West Texas Roughnecks

In 2003, the nearly 20-year-old Arena Football League, which until then had been primarily in major markets like New York City and Chicago, began spreading across the nation into smaller to middle-sized cities. Jerry Jones of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys kicked off his AFL franchise in Dallas and secured the rights to every smaller market in the state of Texas with a suitable arena for indoor football. When Jones couldn’t be reached to discuss selling these rights, a new league was formed throughout the state. In August 2003, Chad Dittman, President of the fledgling Intense Football League announced that Odessa would be one of the sites for his new professional indoor football league.

Through prayer shortly after, Abby and Tommy Benizio decided to purchased the franchise and moved to the Permian Basin along with their pet prairie dogs. By the close of 2003, the franchise creatively announced the name of "Roughnecks" along with the unveiling of a logo fit for the community and a mascot who has become a staple in both Odessa and Midland known as Digger.

The team kicked off on May 8, 2004 under the direction of head coach Chris Williams, who led the team to a 9-7 record and home field advantage in the playoffs. Lubbock defeated Odessa in overtime just one game shy of the championship but the season did not end without the success of leading the IFL in attendance and having promoted more players to the next level than any other team in the league.

This success became well known throughout the national football community, and along with the hard work of the teams coaches, Odessa enjoyed a very rare undefeated regular season in the National Indoor Football League in 2005. Despite losing one game shy of the championship again, the Roughnecks were once more atop of their league in attendance, successfully hosted the first ever NIFL All-Star Game, and could boast a 16-1 overall record.

The team was later bought by Jay and Dale Morris of Midland, Texas, who changed the team name to the West Texas Roughnecks.

For the 2012 season, the Roughnecks joined the Lone Star Football League. After the season, the team was put up for sale. With no buyer stepping forward, the team officially folded in October 2013.

The Roughnecks at one time held the longest regular-season winning streak in professional football history with 27 straight regular-season victories under the arm of Bobby Glenn Ruth Jr. The record was broken with a 55–35 win over the Laredo Lobos in Odessa on June 17, 2006, giving the Roughnecks 26 straight regular season wins. The streak began with a 20-0 victory against the San Angelo Stampede on July 31, 2004, in San Angelo, Texas and ended at 27 wins with a 70-63 loss against the Louisiana Swashbucklers on July 1, 2006, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. On March 29, 2008, the Sioux Falls Storm of the United Indoor Football League lost to the Omaha Beef 34-18, ending their historic 40-game winning streak and giving them their first loss since July 15, 2005. They went on to win their fourth United Bowl later that season against the Bloomington Extreme.

2004–2012 - Chris Williams (74-47)

• Official website
• Roughnecks' 2006 Stats
• Roughnecks' 2007 Stats
• Roughnecks' 2008 Stats
• Home Teams Online