The United Football League on Wednesday named its head coaches for three 2027 markets, pairing familiar faces with relocated rosters as the spring league expands into Rhode Island and Colorado and reshuffles the Dallas sideline.
AJ McCarron will take the new Rhode Island franchise. Rick Neuheisel will return to Colorado to run that expansion club. Kevin Sumlin will become head coach of the Dallas Renegades.
The league is also moving intact 2026 rosters with those coaches. Birmingham’s Stallions players will follow McCarron to Rhode Island. The Dallas Renegades roster will travel with Neuheisel to Colorado. Houston’s Gamblers roster will move with Sumlin into Dallas. Officials framed the realignment as a way to keep player-coach continuity while giving the new markets established personnel rather than a blank slate.
“The UFL’s growth is about more than adding teams — it’s about building football communities that fans can connect with from day one,” UFL President and CEO Russ Brandon said. He pointed to each coach’s résumé and market ties, and to the returning 2026 talent as a foundation for Rhode Island, Colorado and Dallas.
The moves follow a 2026 season the league described as stronger at the gate and on television, with multiple games topping one million viewers, higher ticket sales and a sold-out United Bowl. The UFL also continued to sell itself as an NFL feeder: 118 former UFL players reached NFL training camps last cycle, and 46 landed on active rosters or practice squads.
Rhode Island and Colorado fans will get their first look at the new brands next month. The Rhode Island name, colors, logos and identity will be unveiled Sunday, Oct. 18, at Centreville Bank Stadium. Colorado’s brand drop is set for Sunday, Oct. 25, at Weidner Field in Colorado Springs. Both events are public, and the league said 2027 season-ticket deposits will be available on site.
**McCarron to Rhode Island**
McCarron is entering his second season as a UFL head coach after running Birmingham in 2026. A three-time national champion at Alabama, he spent eight years in the NFL after Cincinnati drafted him in the fifth round in 2014, then became one of the UFL’s most productive quarterbacks with the St. Louis Battlehawks. In the 2023 XFL Legacy season he led the league in passing touchdowns (24), completion percentage (68.8) and passer rating (108.4), and he guided the Battlehawks to the 2024 UFL playoffs.
A Mobile, Alabama, native, McCarron said New England’s intensity is part of the draw.
“New England fans are some of the most passionate fans in all of sports, and that passion is something I’m really excited to experience firsthand,” he said. “Rhode Island has a proud sports culture and a fan base that appreciates teams that give everything they have every time they step on the field. I’m excited to bring this group to Rhode Island, rally this community around its new team and give these fans a team they can be proud to call their own.”
**Neuheisel back in Colorado**
Neuheisel spent 2026 with Dallas and now takes that roster west. His first head-coaching job was at Colorado from 1995 to 1998, where he went 33-14, won a Cotton Bowl in his first season and finished No. 4 nationally in 1996 after another 10-2 year and another Cotton Bowl win.
A Rose Bowl Hall of Famer, Neuheisel quarterbacked UCLA to the 1983 Pac-10 title and a 45-8 Rose Bowl win over Illinois in 1984. He later played in the USFL and NFL before coaching Washington and UCLA as well. His college head-coaching record is 87-59. He has worked as a CBS college football analyst since 2015.
“Colorado has always held a special place in my heart,” Neuheisel said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for the football culture and the people of this state, and I’m excited to return. Colorado Springs has always meant a lot to me — I’ve brought my staff here in the past, and now getting to call it home makes this even more meaningful.”
**Sumlin stays in Texas — now Dallas**
Sumlin coached the Houston Gamblers in 2026 and will bring that roster to the Renegades. A longtime college coach with deep Texas ties, he went 35-17 in four seasons at Houston, then 51-26 in six seasons at Texas A&M, including an 11-2 first year, a Cotton Bowl win and the 2012 SEC Coach of the Year award. He later coached Arizona from 2018 to 2020. At Houston he won Conference USA West titles in 2009 and 2011 and was league coach of the year both seasons; the 2011 Cougars finished 12-1 and reached No. 6 in the AP poll.
“To continue coaching in Texas, especially in a market like DFW, is exciting for my family and me,” Sumlin said. “This state is football country. The passion, the tradition and the way people in Texas embrace the game is unlike anywhere else. To have the opportunity to coach in the Metroplex, the home market of the UFL, is a tremendous honor.”
The league’s message is straightforward: expansion without starting from zero. Coaches who already know their players, markets that get a ready-made roster, and two public brand launches in October to put names and colors on the new Rhode Island and Colorado teams before the 2027 season.
