WHEELING — Want to be a professional football player?

The Ohio Valley Ironmen, the newest member of the International Football Alliance, have announced their first tryout. It will be held Sunday, Nov. 24 at Shadyside High School’s Fleming Field from 1-4 p.m. Gates will open at noon. The cost is $100 for pre-registered prospects and $125 (cash only) for walk-in prospects.

The Ironmen will begin play on June 7, 2025, at Baltimore with General Manager and Head Coach Manny Matsakis calling the shots. The first home game will be Saturday, June 14 when San Antonio visits.

Matsakis is a 1984 graduate of Capital University where he was a three-time Ohio Athletic Conference first team placekicker. He was a member of the Indianapolis Colts in 1987. He was most recently the head coach at Defiance College in Ohio and has also had stops at Kansas State (assistant coach); Texas Tech (special teams); Emporia State (head coach) and the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers (running backs).

Other tryouts are scheduled for New Jersey in December, Georgia and Florida.

“We’ve got them all over. Our goal is to have good football players on our team.”

However, there are a few wrinkles the former Shadyside placekicker noted.

“We just recently got accepted into the league,” Matsakis said. “There’s a lot of things still going on.”

He likened the franchise to that of the Washington Wild Things baseball team.

“It’s like the minor leagues of professional football. We’re like the equivalent of a AAA baseball team. You’ve got the NFL, the CFL and the IFA.”

The Ironmen were the seventh franchise to join the league. Other teams include the Dallas Pioneros; the San Antonio Caballeros; the Baltimore Lightning; the Chihuahua (Mexico) Rebelion; the Tampa Tornadoes; and the Alabama Beavers (Huntsville).

The league begins in 2025 and is a 11-player, outdoor football league.

“We are still in the process of acquiring a practice facility that will also serve as our home field and stadium. It must be to our liking and fit our needs,” Matsakis stressed. “I’ve been in contact with several schools in the region that have turf fields.”

He said there are approximately five places they are looking at in the region.

“The last thing I want is that we have to go to the Youngstown or Pittsburgh areas to find a place to play,” he added. “We’re going to bring in a lot of business. This is a win-win for the area.”

He explained there is a time frame in line.

“The inaugural IFA draft will be held March 21-22, 2025, at the Westin Hotel in Huntsville, AL.

The draft will hold eight rounds total, with rounds 1-3 focused solely only on International and dual citizens. Rounds 4-8 will focus on United States-born citizens.

Rounds 1-3 will be held March 21 and rounds 4-8 on March 22.

Each team will pick from a pool of players compiled by the IFA Player Personnel Department. The draft pool will consist of recent college graduates, and professional players who have accepted the draft pool invite, and with experience in other professional football leagues.

Each team must have five international players on its roster.

“I’ve been getting calls from guys that have played in the NFL and are wanting to try and get back there,” Matsakis said. “There’s a pool of more than 500 players that have entered the IFA Draft pool. We’ll find some players.”

Matsakis said the top choice will likely be a quarterback, but not necessarily.

“Obviously you want to get a quarterback that can throw. Our offense will be like a run-and-shoot style of play. It will be wide open,” he described. “We will sign two quarterbacks, maybe a veteran and a younger guy that wants to rise up. If we could get a local guy, it would be awesome.”

As far as the coaching staff goes, the offensive-minded Matsakis will call the plays.

“Some of these teams around the league will have 10 coaches on their staff,” he said. “Take the Dallas team, their head coach is Art Briles (formerly of Baylor) and his defensive coordinator is Todd Graham who was the head coach at Pitt.

“Coaches will actually be the last position I hire,” Matsakis added.

The IFA mission is clear.

“We are bridging the gap in international professional football by delivering the highest level of American Football within the strategic locations of Mexico and the United States. We are implementing NFL-based standard rules of play, and creating a true international alliance,” the league said on its website. “Together with our team ownership, teams, players, and fans, we will work to build a unified and solid football ecosystem to grow American football in a league without borders.

The IFA on-field games will be dynamic, entertaining, and fan-friendly. For this, we are bringing in professional coaches who have coached professional football at a high level. NFL, CFL, XFL, and USFL,” the release stated. “(Now UFL) Legendary coaches who lead, mentor, and provide a professional setting and environment the fans and players deserve.”

“What we are trying to do is, I compare it with the Green Bay Packers,” Matsakis continued. “A small market with a passionate fan base. That’s the idea.”

He said the team has four home games scheduled, with three of them being on Saturday nights and the other on Sunday due to the OVAC Rudy Mumley All-Star Game being played that Saturday.

Matsakis was also happy to announce a Meet and Greet on Monday, Nov. 18 at Generations in Wheeling. It will begin at 7 p.m. and IFA president Jason Adams will be in attendance.