Nashville Kats
| Nashville Kats | |||||
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Established 1997 (original incarnation) Folded 2007 (second incarnation) Played in Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee |
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| League/conference affiliations | |||||
| Team colors |
Sky blue, Navy, White & Red |
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| Mascot | Kool Kat | ||||
| Personnel | |||||
| Owner(s) | Mark Bloom (original incarnation) Bud Adams (second incarnation) |
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| Head coach | Pat Sperduto | ||||
| Team history | |||||
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Original Incarnation 1997-2001 |
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| Championships | |||||
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League championships (0) 0 |
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Conference championships (0) |
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Division championships (2) |
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| Playoff appearances (6) | |||||
| 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 | |||||
| Home arena(s) | |||||
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Arena Football League (1997–2007)
Sky blue, Navy, White & Red
Original Incarnation 1997-2001
Second Incarnation 2005-2007
Conference championships (0)
Division championships (2)
The Nashville Kats were an Arena Football League team, located in Nashville, Tennessee. They were last coached by Pat Sperduto, who coached the team's original incarnation to two ArenaBowl appearances prior to the original franchise's move to Atlanta in 2002 (then becoming the Georgia Force). Sperduto also coached the second incarnation of the Nashville Kats following their return to the Arena Football League as an expansion team in 2005.
The team began as the Nashville Kats in 1997. The original Kats played in the then-named Nashville Arena (AKA "The Alley") in downtown Nashville. The team was named for the 1967 hit "Nashville Cats" by The Lovin' Spoonful. The team's logo featured an anthropomorphic tabby wearing a 1950s-style leather jacket, holding the neck of a guitar in one paw and juggling a football with the other.
The Kats were initially coached by Eddie Khayat in 1997 and 1998, with the assistance of Jay Gruden as offensive co-ordinator in his first-ever coaching position. Gruden then returned to active play with the Orlando Predators and assistant to his brother Jon, then head coach of the NFL ]Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which played in the AFL off-season. Khayat was succeeded as Kats' head coach by Pat Sperduto for the balance of the team's time in Nashville (including the second incarnation of the team). The Kats were the league's Organization of the Year for their inaugural year of 1997, and were in the playoffs for every season of their relatively brief existence. The team's success in the playoffs led to consecutive appearances in the ArenaBowl (XIV and XV) each of the original team's final two seasons, although they were unable to win the AFL's championship in either appearance.
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