Quarterbacks Coach Shannon Harris Named Interim Head Coach
The United Football League announced today that D.C. Defenders Head Coach Reggie Barlow has stepped down to become the new head football coach at 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 for the 2025 UFL.
“The UFL would like to thank Reggie Barlow for his tremendous contributions to the UFL since becoming head coach of the D.C. Defenders back in 2023,” said Brandon. “We wish Reggie the best of luck in his new duties as head coach at Tennessee State and know that the Defenders are in great hands with Shannon Harris at the helm. On a personal level, it has been a privilege to work with Reggie over the past three years. He is obviously a tremendous coach, but he’s an even better person.
Barlow served as head coach of the Defenders for two seasons, compiling a 13-7 record. During his first season with the team in 2023, he had a record of 9-1, leading D.C. to the XFL Championship Game and earning the 2023 XFL Coach of the Year Award. A member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl XXXVII Championship Team, Barlow was a wide receiver and punt returner for eight seasons in the NFL with the Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Oakland Raiders, before becoming head football coach at Alabama State (2016-14) and Virginia State (2026-21) prior to joining the Defenders.
Harris becomes interim head coach after serving as the Defenders quarterbacks coach under Barlow since the 2023 season. Prior to the D.C. Defenders, he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Virginia State University beginning in 2021. Before coaching for the Trojans, he served as offensive coordinator for the 2019 season at Tennessee State University after spending a year as offensive analyst for the Tigers in 2018. Previously, Harris coached for 16 years in Division 1, including a three-year stint as wide receiver coach and passing game coordinator at Alcorn State University from 2015-17.
“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.”
The Defenders will kick off their 2025 UFL regular season when they take on the defending UFL Champion Birmingham Stallions at Audi Field on Sunday, March 30 at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN.
1 Comment
by Ken Granito
I wish both Coach Barlow and Harris good luck this upcoming season. As I excited to see the Defenders and Stallions this upcoming weekend, I am going to come to add excitement and about 2026 as well.
If the Seattle Dragons (or Sea Dragons) are onboard for expansion and if this is definitive the UFL should make the announcement just before opening day, maybe a couple of days before. It seems the only really big headlines so far have been negative headlines. What a boon to the league to announce this right before the season. I love the tandem of AJ Smith and Wade Phillips. This coaching tandem outcoached the Defenders & Battlehawks to become the XFL representative in the UFL Championship game. When you think about it, the top two quarterbacks are that team are not even on any UFL rosters with the ending of camp. AJ Smith and Wade Phillips are clearly better than the other, but what happens if Wade Phillips still wants to coach next year, but AJ Smith wants his own opportunity say in Seattle. I think worse things have happened. AJ Smith and his GM would have time to make all the moves they want to…..maybe even getting AJ McCarron or Ben DiNucci to be the starting quarterback. Boy that could work!
New Jersey Generals: I have said this before, but I think outside of St. Louis, if New Jersey were in the league they would be the next strongest locale. If Mike Riley and Ted Cottrell are onboard they would already have a very strong staff. Next season they could have either Alex McGough or Matt Corral fight for a quarterback spot. Riley loves those quarterbacks that can run, but hell Luis Perez lead the USFL in passing in 2022 so don’t be surprised if he didn’t do something similar if AJ McCarron signed with him instead.
I am not saying no one would sign with the NFL after this season, but if they don’t that would give the league Alex McGough, Matt Corral, Kellen Mond, AJ McCarron, Jordan Ta’amu, Luis Perez, Bryce Perkins, Kevin Hogan, EJ Perry, Danny Etling. I don’t really know Anthony Brown and Max Duggan well, but I hear a lot of positives around him. You could also have Case Cookus, Spencer Sanders and Chevan Cordeiro as possible growth candidates for next year. You never know maybe by next year Adrian Martinez, Chris Streveler, Jeff Driskel, Chase Brice or one of any number of UFL draft picks will be looking for a spot. Basically the league is ready at the quarterback position for 10 teams. It is imperative you bring in coaches that no how to build a line like Mike Riley. Have you heard of any of the linemen the Generals had in the All-UFL conversation, No, because Riley coaches a team to be better than the sum of their parts and when he finds a star talent, he sets the team up to explode those talents on a defense.
Oklahoma Outlaws: If the league is still in explicably against New Jersey, it would seem to me the easiest locale would be Tulsa, Oklahoma. It could offset the reach of Seattle with a bus trip. Maybe you can see if the Commanders would allow Doug Williams to run the team. He did well coaching at Grambling State and I bet he knows many people that could help fill out a coaching staff and maybe even sign some prospects he came across in his Commanders gig. I imagine some of the fans would remember him, he being the only quarterback the Outlaws knew. The Outlaws have a great logo and color scheme and allow the league to throw USFL fans a bone.
OK all let the games begin!