Birmingham Barracudas

The Birmingham Barracudas were a Canadian football team that played the 1995 season in the Canadian Football League. The Barracudas were part of a failed attempt to expand the CFL into the United States.

In the beginning
Art Williams, a businessman from Georgia, was awarded a CFL expansion franchise in Birmingham. He wanted a nickname for the team that would "scare the spit out of people," and chose Barracudas.

The Barracudas hired an experienced head coach in Jack Pardee, who had coached at the college level with the University of Houston and at the professional level with the WFL, USFL, and NFL. (Pardee is perhaps better known as the only six-man football player to have ever made it to the professional leagues; his knowledge of that wide-open game proved to serve him well in the similarly wide-open CFL.) The Barracudas were also led by veteran CFL quarterback Matt Dunigan, who had his greatest season while in Birmingham.

During the season
Birmingham competed in the Southern Division along with the San Antonio Texans, Baltimore Stallions, Memphis Mad Dogs, and Shreveport Pirates. After losing their only two pre-season games, they played their first game July 4, 1995, versus the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Winnipeg. They won 38–10, and would lose to the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton 31–13. They would get their revenge a week later at home by beating the Cats 51–28 in front of 31,000 fans.

The biggest home game of the season came against the Baltimore Stallions. It also proved to be the biggest disappointment, as the Barracudas lost 36–8. After that, attendance did not exceed 10,000 fans a game.

In the team's final home game, against the Edmonton Eskimos, Matt Dunigan left the game due to a shoulder injury, and Birmingham was forced to turn to back-up quarterback Jimmy Klinger. Despite the loss, the Barracudas still had a chance to claim home-field advantage in the playoffs. However, they lost a shootout of a season finale in San Antonio, finishing third in the Southern Division. They returned to San Antonio the following week for the Southern Division Semi-Final, but were whipped by the Texans 52–9, ending their first and only playoff run.

After the season
Attendance at Legion Field was very good at first. The Birmingham crowds were some of the largest in the league. Once the college football season started, the numbers started to decline even though the 'Cudas played on Sundays, not directly competing against Alabama or Auburn. The Memphis Mad Dogs were plagued by similar attendance problems, and the Birmingham Americans of the World Football League had been hamstrung by a similar situation 20 years earlier.

Owner Art Williams was quoted that he was probably losing between 4 to 6 million dollars on the team – however, outside sources quoted the losses at around 10 million dollars. He also began criticizing the Canadian Football League, and its unique concept. Along with other U.S. owners, Williams wanted several changes made:


 * Reducing the size of a CFL field to American football standards.
 * Allowing only 11 players on each side of the ball, rather than 12.
 * Changing the name of the league to show more of a U.S. presence.

Wiliams sold the team to a group of investors called Ark-La-Tex Football Association from Louisiana. It was intended for the team to play in Shreveport (where a more consistent and numerous fan base had established itself, but whose team, the Pirates, had folded under the mismanagement of infamous CFL owner Bernard Glieberman). However, the CFL instead opted to shutter the team along with the Mad Dogs and Posse. Soon afterward, the Baltimore Stallions moved to Montreal to become the new Alouettes, and the San Antonio Texans folded as well, ending the CFL's American experiment.

Players and builders of note

 * Gene Snisky, former WWE wrestler, was on the pre-season roster
 * Shonte Peoples
 * Keith Woodside
 * Reggie Slack

Canadian Football Hall of Famers

 * Matt Dunigan
 * Llewellyn Wells

Trivia

 * Quarterback Reggie Slack, who played college football at Auburn, was signed to Birmingham. He started both pre-season games, but was traded to Winnipeg, after the second regular season game. On August 12, his new team lost to the Cudas in Birmingham, 50–24.
 * Former Cincinnati Bengals running back Ickey Woods signed with Birmingham before the start of the season, but was cut in training camp.
 * Art Williams later owned the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League during the 1998–99 season.
 * Fob James, at the time Alabama's governor, played running back for Montreal in 1956.