In a few weeks, Kevin Guy said he'll meet with Ron Shurts to discuss his Rattlers future.

But, if Shurts, like he has done every year since 2011, tells Guy he's still his man, Guy is driven more than ever to return to lead the Rattlers to a title game victory at home.

Two days out of town after Saturday's 56-53 United Bowl loss at home to the Sioux Falls Storm did nothing to lower his temperature when it came to the officiating.

He still was hot over it during a telephone conversation on Tuesday morning, but said that after he finishes doing exit interviews with the players, he will begin building for the 2020 season.

"Our goal is not going to be just to win a championship next year but to win in Arizona," Guy said. "That's where my head is."

Guy has always gone year to year with the Rattlers, never signing a contract with majority owner Shurts. Guy has won four league championships in his Rattlers tenure as head coach and general manager but he is 0-3 in home title games.

Since the Rattlers won their IFL semifinal game, Guy has been approached by NFL and Canadian Football League teams to coach,

But he just bought into owning the Tucson Sugar Skulls, who played their first season and had the Storm on the ropes in the first round of the Indoor Football League playoffs, before losing 53-50.

He has a daughter who will be a senior at Gilbert Perry High School and a son who will be entering seventh grade. It's important for Guy to keep his roots stable, and has said that no amount of money will sway him from his family focus.

"I'm motivated at what I'm doing," he said. "If put my name on it, money never becomes a factor.

"I'll meet with Ron in a few weeks. I don't see any reason why I wouldn't be back. But that's Ron's decision. I don't like to make a commitment publicly. He has the final say. I never know what’s going on in somebody’s head. If Ron wants me back, I’ll be back."

Before last week's United Bowl, Shurts texted to The Arizona Republic, "We see KG here for a long time."

The Rattlers could have been the toast of town this week but weren't able to finish what would have been the franchise's first perfect season.

Guy was fuming after the game over missed calls and made calls by officials. He remained livid on Tuesday when he talked to The Republic after a two-day cooling period.

"I’m very frustrated about the game," Guy said. "I got out of town a couple of days to clear my head. When you work as hard as you do as players and coaches out in heat practicing, bodies getting beat up, it's a mentally draining season. They worked their tails off to get to the ultimate goal. The last thing you want to hear are stories about the refs and not the players and the coaches."

Guy said coming into the game he knew his team would be in for "a dog fight" against a team it had beaten twice during the regular season, because the Rattlers had lost nose guard Lance McDowdell to an injury in the semifinal win over Nebraska, and was without inside linebacker Ricky Wyatt, who helped the Rattlers beat the Storm twice.

Last year, when the Rattlers lost to Sioux Falls at home by a point in overtime in the semifinals, they were without safety Bubba Chapman, because of an injury.

"You build your team down the middle," Guy said. "When we lost our nose guard and our linebacker on defense, it impacts you. You go back to last year when got beat in the playoffs, we lost Bubba for the season and we struggled then.

"We get into the game, I knew the matchups would be different. But we were still good enough to beat them personnel-wise."

MORE:Short of perfection: Rattlers suffer season's first loss to Sioux Falls Storm

Guy felt the game hinged on four or five plays.

The biggest was the interception when the Rattlers were up by a score and could have increased their lead to two touchdowns. But that was called back by roughing the passer.

"The quarterback (Lorenzo Brown Jr.) clearly flopped, and the ref threw the flag," Guy said. "That interception, that was a game changer. We had a chance to go up (by two touchdowns) right there."

Guy said the Storm scored a touchdown after the play clock had run out "a good two seconds."

"I couldn't challenge it, because there's no camera on the play clock," Guy said.

Guy said he felt receiver Jarrod Harrington was interfered on a fourth-down pass that was broken up in the end zone.

Guy said he couldn't challenge it, because "You can't create a foul."

Then, on the onside kick in the final minute that the Rattlers recovered but was called for off-sides, Guy said he didn't challenge that because he still had three timeouts he needed to hang on to to try to get the ball back. If a team loses an appeal, they lose a time out.

The Rattlers failed to stop the Storm on six of seven third-down conversions and on its only fourth down play.

"I’ve taken criticism for not making plays on third down," Guy said. "A lot of those plays happened on third down. We made the play on third down. But the ball didn't go our way.

"I'm disappointed and frustrated for my players that they were put in this position. Then I heard, I’m going to have to verify, there were two substitute officials in the last minute. We study the officials just like we study the opposing team. We look at the history of how they make their calls.

"As a coach, you just want to know how they’re going to call the game to educate your players and put them in the best position possible. This is something that will be addressed in the offseason. I'll make it an issue."

Guy even questioned the physical conditioning of the referee to get in position to make the right calls.

The league office, according to Guy, has been inundated with complains from Rattlers fans.

During the game, on multiple occasions, there were chants of, "Hey, ref, you suck!"

Messages from The Republic to IFL Commissioner Mike Allshouse and head of officials Tom Falcinelli, seeking comment about how they felt the game was officiated, have not been returned.

Guy said during a Phoenix radio interview on Calling All Sports with Roc and Manuch on NBC-affiliate 1060 AM on Wednesday that he expects to be fined and that he let the league know how badly he felt the game was officiated. He said he is waiting for an answer from the league.

"It's easy for somebody to say don’t complain about the refs, you could have made more plays," Guy said. "That's easy for someone to say, but you never competed in your life. In a championship game, you expect it to be a close game. It's going to come down to five plays or less as the difference in the game. Five plays or less going to be the difference in the game when you have two quality teams. You never want it for the officials to become the story."

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him at twitter.com/azc_obert.

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