The Barcelona Dragons of the European League of Football have announced that Gabriel Sánchez, aka Coach ‘Black’, will be the new head coach of the team for the 2023 season.
Sánchez served as defensive coordinator for the Dragons in 2022 as well as defensive backs coach. He succeeds Andrew Weidinger who recently departed after the 2022 season.
Under Sánchez, Barcelona had the third best defense in the ELF, behind the Hamburg Sea Devils and Vienna Vikings. The Dragons allowed an average of 18.5 points and 314 yards per game (187.5 passing yards/game).
Earlier in 2022, Sánchez served as defensive coordinator for the Reyes de Jalisco in Mexico’s Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional. Previously, he has also coached with the Mexican college teams, the UNAM Pumas, Burros Blancos and TEC Campus Monterrey.
Bart Iaccarino, General Manager of the Barcelona Dragons:
“We are delighted to be able to continue working with him [Gabriel Sánchez], as he now takes on the role of head coach of the team. He has shown throughout this last season to be a coach who understands the vision of the franchise, who understands what we need and speaks the same language, an aspect that makes everything much more fluid. We are sure that it will make Dragons one of the best teams in Europe. It’s a long-term project with him, like Jack Bicknell was in the past, and hopefully we can make it to the top European level”