HC BARLOW LEAVES DEFENDERS ON EVE OF UFL SEASON

DC Defenders head coach Reggie Barlow has stepped down from the team just over a week before the new UFL season kicks off to become the new head football coach at Tennessee State University.

Barlow served as the Defenders’ head coach for two seasons, compiling a 13-7 record, including a 9-1 campaign that led DC to the XFL Championship Game in 2023, earning him the 2023 XFL Coach of the Year Award. A member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl XXXVII-winning team, as well as the Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders, Barlow was a wide receiver and punt returner for eight seasons in the NFL before becoming head football coach at Alabama State (2016-14) and Virginia State (2026-21) prior to joining the Defenders. UFL president/CEO Russ Brandon and EVP Daryl Johnston 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 DC Defenders back in 2023,” Brandon commented. “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.”

Harris becomes interim head coach after serving as the Defenders quarterbacks coach under Barlow since the 2023 season. Immediately prior to his stint in DC, he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Virginia State University beginning in 2021 and, before that, served as offensive coordinator for the 2019 season at Tennessee State University. Harris previously 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, giving him great experience to draw upon in his new role.

“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,” Johnston noted. “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 champion Birmingham Stallions at Audi Field on Sunday 30th March.