Rochester Rhinos

Rochester Raging Rhinos was founded in 1996 and played in the now-defunct original A-League until it merged with the USISL for the 1997 season, creating the new A-League. After reaching the championship game in 1996 they won their first league championship in 1998.

In 1999 the club made it to the final of the U.S. Open Cup, where they defeated MLS club Colorado Rapids 2–0, becoming the first team from outside MLS to win the national cup since MLS's inception.[6][7] This win was followed by two further A-League titles in 2000 and 2001.

A year after the A-League's renaming to the USL First Division in 2005, the Rhinos moved into the newly completed PAETEC Park, a 13,768-seat soccer-specific stadium now known as Marina Auto Stadium, and again made the championship game. the Rhinos were considered a candidate to be an expansion team at the MLS level when PAETEC Park was in the planning stages.[8]

The team's logo used from 2008–2015

The team was declared insolvent in 2008 after defaulting on their stadium agreement, and PAETEC Park was seized by the city of Rochester.[9] After a brief search for a new owner and investor who could improve the team's financial outlook, in March 2008 the club was taken over by Utica businessman Rob Clark. Clark changed the team's name to the "Rochester Rhinos," and assured that the financial situation of the team was stable and it would be able to play the next year.[10] After two seasons under Clark the club joined the new NASL for its 2010 season.[11] The United States Soccer Federation refused the NASL's application for sanctioning, and instead operated its own temporary second-division league for 2010. The Rhinos were part of that temporary USSF Division 2 Professional League.[12] The Rhinos switched leagues again before the 2011 season to the then third-division USL Pro league, who considered themselves equally competitive with the second-division NASL.

The 2011 season ended with the Rhinos first in their division followed by a playoff season that lasted 2 games. The Rhinos saw off the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 4–0 in first round of the playoffs and then lost 2–1 at home to the Harrisburg City Islanders to finish the season. At the end of the season, head coach Bob Lilley was replaced by Jesse Myers, most recently an assistant coach of the Richmond Kickers.[13][14]

In January 2013, the Rhinos became the official USL Pro affiliate of the New England Revolution.[15] Following a 1–6–1 start to the 2013 season, on May 19 Myers was dismissed and Pat Ercoli named Head Coach. They missed the playoffs for the first time ever, finishing with a 6–10–10 record.[16]

The league revoked the Clark family's ownership of the club in January 2016, citing the revocation of the lease on Rochester Rhinos Stadium by the City of Rochester. The league took over operations of the club until it could be sold to a new ownership group.[17] David and Wendy Dworkin, minority owners of the Sacramento Kings basketball club, were identified as the Rhinos' new owners later in the month.[18] The Dworkins were officially announced as the new owners on March 10, 2016.[19]

The Rhinos (black/white/yellow) vs. the Carolina Railhawks (orange) on July 6, 2007.

On November 30, 2017, the Rhinos announced that they would go on hiatus.[20] After almost a year of silence the team announced that it planned to move to the new third division league USL League One and return to the field in 2020.[21] Moreover, the team announced that it had reached a deal with the City to vacate Marina Auto Stadium and stated it would be searching a site to build a new stadium.[21] Towards the end of the first USL League One season, the Rhinos' President Pat Ercoli announced on Uncle Sam's Soccer Podcast that due to delays and pacing of the development of the Rhinos' new stadium that the team would likely sit out the 2020 season and relaunch in 2021.[22]

The Oak Street Brigade is the supporters groups for the Rhinos. Occupying section 101 at Capelli Sport Stadium, the Brigade stands and sings for 90 minutes every game and usually 30 minutes before and after. Best known for their "1 ton bass drum" and a flurry of streamers and smoke bombs following every Rhinos goal. Their biggest rivals are the Montreal Ultras and Pittsburgh. The name Oak Street Brigade refers to the address of Capelli Sport Stadium.[23][24]

• See also All-time Rochester Rhinos roster

• 2011: Lenin Steenkamp
• 2012: Craig Demmin, Doug Miller, Pat Onstad
• 2013: 1999 U.S. Open Cup Team
• 2014: Yari Allnutt, Scott Vallow
• 2015: Darren Tilley, Mali Walton

• 19 – Doug Miller

• Pat Ercoli (1996–2004)
• Laurie Calloway (2005–2007)
• Darren Tilley (2008–2009)[25]
• Bob Lilley (2010–2011)
• Jesse Myers (2012–2013)
• Pat Ercoli (interim, 2013)
• Bob Lilley (2014–2017)[26]

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Rhinos. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Rochester Rhinos seasons.

Season	League											Position		Playoffs	USOC	Continental / Other		Average attendance	Top goalscorer(s)
	Div	League	Pld	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts	PPG	Conf.	Overall						Name	Goals
2013	3	USL Pro	26	6	10	10	25	39	–14	28	1.08	N/A	11th	DNQ	R3	DNQ		5,876	Tam McManus	7
2014		USL Pro	28	10	10	8	29	25	+4	38	1.46		6th	QF	R5			5,972	J.C. Banks	9
2015		USL	28	17	1	10	40	15	+25	61	2.18	1st	1st	W	R4			5,599	Steevan Dos Santos	9
2016		USL	30	13	5	12	38	25	+13	51	1.70	4th	6th	QF	R4			3,655	Christian Volesky	10
2017	2	USL	32	14	7	11	36	28	+8	53	1.66	4th	9th	QF	R4			2,031	Jochen Graf	11

^ 1. Avg. Attendance include statistics from league matches only.
^ 2. Top Goalscorer(s) includes all goals scored in league play, playoffs, U.S. Open Cup, and other competitive matches.