Steven Brooks Q&A: New Chaos head coach excited to ‘take a leap of faith’

The Carolina Chaos hired Steven Brooks as their new head coach on Jan. 16, bringing the former New York Atlas offensive coordinator to the Western Conference. Since retiring as a player after the 2019 season, Brooks has been an assistant for New York, helping lead the club to its first championship in 2025.

Brooks coordinated some of the best offenses in league history with the Atlas, notably helping guide Jeff Teat and Connor Shellenberger to back-to-back MVPs in 2024 and 2025. Now, he gets his opportunity to be a head coach, leading the Chaos alongside general manager and longtime friend Spencer Ford.

Before he makes his debut as Carolina’s head coach at the 2026 Championship Series on Feb. 28, Brooks shared his insight on how he landed the job, what he thinks of his new team and how he plans to bring the Chaos back to the top of the league.

Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

You’ve been a part of other head coach hiring processes. What about this opportunity was the right job and the right time for you?

“This is kind of crazy. This is year four that I’ve been through the interview process, and it’s funny. I was joking with [PLL Head of Competition] Seth [Tierney] that every year I’ve gone through this process and was told no, I was on some type of vacation with my wife. First year, I just arrived in Jackson Hole and was told I didn’t get the Atlas job right when I landed. The second year, I was flying home from Japan with my wife, being told I didn’t get the Waterdogs job. Last year, with the Chaos job, I actually was at Big Sky, Montana, with my wife skiing. But, at that time, I withdrew my name.

“So, what happened last year is I went through the process again. I’ve always wanted to be a head coach, but there was just something in the back of my mind that said, ‘Stay, stay.’ I wanted to see this through with Atlas. I’ve been a part of this team since inception, and I really wanted to see it through. And Seth Tierney was very accommodating and very understanding. Fast forward to when we win a championship, and Seth turns and looks at me after we won, and goes, ‘I guess that decision was the right decision.’ And I go, ‘It was the best decision, Seth. Thank you so much for helping through that process.’

“Fast forward to this year, to when this opportunity came. And to me personally, it was hard. It left a big hole in my heart. It’s a big decision when you’re with a team for your entire career in the PLL, from being a player to then being an assistant coach. You have a lot of relationships and a lot of people there. I drafted every one of those players, besides Trevor Baptiste, which was kind of crazy to think about. That was the toughest decision for me, trying to figure out what’s the best decision for me moving forward.

“Ultimately, my wife and I talked about it, and I talked to some close friends of mine. I did everything I possibly could for Atlas. We won a championship, and it was almost to the point that maybe it’s time to branch out and take a leap of faith on myself and try to take over a team and have that be the Chaos. I’ve always wanted to be a head coach, and I’ve learned so much under [Ben] Rubeor and, more importantly, under [Atlas head coach and general manager] Mike Pressler. Coach Pressler has taught me so much. He’s a mentor of mine. It was just at that time, it was just a decision that was best for our family and for my career. Take a leap of faith on myself and see what I’m capable of doing.”

What stands out about your new team, the Carolina Chaos?

“The defense. Every time you play the Chaos, you know it’s going to be a defensive battle. Something I always say is ‘Defense wins championships.’ If you can hold teams under 10 goals, you can have a lot of success in a season. They’ve always had outstanding defenses.

“As an offensive coordinator, I see that and I say ‘Oh, wow, they’re a win-now, ready team.’ Their defense is outstanding. They’ve got the best goalie in the world. They got the key pieces. I can try to come in, fix the offense in hopes that we can score more goals. Hopefully, relying on the defense to make those stops and the offense to make those critical games count and get over that hump and get more wins.

“It’s a team that, they’re hungry. They’re always fighting. Nobody wants to play them because they just muck it up. It’s been their style of play. Maybe if I can bring a little organization, a little bit of a more systematic [approach] to the team, and be able to build this team and move forward, maybe we can go a little bit further than they have in the past. Because, again, if you’re looking at that team, when they won the championship [in 2021], the majority of their defensive guys are still there.

“They’re there, and they’re ready. It’s just a matter of, now, can we put the right pieces together? They did a great job last year. I mean, Jackson Eicher and Owen Hiltz being rookies who led the team in offense. You got Shane Knobloch, and you got Ross Scott, and then you got [Adam] Charalambides. Then I think somebody that’s huge for us is Chris Aslanian. I think Aslanian is a great two-way player who can get up and down and cause a lot of havoc. So, they have the pieces, and it’s just a project of mine that I look forward to getting after it and doing everything I possibly can.”

You have a relationship with general manager Spencer Ford. How far do you two go back?

“Oh man, we go way back. I’ll never forget getting a call from him in 2011 when I just got home. I’m just getting home from my honeymoon. I land, and I get a voicemail. And the voicemail is not only [former Chesapeake Bayhawks head coach and current Philadelphia Waterdogs general manager] Dave Cottle, but it was also Spencer Ford saying, ‘Hey, we want to pick you up for the Bayhawks. We want you to come play.’

“My first experience ever with the Bayhawks was when he picked me up with Kyle Dixon, and they pick me up from the airport, they take me out to breakfast. Then he starts envisioning me as a player and what I’m capable of doing and how he likes my game. And I’ve never had somebody of that stature approach me, telling me how they think they can improve my game to make me a better me. Once I got out of the LXM Pro [Tour], he made me into the person I was. Then we won back-to-back championships with the Bayhawks.

“[In 2014], we started running 3d Mid-Atlantic, which was for about three to four years, just talking shop, talking X’s and O’s, spitballing back and forth. We think a lot alike, and he’s got great knowledge of the game for talent and what to get the best out of people. We’ve always stayed in touch. We had a chance to coach in the Champ Series [for the Atlas in 2023].

“[When the Chaos job opened up,] he called me and said, ‘Brooksy, I don’t want anybody else. I want you. Would you come do that? Would you come coach for me?’ I was just like, ‘That’s a no-brainer. I would love to do that.’

“It feels nice to be wanted, but at the same time to work alongside him and his brain is something I look forward to as we build this team moving forward.”

How nice will it be to have Blaze Riorden on your side moving forward?

“I mean, Blaze is single-handedly one of the best goalies in the game that has ever played the position. He is a motivator. He’s a locker room guy. He always reminds himself who he is and how he got there, which is something I’ve always loved about him, his approach. He doesn’t forget about the path that got him to be great.

“Putting him in the back of the net with his outlet passes is just unbelievable. He’s a leader. You get him in the locker room and everybody listens when he speaks, and people get behind him when he talks. So I think that’s huge for us moving forward on the defensive end with those veterans, especially with Blaze. He’s the final stopper. He wants the pressure on him, and he’s OK with that pressure, because he wants it all on him to make the final saves.”

Who on the Chaos was your first phone call?

“Well, my first phone call was Austin Kaut, and that’s because Austin Kaut called me first. I played with Austin Kaut on the Florida Launch. In his first two years, I played with Jarrod Neumann. I also played with Liam Byrnes on the Florida Launch.

“Basically, it was Kaut, [Jack] Rowlett, Neumann, Blaze, [Mark] Glicini – those guys were very important because I wanted to talk to the vets before I talked to anybody else, just to get a foothold of what’s going on with the team, how it’s run. What do they like? What don’t they like?

“I called the core defensive players, because those are the ones that make this team go. And I wanted to make sure that I got my ducks in a row.”

How do you expect to mold your offensive philosophies with the personnel you have to work with on the Chaos?

“My first order of business is just to understand who these players are and their strengths. 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.

“So, right now, what I’m doing is I’m just watching game film, and I’m trying to pick up traits on these guys. As I call them personally, I’m trying to better understand who they are as a player, so I can then incorporate that into our offense. It’s no system. It’s no rhyme or reason. It’s just a simple philosophy of how we play and how we communicate and how we move.

“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. 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.”

Your first game as head coach of the Chaos will be against New York. What kind of emotions do you anticipate on Feb. 28?

“I mean, it’s gonna be emotional. To be honest, I’m kind of glad we’re doing it at Championship Series and I don’t have to wait until the regular season to see those guys.

“When I’m talking to some of those [New York] players, they’re like, ‘Brooksy, we’re so happy for you. We’re proud of you. But don’t think that I’m not going to put one in the back of the net and look at you.’

“And I’m like, ‘Oh, I deserve that, 100%.’ The guys are really cool about it. They understood the decision, and they’ve known what I’ve always wanted to do. They’re just saying that it stinks, and I’m gone. So, emotionally, it’s going to be so hard. It’s not hard, but it’s just going to be very different. The fact that I’m looking over at these guys, and I just got the head-coaching job. So it’s going to be a unique feeling.

“I didn’t want to burn any bridges. I didn’t want to do anything. Those guys, I think and I hope, still respect me and know that this decision has nothing to do with them. Obviously, they’re all competitors, and they want to win, and they do want to beat me at the same time. I want to beat them, as well.

“But, at the end of the day, when the game ends, it’s going to be a lot of hugs and a lot of laughs and reconnecting with those guys. Because those guys were part of my team, but they also became family, and they took me in, and they took my family in. So it’s really important for me just to bond those relationships and continue to move forward.”