Anthony Becht Announces Coaching Changes for UFL Battlehawks’ 2025 Season
Image via Instagram @uflbattlehawks
The expectations for the Battlehawks in 2025 are extremely high. After missing out on the playoffs in 2023, and an underwhelming 2024 the UFL’s most heavily supported team was outfitted with a “reload” for the upcoming season.
While the departure (or release) of fan favorite, and arguably the league's “2nd” most marketable player A.J. McCarron was expected (to some), the recent resignation of Offensive Coordinator Bruce Gradkowski was a bit unplanned, as the Two-year Offensive Coordinator opted to join the Detroit Lions as an Offensive Assistant for 2025.
With UFL players and coaches scheduled to report in less than Two weeks to training camp, the team was left with several unknowns, and not a lot of time to fill the void.
It wasn’t until February 19th, that the Battlehawks PR announced that the team would be promoting 2nd-year coach Phil McGeoghan, and hiring Seneca Wallace as their QB Coach. While many fans may “love” the hiring/promotion, does this fill the void left by Gradkowski and McCarron?
What We Know:
We know McGeoghan is a first-time Offensive Coordinator, who served as the Assistant-Head Coach to Karl Dorrell at Colorado prior to working with the Battlehawks. Dorrell was an Offensive Mind Head Coach who served as an Offensive Coordinator for a combined Seven Seasons between Northern Arizona, Colorado, Washington, and Vanderbilt. With McGeoghan serving on Dorrell’s staff in the intimate position he’s in, is it possible that it could have streamlined his development to call plays?
We know that none of the current members (OL Coach Marc Columbo included) of the Battlehawks Offensive Staff has called plays before. RB Coach Kyle Caskey has served as the Battlehawks Special Teams Coordinator, but Marc Columbo and newly hired QB Coach Seneca Wallace have been positional assistants in their coaching career so far.
We know that the Battlehawks QB room is full of questions going into 2025. With the trifecta of Duggan, Cordeiro, and Wilkins St. Louis does not have a clear-cut starter for the upcoming season. While Duggan possesses plenty of hype for the incoming season, fans of Alt-Football have seen plenty of “polished” college stars like Aaron Murray, Matt McGloin, Connor Cook, and Paxton Lynch fall into void by Quarterbacks with way less star power.
More Questions Than Answers:
Many Battlehawks fans, though saddened by the release of McCarron, probably felt a lot better about the move with Gradkowski still in the “building”. Consistency is key in football, and having Gradkowski go into his Third season with the team, building on his experience with his playbook, and a whole off-season to evaluate and re-tool would have done wonders to shorten the learning curve for Duggan and Cordeiro, in addition to helping Manny Wilkins develop. With the 2024 “battery” of QB and OC demolished Battlehawks fans go into week 1 of the UFL season with way more questions than answers.
It could also create a power struggle within the “building” as well. While McGeoghan is an accomplished coach at the Wide Receiver position, the ability to run your room compared to your side of the ball is a completely different dynamic. How involved will Coach Anthony Becht be in the Offense during game day? How will Quarterbacks respond to a coach who's never been in their shoes? Will Wallace, who as a career backup QB has played a huge role in game planning and mentoring younger QBs have the room to gravitate towards him instead?
Coaching changeover is never fun at any level of football, especially in the professional ranks. Recently in 2023, the Orlando Guardians hired Robert Ford, a long time WR Coach as their Offensive Coordinator. Despite serving as a position coach for since 1973, Ford had never been an Offensive Coordinator and would ultimately be demoted/replaced by former NFL QB Shane Matthews who had NFL playing experience as a Backup QB, and HS Offensive Coordinator.
Closing Thoughts:
While no one wants McGeoghan to fail, the hiring could lead to some finger pointing if the Battlehawks regress in 2025. With several new pieces in the Battlehawks WR room and Offense as a whole the QB/OC changeover will receive heightened attention this season, especially with the City of St. Louis’ support behind the team.
The Battlehawks have retained pieces like Hakeem Butler, and Jahcour Pearson while adding established NFL players like Denzel Mims and Andy Isabella. With expectations high, McGeoghan walks into a situation with the pieces to succeed however, he will need to develop the right strategy to turn potential into reality.
A quote that I have found relevant in these situations is “When the pressure is on, you don’t rise to the occasion—you fall to your highest level of preparation.” For McGeoghan and his Offense, the pressure is definitely on for the Battlehawks as they are primed to begin the season in Houston on March 28th, with hopes of making a championship run.
