June 15, 2025
The win caps an impressive season for Harris, who in the week leading up to the game was given the USL’s Buddy Teevens Coach of the Year award.
On June 14, as the final whistle blew in the UFL championship game, DC Defenders head coach Shannon Harris made it into the history books—becoming the first HBCU alumnus to win a professional football championship in the U.S. The moment was all the more triumphant as his team cruised past the Michigan Panthers in a lopsided 58-34 victory.
According to Sports Illustrated, Jordan Ta’amu, a former career NFL backup and the 2023 UFL Offensive Player of the Year, was named the MVP of the game after completing 21 of 28 passes, throwing for 390 yards, four touchdowns and adding seven carries for 29 yards and one rushing touchdown. The win caps an impressive season for Harris, who in the week leading up to the game was given the USL’s Buddy Teevens Coach of the Year award after he guided the Defenders to the championship in an interim capacity after the team’s former head coach, Reggie Barlow, agreed to replace Eddie George as the head coach of Tennessee State University.
After the game ended, Harris was incredibly grateful for his journey, telling Sports Illustrated, “Yeah, to God be the glory. And I’d say these guys here, man, the coaching staff, support staff, I mean, everybody’s been on the same page since day one, since taking over, and, again, we just rattle it around each other, and it continues to just be us, we, and ours, so these guys, I mean, I can’t thank them enough for the effort they put into this, the resiliency that we had throughout the course of the year. We have some great fans back in D.C., we want to do it for them as well, and God is amazing, man, God is amazing, and I’m very grateful.”
Harris, who is also an alum of Tennessee State University, is a former quarterback who once outdueled future Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo when he was the quarterback at Eastern Illinois in a thrilling shootout that Romo’s team won 52-49. In that game, Harris went 29 of 43 for 382 yards, throwing five touchdowns and one interception; Romo wasn’t bad either, completing 21 of his 36 passes for 381 yards and three touchdowns while also throwing one interception.
Per the UFL’s announcement of Harris’ Coach of the Year award win, the strong play of the Defenders has positioned Ta’amu as a finalist for his first MVP award, the quarterback led the UFL in passing yards (2,294) and passing touchdowns (17) while ranking number two in total yards (2,333) as he led the league’s most prolific offense, the Defenders ranked first in total yards, posting 3,454 yards in that category.
According to the announcement, “Harris led DC to a 6-4 regular-season record, earning a berth in the XFL Conference Championship Game. His Defenders defeated the St. Louis Battlehawks 36-18 Sunday to advance to the 2025 UFL Championship Game. Under Harris’ leadership, DC earned seven All-UFL selections, which was tied for most in the league.”
Although Harris could potentially join Barlow’s staff at Tennessee State University after the conclusion of the UFL season, as Harris basked in the glow of his victory during the post-game press conference, he told reporters that “That’s yet to be determined and we still have a lot of meetings to go and we still have things to talk over, so that’s still yet to be determined.”
He paused and glanced over at Ta’amu and another player opposite the quarterback, before closing his remarks. “These guys here man, it’d be hard to leave these guys here.”
For now, at least, Harris can bask in the glow of his accomplishments during the course of the UFL season and his place in history as the first HBCU alumni to win a professional football championship in the United States as he weighs his next move during the UFL’s off-season.
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