Steven Brooks had sought out head-coaching roles in prior cycles. After four years of being told no, Carolina Chaos general manager Spencer Ford finally gave Brooks a shot at leading his own team.
But before Brooks could begin preparing to lead the Chaos for the 2026 Championship Series, he quickly received another call, this time from his former Florida Launch teammate — and now Chaos goalie — Austin Kaut.
“As soon as I heard the news, I wanted to reach out and congratulate him and just get jacked up and get back on the same page with him for what we’re looking to do in the 2026 season,” Kaut said.
Brooks and Kaut reunite after an eight-year gap. From 2015 to 2018, the two spent three seasons together with the Launch, where Brooks was a veteran presence and Kaut was just beginning his professional career.
“He taught me a lot of everything I needed to know about the league and travel and everything,” Kaut said. “So he was basically ‘Daddy Brooks.’ He was Dad to most of us on the team. I was a young 21-year-old kid, and he was in his late 20s or early 30s. He really guided us through the process and was always looking out for the younger guys.”
Now, their roles look different, but their mindset toward the game remains the same. Kaut is entering his 13th professional season as one of the veteran leaders of a young Chaos core that includes Jackson Eicher, Ross Scott, Shane Knobloch, Ray Dearth and JC Higginbotham – who are all gearing up to play Sixes. The lessons Brooks once passed down as a player are the same ones Kaut now emphasizes in the locker room.
“I have a feeling that [Brooks’ leadership] translates over perfectly as being a head coach and to guiding us down the right path for the 2026 season,” Kaut said. “He’s going to have, still, the head coach vibe of wanting to get the best out of you, but is going to be your friend at the same time, and it’ll bring more out of the players, rather than just have a coach that’s going to pick and nitpick and scream and yell.
“It’s going to be a different vibe in the locker room, with what he brings as the energy, and I think he could just as easily still strap it up, no problem, if he really wanted to. So it’s good to have that aspect coming in the locker room to the culture that we already have on the Chaos.”
For Brooks, the relationship he had with Kaut as a player is foundational to how he plans to lead as a head coach.
“My first order of business is just to understand who these players are and their strengths,” Brooks told PLL beat writer Zach Carey. “My offensive philosophy has always been as a player-style coach, and my first philosophy is always building a relationship with the player. Who they are. What are they like? How do they like to be coached? What makes them go? What puts a red flag up and makes them grip their stick too tight?
“Ultimately, my job is to make these guys as comfortable as possible so that the game is the easiest part of the day for them. If I can set them up for success and let them focus on their strengths, what got them here, then they don’t have to worry about making an uncharacteristic play.”
That philosophy resonates with Kaut because he has lived it. Having witnessed Brooks’ leadership early in his career, he understands the intent behind the messaging. There is built-in trust, communication is open and direct, and expectations are clear.
“He’s a wealth of knowledge,” Kaut said. “He’s had championships at every level of his career. So he understands the game and understands the offense and has a different aspect of it. So it’s going to be good to see him implement what he wants to bring to the table with the pieces that we have, and hopefully be successful.”
Those expectations are a blueprint for results. Brooks won two championships as a player with the Chesapeake Bayhawks (2012 and ‘13) and most recently helped the New York Atlas capture their first PLL title as the team’s offensive coordinator.
Brooks was able to build trust with players as a teammate, assistant coach, offensive coordinator and acting Championship Series head coach with the Atlas. He will take his combined 18 years of professional lacrosse experience to the helm of the Chaos coaching staff.
“If the guys can understand how my mind works and what my thought process is, maybe they can just relax a little bit and remind themselves of the 12-year-old version of them that got them there,” Brooks told Carey. “That they can just go play, have fun and play with that chip on their shoulder without gripping it too tight and thinking about, ‘Oh, if I make a mistake, I’m cut or I’m pulled.’ That’s not my philosophy. Mistakes happen. Turn the page. I want to see how you respond to those mistakes and how we can be better as a team moving forward.”
Fun does not mean loose standards. It means confidence. It means freedom to play instinctively. For a goalie like Kaut, that trust is critical. When players aren’t overthinking, they react. And in lacrosse, reaction time is everything.
Nearly a decade after their time with the Launch, Kaut and Brooks’ dynamic has evolved. The young goalie who once leaned on a veteran for guidance is now a veteran himself, serving as an important locker room voice and experienced backup to Blaze Riorden. The teammate who once led from the field now leads from the sideline as the Chaos begin their hunt for the 2026 Championship Series title.
“It’s great to have someone that had such a long career to now come over and really kind of guide us down the path in the 2026 season,” Kaut said.
