June 29 , 2006 , former offensive coordinator of the Colorado Crush , Brian Partlow , would lead the Wranglers in 2007 . During his three seasons as offensive coordinator with the Crush , Partlow established a respected offense in the AFL , in which managed to win one Arena Bowl . Along with this success , Partlow coached offensive specialist Damian Harrell to two consecutive offensive player of the year seasons , while establishing John Dutton , cover boy of EA Sport ' s Arena Football , as one of the most feared quarterbacks in the league . On September 15 , 2006 , the Arena Football League sent shockwaves through its fanbase announcing the implementation of free - substitution , substantially eliminating any remains of the AFL ' s highly regarded reputation of Ironman football . Previously teams were restricted one substitution per quarter , forcing wide receivers , defensive backs , offensive and defensive linemen to play both sides of the ball . It was highly believed teams would take advantage of this change , in increasing signings of former NFL and NFL Europe players rather than searching for existing talent already in the AFL . A month later in October , the Wranglers quickly proved this theory . After a relatively quiet opening to the free agency period with the signing of former Georgia Force defensive specialist Nate Coggins , the Wranglers took advantage of the AFL ' s free - substitution rule , signing of a rather large batch of rookies lacking experience in the arena game including former Texas Longhorn Mike Williams . In addition , the Wranglers signed 2004 AFL Rookie of the Year and former Florida State Seminoles quarterback Adrian McPherson . Following training camp 2007 , the Wranglers roster was set as seven rookies made the cut ( nearly a fourth of the team ) , while Adrian McPherson , Nate Coggins , Anthony Hines , and Chad Dukes were the lone AFL veteran free agent pick ups making the squad . The rest of the roster remained the core nucleus of the Wrangler ' s playoff run in 2006 , including starting defensive specialist Damon Mason and stand out wide receiver Derrick Lewis . The 2007 season , which would end up being the Wrangler ' s last in the AFL , served largely as a disappointment . Highly touted free agent pick up Adrian McPherson failed to live up to high expectations and was cut midway through the season , while the defense was among the league ' s worst , ranking 18th and 17th in defensive passing and receiving respectively . Fans speculate whether the loss of former defensive coordinator Jon Norris may have attributed to the Wrangler ' s defensive struggles in 2007 . On October 12 , 2007 , the team announced that they were moving from the AFL to the af2 after much speculation . The ownership had made the decision due to financial difficulties , some rumoring the Wrangler ' s had lost over 4 million in 2007 . In addition the decision was lubricated by the fact Doug MacGregor had purchased four expansion teams in the af2 in 2007 , including the Corpus Christi Sharks and the Lubbock Renegades . A new era of Wrangler ' s football began on October 22 , 2007 with the signing of AFL Hall of Famer Ben Bennett as head coach of the Wranglers . In addition to an impressive resume as quarterback in college and the arena league , Bennett had coached the Florida Firecats to an ArenaCup title in 2004 , and had accumulated a 56 - 33 record with the Manchester Wolves from 2005 - 2007 . Despite dropping to af2 and considering playing in Cedar Park Entertainment Center to cut costs , success did not follow the Wranglers to af2 while financial difficulties continued to plague the team . Ownership announced in September 2008 that the franchise would cease operations and not appear in 2009 . Radio and television . The Wranglers flagship radio station is 1300 The Zone " The Longhorn ' s Station . " As far as television , all Wrangler games may be seen on the af2 ' s online television service af2TV .