He’s from the state of Alabama. He played football at Alabama, and now he’s coaching in Alabama.
The Birmingham Stallions announced Thursday that former Crimson Tide and NFL quarterback AJ McCarron will be their head coach for the 2026 UFL season. This announcement comes in the wake of Skip Holtz stepping down as head coach on Tuesday after four seasons on the job, highlighted by three consecutive Birmingham championships from 2022-24.
Most recently, McCarron was a quarterback for the UFL’s St. Louis Battehawks in 2024. As for his state ties, McCarron, who grew up in Mobile, Alabama, played quarterback for the Crimson Tide from 2010-13 and started in his last three years.
With McCarron under center, Alabama won back-to-back national championships in 2011 and 2012. From 2012-13, McCarron averaged 2,998 passing yards, 29 passing touchdowns, five interceptions and a 171.1 passer rating per season, while completing 67.2% of his passes. He was the runner-up for the 2013 Heisman Trophy and was selected in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. He started four games for Cincinnati, including an AFC wild-card round matchup in 2015.
Following his four-year stint with the Bengals (2014-17), McCarron spent one season with the Raiders (2018), two seasons with the Houston Texans (2019-20) and one season with the Atlanta Falcons (2021). He later returned to the Bengals in 2023, while also playing for the Battlehawks in the 2023 and 2024 seasons. With McCarron as starting quarterback, St. Louis went a combined 12-5.
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“I am excited about this new opportunity with the UFL,” McCarron said in a statement. “This game has given me so much as a player, and now I am ready to give back as a coach. It’s even more special that I get to do that while representing my home state — a state that has supported me throughout my career. Our team will build upon the amazing legacy of Skip Holtz. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Coach Holtz, what he has done for the league and for the Stallions. I am ready to put in the work that will continue producing championship wins for the city of Birmingham.”
The Stallions are coming off a 7-3 season. They were eliminated in the USFL Conference Championship round of the playoffs.
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