Fishers Freight head coach and general manager Dixie Wooten sat down with LarryInFishers for a wide-ranging conversation about a season that ended one incomplete pass short of the playoffs.

The Freight finished 8-8 in 2026, an improvement over the 7-9 mark in the franchise’s inaugural season. But Wooten said the record does not tell the story. Fishers lost on the final play of games against Tulsa, Jacksonville and Orlando.

“If those games are different, we’re in the playoffs,” Wooten said. “We could have been in the championship game ourselves.”

The season ended at home against Orlando, with a playoff berth on the line for both teams, when a Felix Harper pass into the end zone fell incomplete. Wooten’s first move afterward was to cross the field and congratulate the Orlando coach.

He described what follows a loss like that inside the locker room.

“The first thing I do is I acknowledge everything that we did good,” Wooten said. “These guys left their families. They dedicated their whole lives to me as a coach. It’s all about building guys up.”

Wooten’s contract has been extended through a third season, and he said the expectations he and ownership discussed are straightforward: playoffs and a championship.

The Freight have hired Rod Miller as defensive coordinator for 2027, a move Wooten said will let him manage game situations rather than call both sides of the ball.

“In this game, if you get three stops, you have a chance to win the game,” he said.

Roster work is underway. Wooten said both running backs are returning, along with several other players under contract, and that he and Harper are in conversations. Free agency negotiations open Sept. 15 under league rules. Community involvement remains a requirement, he said: “If you’re not a community person, you can’t come to Fishers and play here.”

Wooten also discussed the Indoor Football League’s move to Yahoo Sports, which the league says drew 6.1 million viewers this season. The most-watched game of the year was Fishers Freight versus Jacksonville.

The IFL will add four franchises in 2027 — Little Rock, Arkansas; Athens, Georgia; Savannah, Georgia; and Austin, Texas — bringing the league to 18 teams.

The conversation also covers on-field camera work, sideline reporters interrupting play calls, and why the onside kick math is different indoors.

This podcast is sponsored by Citizens State Bank.

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