AJ McCarron is returning to the UFL in 2026. This time, it won’t be as a quarterback.

McCarron will be coaching the Birmingham Stallions for the 2026 UFL season. He was hired during the offseason to replace Skip Holtz after the three-time spring-league champion stepped down from his post.

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McCarron’s role with the Stallions will be his first-ever as a coach. The 35-year-old only finished his playing career in 2024 – his final season with the St. Louis Battlehawks – but will be tasked with maintaining the consistent excellence Birmingham achieved under Holtz.

While McCarron doesn’t have coaching experience, his former coach with the Battlehawks – Anthony Becht – believes the Alabama product has the traits to quickly establish himself as a successful UFL coach.

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2026 NFL offseason tracker: Player signings, tradesWhy Anthony Becht believes AJ McCarron can succeed as UFL coach

Becht – who now coaches one of the UFL’s newly relocated teams, the Orlando Storm – praised McCarron during a recent interview with USA TODAY Sports.

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The 48-year-old lauded McCarron’s “championship pedigree” at Alabama and his nine NFL seasons as experience he can draw on as he adjusts to his new role.

“He’s a competitor. He’s very smart,” Becht told USA TODAY Sports of McCarron. “Obviously, getting in front of the team and being that kind of a leader is something that the quarterback has to do.”

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Becht also noted McCarron is unique among the UFL’s current coaches in that he has played in the spring football league. He was the Battlehawks’ primary starter during the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and Becht believes McCarron will gain more of an advantage than most realize from seeing firsthand how the league operates.

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“He’s got two years of it,” Becht said of McCarron’s spring football experience. “He’s kind of seen what I’ve done. I’m sure he’s gonna do some things similar, because it’s a little bit different as far as how you prepare week in and week out, but he has an opportunity to put his name and stamp on it.”

That said, Becht also acknowledged there will be some growing pains for McCarron in his first season. The 48-year-old explained that he went through the same thing in 2023, when he first began coaching with the Battlehawks, and that things were “tough” for him despite the team’s 7-3 record.

That’s one of the reasons Becht felt he was so lucky to have an experienced quarterback like McCarron at his disposal after recruiting him to join the then-XFL.

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“He bought in,” Becht said of McCarron. “And the great thing about it is we won a lot of games with him, and he got a chance to go back to the league because of the platform that we gave him. So now, he gets another chance to start a second part of his career, and we’ll see what it looks like.”

Now, Becht hopes to return the favor. The fourth-year spring-league veteran stated one of his goals for the upcoming season would be to help mentor first-year coaches like McCarron and Ricky Proehl, who served on Becht’s staff in St. Louis and is now set coach the Battlehawks.

“I’ve offered my opinions and help to all those guys,” Becht said. “I want them to be successful.”

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But even as Becht looks to serve as a UFL ambassador and support the league’s less-experienced coaches, one goal remains front of mind for his first season in Orlando.

“We’re setting the goals high,” Becht said. “We want to go 12-0. We want to win a championship. But we understand the day-to-day process that has to take place for us to get to that.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Former coach explains why AJ McCarron can succeed as Stallions coach