With the UFL 2025 season just days away, in a surprising turn, DC Defenders head coach Reggie Barlow left the league to take a head coaching position with Tennessee State University. UFL President & CEO Russ Brandon and UFL Executive Vice President Daryl Johnston have named Defenders Quarterbacks Coach Shannon Harris as interim head coach. But now there is a twist.
As reported by Mike Organ of The Tennessean he will be binging a lot of his staff from the DC Defenders.
Barlow said he will bring most of his staff from the DC Defenders to TSU; most of George's staff followed him to Bowling Green. Those coming with Barlow to Nashville include former TSU offensive coordinator Fred Kaiss, former TSU quarterback and offensive coordinator Shannon Harris, and former TSU offensive line coach Russ Ehrenfeld.
What is even more interested in Barlow leaving the UFL so close to the season, is he is going into a school that has its own financial problems.
TSU has undergone extensive staff cuts and layoffs while dealing with financial shortcomings and a drop in enrollment. The school is awaiting state approval to repurpose $154.5 million in state funds intended to help steer the school out of its current conundrum.
Barlow, 53, accepted the job fully aware of the school's financial challenges.
From the optics of this, it looks like a job at a financial struggling Tennessee State University pays better than a UFL head coaching job. We assume all the coaches will be paid year round with full health benefits, something the UFL does not offer its coaches. The Tigers play in in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Did the UFL know this was going to happen? This was from the leagues official press release.
“Coach Harris has the respect of the coaches and players throughout the entire UFL, as well as every coach that he worked with for two decades at the collegiate level,” said Johnston. “When Coach Barlow informed us that he was becoming head coach at Tennessee State, we knew that Coach Harris would be the right person to step in and continue the culture that Reggie Barlow built with the Defenders.”
Barlow Taking His Coaching Staff
In a press conference yesterday, coach Barlow reiterated that he will be taking his DC Defenders staff after the 2025 UFL season saying
as soon as this deal is over with DC.
The DC Defenders will have a new staff after the 2025 season. Will Defensive Coordinator Greg Williams return as head coach? Will Von Hutchens return as GM. It would be great to see DC go out big for the 2025 season and win it all.
But I can't help but wonder, if the United Football League and its corporate owners worth billions of dollars, paid better, would he not have left.