Todd ArcherMar 27, 2026, 06:00 AM ETCloseTodd Archer is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Dallas Cowboys. Archer has covered the NFL since 1997 and Dallas since 2003. He joined ESPN in 2010.Follow on XMultiple Authors
Aviators’ Ted Ginn Jr. excited to be involved with Ohio football again (1:00)Ted Ginn Jr. voices his excitement to be the head coach of the UFL’s Columbus Aviators. (1:00)
ARLINGTON, Texas — Quarterback Jalan McClendon has been to a few fan fests in his time playing spring football either with the XFL or UFL.
“You’d get maybe 20 people to show up,” said McClendon, now with the Columbus Aviators, “but at the one in Columbus, like that was my expectation going into it, but we get there and I’m like, ‘Oh, shoot.’ There’s like 1,000 people there, and it was snowing.”
The biggest cheers that day were for the Aviators coach Ted Ginn Jr. From 2004 to 2006, he starred at Ohio State. He returned the opening kickoff in the BCS National Championship game for a touchdown against Florida. In 37 games with the Buckeyes, he had 4,068 total yards and 26 touchdowns. Six of those touchdowns came on punt returns, two on kickoffs.
Ginn’s appointment as one of the eight head coaches in the UFL is not an outlier. He is one of four first-time head coaches at the professional level.
Ricky Proehl has one of the biggest catches in St. Louis Rams history — the touchdown grab to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1999 NFC Championship Game. Once an assistant for the St. Louis Battlehawks, he returns as their head coach.
The league’s other new coaches are familiar names. Rick Neuheisel takes over the Dallas Renegades and Kevin Sumlin, whose ascent to the head coaching jobs at Texas A&M and Arizona started at the University of Houston, is now the head coach of the Houston Gamblers.
The league’s only returning coaches are Shannon Harris of the defending UFL champion DC Defenders and Anthony Becht, who moves from St. Louis to helm the Orlando Storm.
The ties that bind Ginn, McCarron and Redman — stars in their college cities or states — were by design as new UFL investor Mike Repole, the billionaire founder of Vitaminwater and Bodyarmor sports drinks, looked to rebrand the spring league in some ways.
Ginn was training athletes with his father, Ted Sr., a coaching legend in Cleveland. McCarron had worked with high school kids and said he had college offensive coordinator opportunities. He briefly ran for lieutenant governor of Alabama but walked away from that pursuit when the Stallions’ job was offered,
“It’s cool to see guys get an opportunity, guys that understand the game, know the game really well, played it for a long time,” McCarron said.
As a quarterback, McCarron prepared to know everything the offense needed to do as well as what the opposing defense would need to do. It made the transition to coach a little easier, although it was strange at first to coach players he once competed against.
“They all view me as coach and the weirdest part’s hearing them, ‘Yes, sir. No, sir,'” McCarron said. “So I don’t feel like I’m that old yet, but no, I mean, it’s really, it’s been awesome. I mean, I’ve had so much fun doing this. I really couldn’t see myself doing anything else now.”
“I think the people, they liked me, but I don’t think that they truly really had my back,” Redman said. “And I never felt that way throughout my career in Baltimore. And I think it probably showed. I feel like I kind of went backwards as a quarterback.”
It wasn’t until he got to the Atlanta Falcons, reuniting with his college coach, Bobby Petrino, in 2007, that he found the joy of playing again. He wants to foster that experience with his current players.
Ginn was a former first-round pick, No. 7 by the Miami Dolphins in 2007. His players remember him. McClendon was a Carolina Panthers fan when Ginn played with Cam Newton. Wide receiver Keke Chism grew up a New Orleans Saints fan when Ginn played for Sean Payton. Ginn’s connection with Payton led him to his Aviators offensive coordinator, Todd Haley, who was on the same Dallas Cowboys’ staff with Payton under Bill Parcells.
“I can show you,” Ginn laughed, “now I don’t know how many times I can show you, but I can show you.”
“What’s it going to look like?” Ginn wondered. “Am I on time with the guys getting there? Do we get back in the locker room at the same time? How many holding penalties will we have? I want to come out with a win, and we run the ball good and we play great defense. I know it all doesn’t go like that, but in a sense that’s what I want the overall day to look like.”
And when their seasons are over, they want wins, but they want their teams, their cities and their states to be proud.
“I think people around Louisville will know how much this team matters to me,” Redman said. “It’s more than just a coaching job or a stepping stool for a coach for another coach. To me, this is where I want to be, and this is exactly what I want to do. And I think all these coaches are going to have pride in where they’re from and the cities that we’re playing at. I think it makes it more passionate. And I think the league and all the viewership will see that.”
“I want to be exactly what I would have liked when I was playing professional football,” Redman said. “And so I’m excited now to be able to give them that and have, say, ‘Look, if you’re here, you’re here for a reason. I 100% believe in you.’ And I think that as old-school and whatever that is — and these are professional players — I think human nature needs to hear that. People need to know that you have someone that believes in you and we’re all at the helps for the common goal of winning a championship.”
Aviators’ Ted Ginn Jr. excited to be involved with Ohio football again (1:00)Ted Ginn Jr. voices his excitement to be the head coach of the UFL’s Columbus Aviators. (1:00)
Todd ArcherMar 27, 2026, 06:00 AM ETCloseTodd Archer is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Dallas Cowboys. Archer has covered the NFL since 1997 and Dallas since 2003. He joined ESPN in 2010.Follow on XMultiple Authors
CloseTodd Archer is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Dallas Cowboys. Archer has covered the NFL since 1997 and Dallas since 2003. He joined ESPN in 2010.Follow on X
how the deal got done 👀watch the FULL Inside Training Camp episode at the link below!🔗: https://t.co/P2Ad2vn1NM pic.twitter.com/J7EVUIofMQ
Redman, who retired from the NFL in 2011, was also coaching high school football.
Having played for Nick Saban, McCarron is not trying to emulate everything his former coach did.
And if need be, Ginn can still show his players what to do.
Ted Ginn Jr. voices his excitement to be the head coach of the UFL’s Columbus Aviators. (1:00)