Photo by Derek Frazer – UltiPhotos.com
APRIL 2, 2026
By Will Stuntz
A new but familiar face will guide the DC Breeze in the future, as the organization welcomes a new coach for the 2026 season. Former Breeze player and assistant coach Xavier Maxstadt takes charge as the franchise’s fifth head coach.
Following the conclusion of DC’s 2025 season, two-year head coach Lauren Boyle and the Breeze mutually agreed to part ways. That ignited a wide coaching search for one of the top coaching positions in the sport. Ultimately, it was Maxstadt’s familiarity and drive to win the franchise’s first UFA championship that stood out.
For Maxstadt, he steps into the biggest coaching job of his career.
“It means a lot to be at that top spot,” Maxstadt, who has served as an assistant coach since 2023, said. “I’m able to have the ability to impact [winning a championship] a little bit more.”
Maxstadt joins elite company as a head coach with DC. Coaches Darryl Stanley (2017-23) and Boyle (2024-25), the two most recent head coaches of the Breeze, never missed a postseason during their tenures, and both coaches earned a regular-season division title. Both have led the franchise to the longest active postseason streak in the league (9). The team has missed only two playoffs in its 12 seasons. Despite all of this success, one accolade is still highly sought after by the Breeze: a UFA championship.
“I’m committed to helping us win a championship,” Maxstadt said. “That’s why I’ve stuck around for a while.”
Maxstadt played in the UFA for five seasons, starting in 2015 with Raleigh after playing collegiately with UNC-Wilmington. After two seasons in Raleigh, he spent one season in Pittsburgh before signing with the Breeze in 2018. In Maxstadt's two seasons with the Breeze under coach Stanley, he played in 23 games, recording 42 assists and 11 goals, which included two playoff games.
Maxstadt's most prominent professional season came in 2018. In his debut season for the Breeze, Maxstadt threw 28 assists and 288 completions on an 87.8% completion rate, while also picking up six goals.
“I definitely viewed myself more as a player,” Maxstadt said. “[Coach Stanley] saw how my brain worked in the pandemic in terms of strategy and thinking about the game.”
Maxstadt was also part of the team in 2021 as a player, but never saw the field that season due to injury. This ultimately led Maxstadt to retire from professional play.
“We decided that I couldn’t really be playing at that point,” Maxstadt said. “So [coach Stanley] decided to pull me out as an assistant coach.”
Since he retired from professional play, Maxstadt has served as an assistant coach with the Breeze for the past three seasons under two coaches. During those three seasons, the Breeze qualified for the playoffs every year, including an East Division title and UFA Championship Weekend appearance in 2024 under Boyle.
“The biggest thing I learned from her would be delegation,” Maxstadt said of Boyle. “She wanted to get as many people involved in terms of getting their voices heard.”
Going into 2026, Maxstadt wants to emphasize the Breeze’s deep game. In the 2025 season, the Breeze completed 64 hucks, the fewest in the UFA. DC also completed just 58.2% of their hucks, ranking 17th in the league. Historically, DC has been known for its small-ball approach to the professional game that started during Coach Stanley's tenure.
“The deep game was underdeveloped, and [we weren’t throwing a lot of hucks],” Maxstadt said. “On the flip side of that, we also were not good with deep defense, and with our division being the way that it is, we need to be really good.”
The East Division comprises multiple playoff-contending teams, including the New York Empire, which won back-to-back UFA championships in 2022 and 2023, and the reigning champions, the Boston Glory.
“[Including those] two, I think basically every team in our division got better,” Maxstadt said. “But at the moment we’re definitely trying to just build the best team that we can.”
With other teams in the East Division making changes, the Breeze hava also made multiple significant signings this offseason. DC has brought in notable free agent signings Sean Mott (Philadelphia Phoenix) and Billy O’Bryan (Atlanta Hustle and Tampa Bay Cannons), as well as the exciting European import Wiebe van den Brink, who one commentator referred to as “The Flying Dutchman” after an acrobatic defensive play.
“The biggest thing that [Mott] gives is his experience,” Maxstadt said. “One of the things that’s helpful with bringing people like [Mott], bringing people like Billy O’Bryan, is that they have other viewpoints of things.”
Coach Maxstadt will take the field as a head coach for the first time in the Breeze’s season opener against the Boston Glory on Saturday, April 25th, in Medford, Mass., at 7:00 p.m. ET. This matchup will mark the first of two bouts between the two teams in 2026, which could certainly have playoff implications, including home field advantage during the postseason.
