After Reggie Barlow left the DC Defenders last year to become head coach of Tennessee State, offensive coordinator Shannon Harris stepped in as interim head coach, with many UFL fans not believing in the team. Harris made sure to make a loud statement.
Harris took a 4-6 team from 2024 and turned them into a 6-4 playoff team that made an incredible run to win the UFL Championship for the first time. After the season, Harris had the interim tag removed and was named the Defenders' head coach.
He was one of two coaches from last season that was brought back to the UFL for the 2026 season. Now entering his first full training camp in that role, Harris took time to speak with the media at the UFL Media Day to discuss a variety of topics about the team, the league, and himself.
What's different about the 2026 DC Defenders from the 2025 team?
The first question UFL NewsHub had a chance to ask Harris was about the key differences between this year's team and the one that beat the Michigan Panthers in the UFL title game. Harris has noticed a difference in the players' focus as the team has moved on quickly from 2025.
"The biggest thing is that, of course, you got a lot of new faces, right? The biggest thing is we've kept some core pieces there, not just from player, but from coaching standpoint. These guys coming in hungry, knowing that winning a Championship, new guys coming here has been set and letting them know that the standards are the standards. Look, we can't come in here and think it's smooth sailing. We're going to be a hard-working team. We're still going to be physical. We're still going to be a tough team. We're still going to be violent in our style of play. We don't settle for just coming in here being mediocre. You got to come in with the right mindset, man, and just work mentality. We're a blue-collar type team. We don't glamor over all the things that we did It was really last season. Last season is last season that's over with. We know that we're in a new season, and there's a huge bullseye on our back, but we still going to approach it all as we're the hunter."
Mike Repole's arrival has gotten Shannon Harris and the players' attention
Arguably, the biggest story for the UFL was the arrival of new co-owner Mike Repole, who helped the league take the next step in its evolution with a new business structure and approach. Harris shared how it has been going with Repole so far.
"He's brought a lot of new energy into the league. I love his approach. I love his thought process and where he wants to take the lead. Everyone from all teams, the coaches and guys on our staff, the players, they see the things he talk about. He's heavily involved social media when he gets to talk about these things. The players love it. They love what he's bringing from that aspect."
Shannon Harris on lessons learned from the 2025 season as head coach
Harris was kind of thrown into the fire when he took over for Barlow, just mere days from the opening week of the 2025 season. UFL NewsHub asked him about what lessons he learned from last season that he can apply to his first full training camp as head coach.
"I tell you, man, there's a whole lot more game management stuff that goes on with every game, and even more now, with some of the new rule changes. Last season, you just get involved with it, and you just hit the ground running. You don't know that you don't know. You know what I mean? And so this year, you go back and process all the information, gather all the information from everyone. So now it's more of try to be more attention to detail oriented, try to always make sure we get our in the right position. There's a few things that I didn't know last year that I know now with certain rules and just game clock management and all that stuff. As I was learning throughout the course, you think you know, but being a quarterback and playing quarterback, you get an opportunity to go through all these situations all the time. But there are so many other things that you have to think about that I didn't get to think about last year. But now, as I've been having offseason and I got a chance to think about all this stuff, I think we didn't do this, we didn't do that. You know what I mean? So now I get a chance to think on all that stuff, which helped me be better and be more efficient."
How Shannon Harris feels about being back in the UFL
The league underwent major changes to its head coaching staff, with a greater focus on local ties. Harris and Orlando Storm head coach Anthony Becht were the only coaches brought back from last year's 2025 UFL season. For Harris, he's not just happy for himself to be back in the league again for another year.
"Yeah, blessed for sure. Definitely don't take these opportunities from granted. For him to have the belief in me to come back and take DC back to where we want to go. Just that vision along, again, you don't take it for granted, but make you want to work even harder to give it an opportunity. Our coaches, man, again, it wasn't so much for me that I was more thankful for. It was more so for them to give them that opportunity to be back as well. Our support staff, the people that came in with us, because you never know how it may go. New coaches come in, they want to bring all their people in in all aspects, and then for our players, too. We brought back a lot of great core players, but Lord knows what would have happened with new coaches and all that stuff. These guys may not have that opportunity."
Outlook on how the Defenders have been structured in 2026
Most UFL teams saw two-thirds of their rosters moved around, with more focus on local-area players. Harris and his Defenders, while keeping many key players, went through those bumps and bruises like the other seven UFL teams. When asked about which new players on the roster have stood out to him, Harris couldn't pick one, but he likes all the new competition being brought in.
"To be honest, I can't pinpoint just one. One thing we did was create a lot of competition. If It's hard for me to just say one dude. You know what I mean? If you just look at our roster, I think we've done a great job of strategically picking these guys, and it definitely has created a ton of competition."
The Defenders are going to be early favorites to win the UFL title in 2026, and Harris is a massive reason for that to be the case.