The Arizona Rattlers lost to the San Diego Strike Force, 49-48, in the Indoor Football League playoffs on Tuesday night. The game ended on a controversial play where there might have been a false start or time may have expired. Referees threw a flag, but ended up calling a penalty on the defense as the Strike Force tied the game with a touchdown with no time left on the clock.
After San Diego's kicker ended the game with an extra point, Rattlers coach Kevin Guy went on a rant in his postgame press conference where he swore, called the officials a "dog and pony show" and insisted that the team would fly in referees from the East Coast next season rather than have the same officials work another game. He also vowed to fire anyone who was working gameday operations for the team at home games.
Absolutely legendary tirade delivered by Arizona Rattlers head coach Kevin Guy tonight in Glendale...
— Nick King (@NickKingSports) August 5, 2025
After his team, the defending IFL champs, saw their season end on a chaotic last second touchdown that was reviewed for what felt like about 10 minutes. https://t.co/lGx9TqPHSE pic.twitter.com/iFi3n5cbbm
"I mean, our operations was bulls---,” said Guy. “I mean, clock guy, the replay guy, everybody, they’re fired. They won’t work with me again. I tell you that right now. I got to have that information so we can make a decision."
The coach then turned his attention to the officiating crew.
"The flag was thrown, okay? For a false start, and then they went and reviewed it and picked it up. I mean, the whole thing was a clusterf---. It just seems like we always get screwed at home at the end, all right? Don’t really give a s-- if the league fines me or not. Don’t care. I’m so tired of the referees being a part of the game. I’m so freaking tired. He threw a flag for false start, then they go over there and pick it up."
“At the end of the day, we thought the clock ran out. I’ll go watch the game, see the film, whatever. But I am so tired of these kinds of games at our place. We’ll get into the meetings in the offseason, and we need to put the whole referee system under review. Under review, okay? I’m just fed up with it. It just seems like all these games always happen here at our place.”
Guy's rant was at least partially vindicated as the league acknowledge a "judgement error by the officials," but did not go so far as to reverse the outcome of the game, according to the Arizona Republic.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Indoor Football League Coach Goes on NSFW Rant Against Refs After Playoff Elimination.
