TULSA OILERS HEAD COACH MARVIN JONES KEPT HIS TEAM BELIEVING

Marvin Jones knows what it's like to be on a 2-5 team that found a way to turn their season around. He was a linebacker on the 2002 New York Jets, a team that began that NFL season 2-5 and wound up finishing 9-7 to win the AFC East and subsequently defeated the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Wild Card Game.  

It happened once before for Jones and it's happening again, this time as the Head Coach of the Tulsa Oilers.

The Oilers opened the 2026 Indoor Football League season with a record of 2-5, but have now run off seven straight wins to improve to 9-5 heading into Saturday's game against the Quad City Steamwheelers (8pm ET Overnght).  

Thanks to their winning ways, the Oilers are on the precipice of punching their ticket to the playoffs.

Did Jones draw on that experience with the Jets?

"Oh absolutely," said Jones. "I think one of the biggest things for me as a Head Coach is that you have to believe in yourself and believe in what you're doing with your vision and your philosophy. Just being you dropped some games, that shouldn't change."

The Jets' turnaround in 2002 was inspired by the famous "You Play to Win the Game" rant by Head Coach Herman Edwards. 

24 years later, it's Deja Vue for Jones but without any headline-making proclamations. 

Over the first seven games of the season, Tulsa lost those five games by a combined 22 points. All of the losses were one possession games including a two-point loss to Fishers Freight and a one-point loss to the Arizona Rattlers. 

The team just needed some tweaking although some coaches might have been quick to hit the panic button…but not Jones.

"Some people get too quick to make so many changes and that could be a setback," said Jones. "I just felt like there were some things we needed to do. I tightened up practice and added a lot of game situations. I never wavered from my philosophy. I know it works for me because it's worked in the past."

And it has worked again throughout the Oilers' seven-game winning streak including this past Saturday's 58-49 home win over the Jacksonville Sharks. 

With a roster that included a number of new faces, the Oilers had to suffer through some growing pains during the first half of the season. It took a while for the team to establish chemistry but it also took some time for the new players to be on board with what Jones was looking for.

"At that time, I don't think everybody we had on the team bought in to what we were coaching and the direction we were headed," said Jones. "We just managed to keep believing and we had to win some games. I felt like we just needed to be together. There was never a doubt that we would win games and get on a streak." 

Jones consistently tells his players that he will always have their back and that was evident during the first half of the season when things just weren't going right, especially at the end of those close losses. He preached to his team to continue to practice hard and to believe in what he was teaching them.

And he told them that if they just did those two things and believed in the vision for the team, the Oilers would start winning games.

The players bought in and they credit their Head Coach for the turnaround. 

"Coach Marvin Jones would be the biggest piece to that," said quarterback TJ Edwards. "He knew exactly where we were having our errors. He could already see that at the beginning of the season. He was always telling us to stay the course. He knew exactly what we needed and ever since then, we've been clicking on all cylinders." 

The seven-game winning streak has pulled the Oilers into a tie with Jacksonville for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference at 9-5, but the Sharks currently hold the tie-breaker with a better conference record (7-2 vs 5-4), but there is still a chance for the Oilers to beat out the Sharks and get the second seed and a first-round home playoff game.

Jones would love that home playoff game, but he would love five more wins even better.

"It's very important," said Jones of the potential home playoff game. "I tell my guys right now we have five games left. You win them all…you win it all. It's as simple as that. One game at a time but it's a five-game season right now. I think it would be great for us to host a home game because we have a great fan base." 

Tulsa has certainly put themselves in the discussion when it comes to teams, in either conference, who could win the IFL National Championship on August 16th in Tucson, Arizona. Among the contenders are the defending National Champion Vegas Knight Hawks, the defending Eastern Conference Champion Green Bay Blizzard, the San Diego Strike Force and the Arizona Rattlers.

The Oilers believe that they can be the team that hoists the championship trophy.

"I think we're the best team in the league," said Edwards. "That's offensively, defensively, and special teams. We have playmakers on both sides of the ball. We know it's us versus us and we're trying to focus on the things we need to improve on so that way, we're at our best each week out." 

Jones never let the players feel sorry for themselves during the first seven games of the season. Things weren't going as planned, but after some changes were made to personnel and the way practice was structured, the wins started to come.

And while the players point to Jones as the beacon of light that kept the team going, the Head Coach gives credit to the players for hanging in there, buying in, and putting themselves in a position to do something special. 

"The guys have done a job," said Jones. "We had to replace some guys but most of it is a lot of education. We have some damn good quality guys who can play. I feel like we got the right guys. I play a lot of defenses, so it takes a special guy to learn everything I'm trying to put in."

And Jones will look to his players to finish the regular season strong in the final two games, both against Quad City (5-9). This week, the Oilers host the Steamwheelers at the BOK Center and then next week, in a scheduling quirk, they will conclude the regular season at Quad City. 

The last thing Jones wants his red-hot team to do is to take their foot off the gas pedal. 

"Quad City is a tough team," said Jones. "They've always been a tough team. They play some good ball. They have enough to beat you over there. I tell my guys you have to win. You have to worry about winning and don't take this team lightly. This is a very dangerous team."   

One question remains heading into this week's game and that is will Jones don that same Hawaiian-style Oilers shirt that he wore against Jacksonville that drew raves from, not only his team, but from so many people around the league.

Whatever he's wearing on Saturday, Jones will have his players running through a wall for him. 

"Coach Marvin has the swag as a Florida boy," said Edwards. "Whatever he wears, it's going to be motivating to us to go out and play hard for him. Coach Marvin is just a great dude and a great leader. We're going to keep doing it for him."

Marvin Jones has certainly channeled his inner 2002 New York Jets in getting the Tulsa Oilers back on track as the hottest team in the IFL with seven straight wins. That Jets team won a playoff game, but didn't go all the way. While the Oilers still have to wrap up a playoff spot, this is a team that could very well be the squad holding up the hardware next month in Tucson.

All the players needed to do was believe and Jones turned them into believers.