Ranking UFL Head Coach Hires for 2026

Just before the calendar turned to 2026, the UFL managed to officially announce all eight of its head coaches for the upcoming 2026 season. Below, I’ve ranked the hires from strongest to weakest, explaining the ranking, and the positives and negatives that come with each.

1. Anthony Becht, Orlando Storm

Why he’s ranked here: Though light on experience when he was hired to head the St. Louis Battlehawks of the XFL in 2023, Becht led the team to three winning seasons and two playoff berths during that time. The league has relocated him to the expansion Storm, closer to Becht’s home in Florida. He’s the only one on this list with a proven track record of winning across multiple seasons at the spring football level. That familiarity should help him in building his new team.

Possible strengths: Becht’s enthusiasm and presence on social media helped energize the St. Louis fanbase and should help him do the same in Orlando. He has shown the ability to build competent coaching staffs filled with ex-NFL players and could bring some of them over to Orlando from last year’s St. Louis staff. In a year when all rosters will be rebuilt, that continuity could give him an advantage. The connections he’s made as a spring football coach – and having seen from a field-level a lot of the players that will be eligible to be drafted – will also come in handy. Some coaches have struggled with the different rules and timing of the UFL game; while some of those rules may change, Becht’s in-game management should be a step above many of his competitors because of his familiarity with that set-up over the past few years.

Possible pitfalls: A lot of the advantages Becht would’ve had are out the window with this league-wide reset. The St. Louis roster that he and general manager Dave Boller assembled is gone and while he may be able to bring some of them to Orlando, much of the roster will be different. Though Becht reached the playoffs the last two years (and should have in XFL 2023), he’s failed to get out of the semifinals both times. Becht has made no secret of his desire to advance up the coaching ladder, meaning he may only be here for a short time.

2. Shannon Harris, D.C. Defenders

Why he’s ranked here: Harris defied all expectations in 2025 when he took over on an interim basis after Defenders head coach Reggie Barlow bolted for Tennessee State just before the UFL regular season opened. He not only led the Defenders to the playoffs but won the UFL Championship, overcoming the additional adversity of losing assistant coaches during the season. Harris embodies the attitude and swagger cultivated by Barlow, former general manager Von Hutchins and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams in D.C.

Possible strengths: Walking into the building on day one as a UFL champion will help Harris win over the new players he’ll be going into battle with in 2026. He learned from an excellent coach in Barlow and will continue to follow that lead. As the only head coach returning to the team he led in 2025, that continuity could be helpful in the community. Though we don’t know what the atmosphere will be like in the new cities and stadiums, playing at Audi Field has given D.C. a distinct homefield advantage the last few years, and that could continue in 2026.

Possible pitfalls: Harris surprised everyone with the success he had in 2025; the difficulty will come in repeating it as full-time head coach. Many of the assistants that were in place for Barlow last season left with him for Tennessee State; how Harris fills out his staff this season, the first time he’ll get to hand-pick his staff, will be key. He won’t have the roster he had last year, so we’ll have to see how well Harris is able to identify talent. As co-offensive coordinator at Tennessee State this past fall, the Tigers finished last in the conference in offense, showing that UFL magic didn’t rub off on his college football work.

3. Rick Neuheisel, Dallas Renegades

Why he’s ranked here: A bit of a surprise hire because of his lack of ties to the area, Neuheisel nevertheless brings a wealth of coaching experience to the UFL in 2026, following in the footsteps of another successful college football coach in Bob Stoops, who retired this off-season. At 64 years old, he’ll be the elder statesmen of the head coaches in the league this season.

Possible strengths: Perhaps Neuheisel’s greatest strength will be the breadth of his experience: He’s coached at the major college level as well as in the NFL and spring football with the AAF Arizona Hotshots in 2019. This gives him the contacts to put together a top-notch assistant coach staff, which will be critical to developing players for the NFL as new UFL owner Mike Repole has emphasized since taking over. The fact that he has been head coach at the pro level (albeit for just eight games) is meaningful in terms of developing practice plans, understanding gameday situations, and all the intricacies of the job many don’t think about.

Possible pitfalls: Neuheisel has been out of coaching since that eight-game stint with the Hotshots in 2019 and a lot has changed in how pro football (and its players) has advanced since then (though Neuheisel has stayed connected as a broadcaster). He has already hinted at looking to recruit some of his former Hotshots staff members to join him in Dallas, though many of them have been out as long as Neuheisel. The lack of local connection may not engage the Dallas fanbase the way the hires around the rest of the league could do, affecting attendance and negating any potential home-field advantage.

4. Ricky Proehl, St. Louis Battlehawks

Why he’s ranked here: The first first-time head coach in the rankings, Proehl’s hire is more akin to those made by the XFL in 2023, bringing in notable former pro players with limited assistant coaching backgrounds. After retiring from the NFL, Proehl was an assistant with the Carolina Panthers from 2011-2016 before becoming a receivers coach on Becht’s first Battlehawks staff in 2023.

Possible strengths: A member of the St. Louis Rams Greatest Show on Turf championship team in 1999, Proehl’s hire eases the pain of losing Becht to another UFL squad. His local ties are strong because of his playing days. Even though he’s never been a head coach, those Super Bowl rings will give him credibility with his players from the jump. Proehl can draw from notable head coaches he played under like Mike Martz and Tony Dungy, in addition to Ron Rivera, who led the Panthers when he was an assistant. His time with top coaches and top teams should give him a nice Rolodex of potential assistants to draw from.

Possible pitfalls: As with any other first-time head coach, concerns about running a training camp, hiring the right assistants, and in-game management will all be under a microscope. There are high expectations that come with running the St. Louis UFL franchise and he’ll be charged with stopping the attendance bleeding the team faced in 2025. With so many players that have played with the team for the last three seasons now up for grabs, how will fans respond to another reset?

5. Kevin Sumlin, Houston Gamblers

Why he’s ranked here: Returning to the Gamblers after going 3-7 as the team’s head coach in the USFL in 2022, Sumlin replaces Curtis Johnson, who took over in 2023 when Sumlin left to join the staff of the Maryland Terrapins. He was out of coaching this past season after being with the Terps for two years. Sumlin returns to Houston, where he coached the college team for four seasons.

Possible strengths: In coaching the Gamblers the first time around, Sumlin was combination head coach/general manager. So, unlike many others on this list, that experience as well as being a college head coach and having to identify talent, gives him an advantage when it comes to finding the right players for his team (depending upon how much say head coaches will have in player acquisition). Sumlin was a winner in his first two stops, at Houston and Texas A&M, where he won 67% of his games. Given his four decades of coaching in college football, he should have no trouble finding capable assistants and running a program.

Possible pitfalls: Houston has been given the run-around by spring football for the past several years; it may be the softest market in the UFL entering 2026. Can Sumlin be a difference-maker in that regard? In his first stint as Houston Gamblers head coach, the team played their home games in Birmingham. While Sumlin’s record at Houston and Texas A&M was excellent, his last college stop, at Arizona, saw him produce a 9-20 record across two-and-a-half seasons, and he went 3-7 with the Gamblers in 2022.

6. Chris Redman, Louisville Kings

Why he’s ranked here: In some ways, you could put Redman, Ted Ginn, and A.J. McCarron into a hat and pull them out in any order. A backup NFL quarterback for a decade after a successful four-year career at Louisville, Redman was a third-round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens in 2000. He won a Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2001. He was not solely a clipboard-holder, as he threw 500 passes at the NFL level. He’s been an assistant high school coach for two years.

Possible strengths: The most important position in football is quarterback, and that position is even more important in spring football, where the options for top talent are much more limited. Redman’s time as a QB will come in handy when he submits the names of those to potentially lead the Kings from under center in 2026. Backup QBs in the NFL have a lot of coach-like duties, so his time in that role may come in handy here.

Possible pitfalls: Being an assistant in high school is a long way from being the leader of a pro football team, even in the UFL. The added pressure of heading an expansion team and having to be the face of the franchise for a city is a lot of pressure. Like others in his shoes, the choice of assistants could make-or-break the season for Redman and the Kings.

7. Ted Ginn Jr., Columbus Aviators

Why he’s ranked here: It should come as no surprise that a former Ohio State Buckeye was tabbed to lead the new Columbus franchise. Ginn was an out-of-left-field selection, however. A former NFL first-round draft pick, Ginn played for 13 seasons in the NFL after excelling at OSU and being named a three-time First-Team All-American.

Possible strengths: Ginn is just a few years removed from his playing days, which allows him relate to the current day athlete a lot better than some of his contemporaries. His NFL Draft pedigree and time in the NFL will give him credibility with his squad right away, even with his thin coaching resume. Though that coaching resume is thin, his father has been a long-time high school football and track coach in Cleveland, so coaching is in his blood.

Possible pitfalls: Ginn would’ve been an interesting choice as a receivers coach or other offensive assistant but throwing him into the deep end of the pool as head coach doesn’t seem wise. The unknown here, like what kind of coach he’ll be, what kind of schemes he wants to run, and basically everything about this situation is what makes it difficult to rank him any higher.

8. A.J. McCarron, Birmingham Stallions

Why he’s ranked here: No stranger to spring football fans, McCarron was the Battlehawks quarterback for two seasons before he was jettisoned in favor of Manny Wilkins. He didn’t take that well. A huge success at Alabama, McCarron’s NFL career never reached those heights, and he bounced around the league as a backup for nine years. McCarron dropped out of the race for Alabama lieutenant governor in order to take this now full-time gig.

Possible strengths: His biggest strength may be his time playing for one of the all-time greatest college head coaches in Nick Saban. There’s no telling what kind of coach McCarron will be, but Saban will no doubt have some level of influence, as well as his coordinators there in Jim McElwain and Doug Nussmeier. McCarron has won everywhere he’s been a starter, from being a three-time national champion in college to going 12-5 as a starter with St. Louis. Like Ginn, McCarron only recently stepped away from the game so there won’t be a culture shock in terms of appealing to the players of today. Of the coaches with local ties, fewer are stronger than McCarron in Birmingham. As a former QB at the highest levels of the game, it should give him a big picture feel for running a team.

Potential pitfalls: The complete lack of coaching experience, for one. There were rumors that McCarron was not exactly well-liked among his Battlehawks teammates in his time there, exemplified by the fact that few came out publicly to support him during his bitter breakup with the team. Birmingham fans already feel pushed around by Repole and now McCarron has to step in and fill the shoes of Skip Holtz, a beloved figure among the base and a three-time spring league champion.