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By IFL Media
The IFL’s annual staff draft closed quietly this afternoon, but in Horsetooth, silence was the point.
After posting their first winning season since 2066 — an 11–5 breakthrough following four consecutive 2–14 campaigns — the Ogres retained their entire coaching staff, signaling that the rebuild phase is officially over and continuity is now the priority.
Head coach Neil Wolf returns at the center of it, flanked by an intact group that helped engineer one of the league’s sharpest turnarounds. No poaching, no reshuffling, no panic. For a franchise that spent nearly a decade reinventing itself every winter, standing pat may be the boldest move of all.
The calendar now turns to the second act of the offseason.
Ticket pricing was finalized with little drama, as Horsetooth kept rates competitive in a market newly re-energized by a winning product. The bigger lever came at the franchise tag window, where the Ogres made their choice quickly, locking up left defensive end Wendell Shaw and removing the defense’s most disruptive piece from the open market.
Roster surgery followed just as swiftly.
Horsetooth released two high-priced veterans (Bailey & Coffey) who lingered on the roster last season only because cutting them earlier would have detonated future cap flexibility. This winter, those numbers finally softened. The moves were cold, calculated, and necessary — the last financial cleanup from a rebuild that began last season.
What remains is a roster with continuity on the sideline, flexibility on the books, and a clear objective ahead.
The 2074 season proved the Ogres can win.
The 2075 offseason will decide whether they can stay there.
The IFL’s annual staff draft closed quietly this afternoon, but in Horsetooth, silence was the point.
After posting their first winning season since 2066 — an 11–5 breakthrough following four consecutive 2–14 campaigns — the Ogres retained their entire coaching staff, signaling that the rebuild phase is officially over and continuity is now the priority.
Head coach Neil Wolf returns at the center of it, flanked by an intact group that helped engineer one of the league’s sharpest turnarounds. No poaching, no reshuffling, no panic. For a franchise that spent nearly a decade reinventing itself every winter, standing pat may be the boldest move of all.
The calendar now turns to the second act of the offseason.
Ticket pricing was finalized with little drama, as Horsetooth kept rates competitive in a market newly re-energized by a winning product. The bigger lever came at the franchise tag window, where the Ogres made their choice quickly, locking up left defensive end Wendell Shaw and removing the defense’s most disruptive piece from the open market.
Roster surgery followed just as swiftly.
Horsetooth released two high-priced veterans (Bailey & Coffey) who lingered on the roster last season only because cutting them earlier would have detonated future cap flexibility. This winter, those numbers finally softened. The moves were cold, calculated, and necessary — the last financial cleanup from a rebuild that began last season.
What remains is a roster with continuity on the sideline, flexibility on the books, and a clear objective ahead.
The 2074 season proved the Ogres can win.
The 2075 offseason will decide whether they can stay there.