Something is happening in Madrid Bravos land.
The club first announced that assistant head coach and offensive line coach Mac McWhorter and then offensive coordinator Dave Warner had left the team. Then the bombshell announcement came that head coach Rip Scherer would no longer be coaching the team after a wildly successful first season in the European League of Football.
With Scherer at the helm, Madrid finished the season with an excellent 8-4 record and reached the playoffs. Although they were eliminated, Madrid delivered a major upset early in the season. They were the only team to hand the Rhein Fire a loss in 2024.
What would prompt the head coach and key members of his staff to suddenly leave the team after a landmark first season? Warner’s departure is understandable as he is the new head coach of the Prague Lions. However, no clear explanation has been offered for the loss of Scherer and McWhorter.
And it definitely won’t be easy to find similar replacements.
In the case of Scherer, he brought an incredible football background to Madrid with nearly 50 years of experience including stops at both the collegiate and NFL levels. In 2023, he served as a senior advisor to University of Alabama at Birmingham head coach Trent Dilfer but is now heading to Europe for the first time.
Scherer has coached at three NFL teams, most recently with the Los Angeles Chargers, where he coached tight ends from 2018-2020. He also was an assistant head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 2005-2008, as well as a quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator with the Carolina Panthers from 2009-2010.
His collegiate coaching career is even more extensive. His first big role came at Georgia Tech, where he was the offensive coordinator from 1980-1986. After stints as the offensive coordinator at Alabama and Arizona, he became the head coach of James Madison University in 1991, here he led the Dukes to multiple appearances in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. Scherer was then hired at the University of Memphis, where he served as the head coach from 1995-2000.
McWhorter brought a similar background to the Bravos with a standout collegiate coaching career spanning over 40 years. Starting with his alma mater, the University of Georgia, McWhorter has coached at Georgia Tech, Duke, Notre Dame, Clemson, Alabama, Texas, and Penn State. He also coached with the Paris Musketeers in their inaugural 2023 season.
Not only does the departure of such experience make life difficult for the young franchise, it also impacts the ELF as a whole.
