
The 2024 San Antonio Brahmas are a work in progress as they begin their first season in the newly formed UFL. After a 3-7 inaugural season in the XFL, the Brahmas were allowed to continue playing after a merger between the XFL and USFL to form the UFL. While it was a victory for the Brahmas to continue in the UFL, the move to the UFL meant that the Brahmas would undergo many changes going into the 2024 season.
Early in the process, the Brahmas announced that San Antonio would have a new head coach, Wade Phillips, coming from the XFL Houston Roughnecks and replacing former head coach Hines Ward. Next, the Brahmas had to build to start building their 2024 roster during the UFL’s three-stage player allocation process. The next step for the Brahmas required the team to move their team offices to the new UFL hub in Arlington, Texas.
During this transition process, there have been many changes, a few things staying the same, and several questions that the Brahmas have yet to answer. To help communicate the changes and answer questions about the Brahmas, head coach Wade Phillips appeared on The Blitz with Jason and Joe show in San Antonio. Some of the questions were related to the coaching staff of the Brahmas and which positions have been filled.
Current Brahmas Assistant Coaches
The current assistant coaches added to the Brahmas coaching staff come from Phillip’s 2023 Houston Roughnecks coaching staff. AJ Smith is the offensive coordinator for the Brahmas, joining Phillips from the Roughnecks 2023 staff. Payton Pardee, grandson of NFL legend Jack Pardee, was the wide receiver coach for the 2023 Roughnecks and will serve that role for the Brahmas in 2024.
Phillips is also bringing Roughnecks offensive line coach Andre Gurode to coach the San Antonio offensive line. Gurode played offensive line for the Dallas Cowboys from 2002 until 2010 and played for the Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, and Oakland Raiders. The continuity between Phillips, Gurode, Pardee, and Smith should make the transition for the Brahmas offense from the Houston offense a smoother process.
Openings On Defense And Special Teams
Phillips mentioned during the interview that he would not be bringing his former defensive coordinator, Brian Stewart, and the Brahmas currently need a special teams coordinator. The background of Brahma’s new head coach is primarily on the defensive side of the ball, but he would prefer to bring in someone to focus on defense and special teams.
Phillips’s coaching philosophy focuses on the head coach providing the overall vision for the offense, defense, and special teams coaches and units, but Phillips’ prefers to let his coaches coach. With UFL Training Camps opening in Arlington on February 24th, the Brahmas head coach has some work to do to determine who those coaches will be that he will trust with the defense and special teams units.
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