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The Houston Roughnecks have a new general manager in place leading into the 2025 UFL season. The question is now whether they will also have a new head coach.
Although it’s expected that many of the UFL’s head coaches from 2024 will return for the league’s follow-up season, all league coaches saw their contracts expire on June 30. The general idea is that returning head coaches will be back on the clock contractually in January, but until then, changes can’t be ruled out.
Coaches like Roughnecks head coach Curtis Johnson are in limbo. As a result, the waiting period gives the United Football League’s top brass time to pivot if they choose.
UFL General Managers are full-time employees, something that will help in the transition process toward 2025 where teams will be drafting college rookies, along with players released at final NFL cuts.
The league GMs are one-person scouting departments handed the challenging task of shaping rosters. However, the key part is fine-tuning a roster compatible with the coaching staff. Therein lies the rub. Who will these GMs be drafting for?
The well-respected Will Lewis has four decades of experience in the pro ranks as a player, coach and executive. He has played and worked for multiple NFL teams in various roles. However, his extensive experience in non-NFL leagues is of the utmost value.
Since the early 1980s, Lewis has been a part of the original USFL, CFL, World League of American Football, AAF and two different iterations of the XFL. It’s the latter part, that holds the most significance heading into this offseason.
Lewis’s ties in the spring pro football world could lead him to connections with coaches from his recent past.
Among them are two head coaches who have ties to the Houston area and one who has familiarity with the Roughnecks brand, something that is in desperate need of repair after averaging just over 7,000 fans per game at Rice Stadium.
There’s longtime veteran June Jones, who last led the Roughnecks to a 5-0 mark before play was suspended in the XFL four years ago. It’s no secret that the former SMU and Hawaii coach coveted a potential return to the helm of Houston before Wade Phillips got that job in 2023. Jones ended up settling for an offensive coordinator position with Seattle in 2023 before retiring last offseason.
Lewis was assistant GM under Randy Mueller when Jones last led Houston, so there’s built-in familiarity there.
Then there’s NFL Hall of Famer and former Memphis Express head coach Mike Singletary. The gridiron great is a Houston-born and bred native who was a standout at Baylor University. Singletary worked in tandem with Lewis in the AAF.
The hiring of Singletary or Jones would certainly aid the Roughnecks brand locally. But they are not the only options the UFL should consider if they decide to make a change at head coach. San Antonio Brahmas offensive coordinator A.J. Smith, who was an assistant with Houston back in 2020, would represent a fresh face for the Roughnecks. Likewise, so would highly respected assistants in the spring pro football coaching realm such as former Pittsburgh Maulers defensive coordinator Jarren Horton.
The UFL could run it back at head coach in Houston, but the league could use some fresh new blood to lead the beleaguered Roughnecks back to relevance.
You can find Mike Mitchell on X @ByMikeMitchell.
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