December 9, 2025
By Evan Lepler
Before the 2024 UFA season, only two teams had new head coaches, a noteworthy showcase of stability and continuity among the league’s premier strategists.
In 2025, however, nine franchises recruited new leaders, certainly a significant jump from the year before. There was also an in-season coaching change with the league’s newest team.
After all this substantial turnover, you might think that there would be fewer changes heading into 2026.
Think again.
If you haven’t noticed, we are currently in the midst of the craziest coaching carousel I can recall in my decade-plus writing this column. For all sorts of reasons, we are on the verge of at least 10 teams with new head coaches in the UFA next season.
At least four 2025 playoff teams are making changes at the top, and that’s not including Chicago, where Dave Woods stepped away after seven seasons, leaving Charlie Furse as the team’s solo Head Coach after the two shared those responsibilities last year.
Meanwhile, Austin has already announced that Casey Hogg and Joe Iannacone will lead the Sol as co-coaches in 2026. They will replace Steven Naji, who served as the sole Sol Head Coach from 2020 through 2025. This past Thursday, an emotional social media post made it clear that the switch wasn’t exactly Naji’s decision.
Along with the Sol, the Colorado Apex, DC Breeze, and Oakland Spiders are also teams that’ll have new leadership after a 2025 playoff berth, though these three teams all are replacing leaders who voluntarily stepped aside.
The newly rebranded Apex will be led by Joe Durst, who’s long been a frisbee leader in the Colorado community and will coach in the UFA for the first time in 2026. Tim Kefalas, who’s been one of the team’s head coaches since the franchise’s inception in 2022, remains as an assistant, complementing his many front office roles with the organization.
As for the Breeze and Spiders, they are two of the four UFA teams that are still searching for their new leaders, following the departures of Lauren Boyle and Caleb Merriam, respectively. For both Boyle and Merriam, various life circumstances prompted each of them to move on from their personal pursuit of UFA championships.
Among the teams that missed last year’s playoffs, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Houston, Seattle, and Vegas will all likely join the new coach parade in 2026.
The AlleyCats have already anointed Nathan Bussberg and launched an aggressive free agent signing spree, adding several notable playmakers to bolster their 2026 roster. Bussberg replaces Drew Shepherd, who led Indy for three seasons and was expecting to return for a fourth, only to see the franchise go in a different direction.
Both Pennsylvania teams also have seen transitions, with Max Barowski leaving Pittsburgh after four years and David Brandolph departing Philly after one encouraging campaign at the helm of the Phoenix. The Thunderbirds are elevating David Berg, who served as an assistant under Barowski in 2025. Berg also has experience as a player, suiting up for 12 games with the Breeze back in 2015.
In Philadelphia, the Phoenix announced Adam Callaghan as the team’s new head coach, Philly’s third different head coach in as many seasons. If nothing else, after the Phoenix did not record any Callahans in 2025, they know they’ll have at least one Callaghan in 2026.
Compared to many other teams, the Houston Havoc have had plenty of stability at the top of their organization since the franchise debuted in 2023. But Bex Forth, who’s served as the team’s head coach from the beginning, recently announced that she would not be back on the sidelines for a fourth season. That means the Havoc will have a new voice orchestrating things in 2026. All signs point to the team staying within the organization for a replacement, but nothing’s been officially announced yet.
Elsewhere, Seattle and Vegas’s head coaching jobs remain uncertain, with Kelly Johnson and Dan Silverstein, respectively, both unlikely to return in 2026. For the Cascades, their new coach will be the team’s third in as many seasons. But Seattle’s situation still seems far more stable than Vegas, where the Bighorns are looking for their third head coach after just one season in the UFA. Matt Bode led Vegas for the first three games in 2025 before choosing to step away, at which point Dan Silverstein took over for the remainder of the season. The Bighorns, who went winless in their inaugural season, will have a new division and a new head coach in 2026.
Overall, the vast coaching turnover stands in stark contrast to just a few years ago. Going into the 2024 journey, two-thirds of the league’s head coaches were in at least their third season. Now, less than one-third of the teams have that level of continuity, with 15 of the 22 franchises led by a first or second-year head coach.
There’s certainly no rule that says a team with a new coaching staff can’t win a title, but when you look at the six franchises with the longest-tenured coaches, you see many of the league’s mainstay contenders. San Diego and Minnesota are the only two organizations who’ve had the same head coach since before the Covid pandemic. In 2026, Kevin Stuart will enter his 12th season leading the Growlers—alongside Kaela Helton, who’s been co-Head Coach since 2022—and Minnesota’s Ben Feldman will begin his eighth season at the helm of the Wind Chill.
The next two longest tenures belong to Boston’s Sam Rosenthal, who begins his sixth season with the Glory in ’26, and New York’s Anthony Nuñez, who’s been at least a co-Head Coach of the Empire every year this decade. Matt Stevens, who’s also New York’s GM and a former Empire player, joins Nuñez as a co-Head Coach for the second straight season.
After Boston and New York, Salt Lake’s Bryce Merrill and Atlanta’s Tuba Benson-Jaja are next in terms of head coaching experience, entering their fifth and fourth seasons, respectively. By any measure, the Shred and Hustle, who both fell short in the semifinals this past season, have been among the league’s most consistent contenders this decade, though both franchises are still hunting for their first UFA championship.
It is worth keeping an eye on the five teams with second-year head coaches in 2026. Along with the aforementioned Chicago Union, who have Furse entering his second year—but first solo season—Carolina, Madison, Montreal, and Toronto also have second-year leaders. Michael Avila returns for the Flyers, as do Jacob Spiro with the Radicals, Jean-Levy Champagne with the Royal, and Jamie Millage with the Rush. Whereas Chicago’s trying to follow up an undefeated regular season, the other four franchises in this group feel like they could all potentially make big leaps next summer.
Of course, the entire landscape only grows more competitive each and every year, and whether a team has experienced or new leaders at the top, success generally boils down to who’s on the field rather than who’s calling the plays. The latter is definitely important, but virtually every coach would agree that players are ultimately the biggest reason why games end in victory or defeat.
