The Mississippi Hound Dogs were a professional indoor football team based in

Tupelo, Mississippi Tupelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1860, the population was 37,923 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, 7th-most populous ...

. The Hound Dogs played their home games at the BancorpSouth Arena as a member of the

Ultimate Indoor Football League The Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL) was a regional professional indoor football league that began its inaugural season on February 18, 2011 as the Ultimate Indoor Football League before playing as the United Indoor Football League in 2012 ...

's Southern Conference. The Hound Dogs name is an homage to Tupelo's best-known native, the "King of Rock 'n Roll"

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

, in particular his cover version of " Hound Dog", which became that song's best-known version and one of Presley's best-known recordings in general. (They are the second football team to use the name in homage to Presley; the first, the

Memphis Hound Dogs The Memphis Hound Dogs were a proposed NFL team in the early-1990s. Former Memphis Showboats owner William Dunavant, Paul Tudor Jones, Fred Smith and Elvis Presley Enterprises were the members of the potential ownership group. In 1993, th ...

, was a proposed

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

expansion team that was not accepted to the league upon its expansion in 1995.) The Hound Dogs were the third indoor football team to play in Tupelo, after the Tupelo FireAnts of the

National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, ...

(2001–2004) and the Mississippi MudCats of the

American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) is a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

(2007).

Franchise history

On August 16, 2011 the team announced that Martino Theus would be the team's first ever

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

. On March 20, 2012, head coach Martino Theus was fired after an 0-3 start for the Hound Dogs. Former indoor player, Eric Bingham was hired as his replacement. However, when the UIFL stepped in when owner Marty Cooper couldn't afford the team, the UIFL took over the team and named Martino Theus the head coach once again. The Hound Dogs cancelled all remaining home games, but fulfilled all their remaining road games. On April 24, 2012, the league announced that it had taken over operations of the Mississippi Hound Dogs due to financial difficulty, and modified their schedule to make them a travel-only squad. There were several changes to the schedule made when the league took over operations of the Hound Dogs. The May 14 game against the

Western Pennsylvania Sting Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

was cancelled, and the May 26 game against the

Florida Tarpons The Florida Tarpons were a professional indoor football team based in Lakeland, Florida, out of the RP Funding Center. Originally established in Estero, Florida, and playing out of Germain Arena, they began play in 2012 as an expansion team of ...

was originally scheduled to be a home game, but the schedule was changed to play the game in Florida.

Final roster

Head coaches

Season-by-season results

References

External links

Official website (under construction)
2011 establishments in Mississippi 2012 disestablishments in Mississippi American football teams established in 2011 American football teams disestablished in 2012 {{Mississippi-sport-team-stub