Shannon Harris is an American football coach, currently the head coach of the DC Defenders of the UFL and pending quarterbacks coach at Tennessee State University. He has previously served as offensive coordinator at Virginia State, and also coached at Alcorn State University, Tennessee State University and Alabama State.
| DC Defenders | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Head coach |
| Career information | |
| College: | Tennessee State (2001–2002) |
| Career history | |
As a coach: | |
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Coaching career
editHBCU
editHarris began his coaching career in 2003, after playing two season with Tennessee State Tigers.[1] Between 2004 and 2009, Harris was moved through various roles with the team. From 2010 to 2014, he was the wide receivers coach at Alabama State. From 2015 to 2017, he served as the wide receivers coach at Alcorn State. He returned back to Tennessee State for two seasons before being hired as the offensive coordinator at Virginia State.[2] He was named the Interim head coach in late March 2022,[3] a perfunctory promotion that lasted less than six weeks before Henry Frazier III was permanently hired in early May.[4]
DC Defenders
editShannon was hired by the DC Defenders in 2023, where he served as the quarterbacks coach for the next two seasons.[5]
On March 22, 2025, Reggie Barlow departed the Defenders, and Harris was named the head coach for the 2025 season.[6] Three days later, Barlow stated that Harris would be among the Defenders coaching staff joining him at Tennessee State.[7] He clarified the next day that Harris would finish out the 2025 season in DC before he and the rest of the Defenders staff joined Barlow at Tennessee State.
References
edit- ^ "Shannon Harris - Quarterbacks - Football Coaches". Alabama State University Athletics. Retrieved 2025-03-22.
- ^ "Shannon Harris - Football Coach". Virginia State University Athletics. Retrieved 2025-03-22.
- ^ "Harris Named Interim Head Football Coach". Virginia State University Athletics. 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2025-03-22.
- ^ Gaither, Steven J. (May 10, 2022). "Henry Frazier III to take Virginia State job". hbcugameday.com. iOne Digital Network. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
- ^ Mitchell, Mike (2022-09-14). "XFL 2023: Washington D.C. Complete Staff Breakdown/Analysis". xflnewshub.com. Retrieved 2025-03-22.
- ^ @JamesLarsenPFN (March 22, 2025). "In a twist, sources say that QB Coach Shannon Harris will be taking over as interim HC for the @XFLDefenders (h/t @_JakeRussell)" (Tweet). Retrieved March 22, 2025 – via Twitter.
- ^ Organ, Mike. "New Tennessee State football coach Reggie Barlow not swayed by school's financial woes". The Tennessean. Retrieved 2025-03-26.