Veteran football coach Scott Harwood said he is seeking a head coaching opportunity in the Dynamic Football League after more than 35 years in coaching and 18 seasons in the NFL.

In a public statement released Tuesday, Harwood said his decision comes after recent restructuring tied to the NFL’s financial challenges, which he said affected his position along with those of other coaches across the league. He described his departure as disappointing but said he was grateful to the players, coaches, and organizations he worked with during his career.

Harwood’s statement did not name a specific DFL team, indicate whether he has interviewed for any opening, or say whether any club has expressed interest. Instead, he presented the move as the next step in a long coaching career that, according to the release and his biography, included time as a linebackers coach, defensive coordinator, and assistant head coach.

“For a long time, I hoped the opportunity to become an NFL head coach would come,” Harwood said in the release. “It didn’t, and that’s part of this profession.” He said he is now focused on the opportunity ahead rather than past missed chances.

According to the biographical information provided with the release, Harwood was raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, played linebacker at Northern Iowa, and began coaching as a graduate assistant before moving through the college ranks. He later spent roughly the last 17 to 18 years in the NFL, where he built a reputation for defensive discipline and player development. The biography says he was interviewed for several NFL head coaching jobs but was repeatedly passed over.

Harwood framed the DFL as an attractive destination at a time when the league continues to establish itself in professional football. In the statement, he said he has watched the DFL grow into “one of the most exciting organizations in professional football” and pointed to investment in the league, fan enthusiasm, and what he described as a commitment to building something sustainable and competitive.

The DFL is the game’s professional American football league, and Harwood’s release amounts to a direct public pitch for one of its top sideline jobs. He said he believes the league has “an incredibly bright future” and that he would be honored to help shape it.

Harwood also used the statement to outline the coaching approach he would bring to a team. He said winning starts with accountability, preparation, discipline, and treating people the right way. He added that his goal is to build a culture in which players develop, coaches thrive, and championships become the expectation rather than the exception.

That message is broadly consistent with the biography distributed alongside the release, which describes Harwood as a teacher-focused coach known for calm leadership, high standards, and loyalty to players and assistants willing to meet those expectations. The biography says many assistants who worked under him later moved into prominent roles of their own.

While the announcement does not immediately change the DFL’s coaching landscape, it places an experienced name into the pool of potential candidates should teams look outside their current circles. Harwood emphasized that while he is new to the DFL, he is “not new to building football teams.”

No DFL team had been identified in the release as a likely destination, and no hiring timeline was provided. For now, the announcement serves mainly as Harwood’s formal declaration that he is available and interested in making the jump from a long NFL assistant career into a head coaching role in the DFL.

The release offered no policy proposals, contract details, or organizational endorsements. But it made clear that Harwood, after decades in football and an NFL career altered by recent restructuring, wants his next opportunity to come at the top of a DFL staff.