Early last month, the UFL announced a first of its kind expansion, set for Oklahoma City in 2028. Modern day spring football has never expanded beyond the league's original number of teams. It's expected that a second city will be announced in the near future, bringing the number of franchises set to play in 2028 to 10. Though kickoff is almost two years away, the league should be thinking about hiring a head coach as soon as possible. That someone can be the public face of the team, do local media, and make appearances to make sure people in Oklahoma City are aware of this move. Below is a list of potential head coaches, based in part on the UFL's hiring preferences under new ownership.
-Bob Stoops: Perhaps no other name is as associated with Oklahoma football as Big Game Bob. Stoops is a College Football Hall-of-Famer in large part due to his 18 seasons leading the University of Oklahoma, including to a National Championship. No stranger to spring football, Stoops coached the Dallas/Arlington Renegades for four years as well. Having someone with that experience would be valuable for an expansion team, but more than that, having someone with his kind of name recognition in the community would be huge. It would obviously be a short-term hire - maybe for a year or two - but those are the most critical years in building the infrastructure of a successful franchise.
-Mike Gundy: Dismissed as head coach at Oklahoma State in 2025 after more than 20 seasons at the helm, Gundy didn't immediately jump to another job for 2026. If the 58-year-old is looking for something a little less taxing, but still involved in football, the UFL might be the right thing for him. Gundy has a personality that would be a nice fit for a league like this and like Stoops, is well-known throughout the state. He and Stoops may be a little more high-profile (read: expensive) than the UFL is looking for given the hires made for the 2026 season. Nevertheless, they both check the boxes of having strong ties to the local market.
-Landry Jones: Hat tip to fellow UFL News Hub writer Pat Rifino for putting this one on my radar. Jones was one of the more prominent quarterbacks acquired to play in XFL 2020, doing so for the Stoops-coached Renegades. Jones was a QB for Stoops at Oklahoma from 2008-2012 and spent a few years in the NFL after being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 4th round. Jones just recently began coaching at the college level, hired as an offensive analyst at the University of Tennessee in January of 2025. That's already more coaching experience than some current UFL head coaches had when they were hired, so that should not be a deterrent.
-Kevin Wilson: Wilson's hire would be in the vein of Rick Neuheisel, an experienced college assistant and head coach. At Oklahoma, Wilson was offensive coordinator for several years under Stoops. He parlayed that experience to head coaching stops at Indiana, then Tulsa. His style of offense would suit a spring league like the UFL. He's currently an offensive assistant at Oklahoma, a vague enough position that he could leave to join the UFL without much of an issue.
-Mike Stoops: Currently a defensive analyst at Ole Miss, Stoops is the younger brother of Bob. He had two separate stints as an assistant at the University of Oklahoma as associate head coach, co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. The UFL and Mike Repole's emphasis on offense and scoring points may cause them to avoid hiring head coaches with defensive backgrounds. Stoops's head coach experience includes eight years leading the University of Arizona football program.
-Corey Chamblin: Spring football has not done a great job of promoting from within, rewarding its assistants with head coaching positions. Part of that is because of the stop-and-start nature of such leagues. However, when six new coaches were needed for 2026, none came from previous UFL staffs. If Repole and others aren't able to find a suitable head coach with Oklahoma ties, they could decide to promote an assistant. Right now, Chamblin's St. Louis defense has been one of the strongest units in the UFL. The bonus is he has previous head coaching experience in the CFL.