The announcement by the Helvetic Mercenaries that they signed Marcus Herford as their new head coach for the 2025 European League of Football season should not have come as a surprise.
With his extensive career coaching in Europe and Brazil, his name would be at the top of many lists. And he has coached in the ELF before, serving as offensive coordinator of the Berlin Thunder under Jag Bal in the league’s inaugural season, 2021.
For the past three seasons though, the 39 year old Herford has been the head coach for the Hildesheim Invaders in the German Football League, helping the team advance from the GFL2 to the semifinals of the GFL in that short time span.
His career prior to that is impressive.
In 2022, he was the head coach for Brazilian club team, Cruzeiro Esporte Clube after leaving the Thunder.
Before the pandemic, in 2019, he served as offensive coordinator for the Galo, based in Belo Horizonte, where he led an offense that averaged 31 points a game in nine games including the playoffs.
Before arriving in Brazil, Herford had coached the offense for the Milano Seamen in the Italian Football League, for two years (2018 and 2019) and was the architect behind the highest-scoring team in Italy. With Herford running the offense, the Seamen won two straight Italian titles after capturing the 2017 championship. Prior to arriving in Italy, he served as head coach of the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes (2016-2017). The 39-year-old native of DeSoto, Texas led the Hurricanes to the German semifinals two years in a row and in 2017 produced the second-best offense in Germany averaging 405.7 yards per game.
An outstanding receiver/kick returner at the University of Kansas, he was named a Preseason All-America Return Specialist in 2008 and Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year in 2007. In 2015, as offensive coordinator at Kentucky Wesleyan he coached Keenan Cole, who was a wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Xavier Mitchell, who was with the Seamen and who was one of the leading receivers in the German Football League in 2017.
In returning to the ELF with the Mercenaries, who finished with a 1-11 record in 2024, Herford realizes he has a lot of work to do as he explained to AFI.
AFI: You did an excellent job with the Invaders. How does it feel to take the next step?
Herford: It’s a blessing to be back in the ELF. I knew at some point that my path would lead me back to the ELF and trust me it was tough making that move after a successful three years with the Invaders but it was time.
AFI: The Mercenaries struggled through a tough season this past year. What moves can you make as head coach to bring some stability to the team and find success on the field?
Herford: The first main focus is recruiting of our home grown players, the best 10 imports we can find and a full coaching staff. Once it’s time to get to work with the team, the main focus is to refocus on what’s next and not what’s past. The mindset will be felt day one, which will in turn start the change of the culture for our organization.
AFI: Looking at your roster, what are your immediate priorities?
Herford: The immediate priority is absolutely finding and signing the homegrowns. The homegrowns make up 90% of your roster, so that is a major priority for us right now.