While the 2026 UFL season did not end in a United Bowl championship win, no one can deny that DC Defenders head coach Shannon Harris is off to a fantastic start to his head coaching career.
Just mere days before the 2025 season started, former Defenders head coach Reggie Barlow bolted to take over the Tennessee State football program, leaving Harris to be named as the interim head coach. Many thought that wasn’t going to bode well for a team that didn’t make the playoffs in 2024, but it turned out to be the opposite, as the Defenders went 6-4 and took down arguably the two best teams in the UFL, the St. Louis Battlehawks and Michigan Panthers, to win the UFL title. Harris also won UFL Coach of the Year for his accomplishments that year.
This past season almost felt like it was going to end the same way, but Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta’amu’s injury complicated things, and DC still finished 5-5 and made the playoffs. After an upset win over the regular season’s top team, the Orlando Storm, the Defenders fell short 27-20 in the United Bowl against the Louisville Kings, ending the season on a disappointing note for Harris, who still had a great season.
Where does Shannon Harris stack up against the best modern spring football head coaches?
Looking at Harris’ first two seasons as head coach in the UFL, he has compiled an 11-9 regular season record and gone 3-1 in the postseason. Harris currently owns the UFL record for most playoff wins by a head coach with three, as he leads former Birmingham Stallions head coach Skip Holtz by one.
No matter what happens, most UFL fans would agree that Holtz is by far the best head coach in modern spring football history since the AAF in 2019. He was 33-7 in the regular season and 6-1 in the postseason, so he will be holding that top spot for a long time.
Another former UFL head coach to consider is Michigan Panthers head coach Mike Nolan, who went 17-13 from 2023 through 2025 and took his team to the postseason every season. He only went 1-3 in the postseason and made the championship game once in 2025, where he lost to Harris’ Defenders in a blowout.
The real debate is whether Harris is better than Storm head coach Anthony Becht. During his four-year run, Becht is 30-10 in the regular season, which compares with Holtz, but is 0-3 in the postseason. That’s where the real questions pop up.
Based on what Harris has done over the years, it might be too soon to put him in the conversation at number two, but he comes very close. The argument could be made that Harris’ teams are more disciplined in the playoffs than Becht’s team.
There is also part of the argument on how many players Becht and Harris have gotten into the NFL. In 2025, Harris got nine players to the NFL, while Becht got seven from his Battlehawks team. So far this year, Harris also has the advantage with two, while Becht only has one.
It’s a fascinating debate for UFL fans to have, but Harris has a legitimate argument to potentially be number two on the modern spring football head coach rankings.