One of the most respected defensive minds in Europe, Dave Likins, has returned to the Wroclaw Panthers for the 2026 season, this time as the head coach.
The 69 year old spent two seasons as defensive coordinator of the Panthers in 2022 and 2023 when they played in the European League of Football. In 2023, he helped them reach the playoffs with a defense that allowed just over 18 points a game, 4th best in the league.
He returned to the German Football League and the Braunschweig New Yorker Lions for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Likins had spent nine seasons as defensive coordinator of the Lions, before departing for Poland in late 2021.
In his illustrious career, Likins has helped coach teams to 10 German Bowl titles and seven Eurobowl wins, with the bulk of that success coming from his longstanding partnership with Troy Tomlin in Braunschweig.
He first coached in Europe with Braunschweig in 1992 and 1993, before returning from 1998 to 2000, winning a pair of German Bowls and the 1999 Eurobowl as an assistant. He would later join the Hamburg Blue Devils as their defensive coordinator, winning three straight German Bowls before heading back to the United States.
It was in 2013 that Likins finally returned to Braunschweig, forming one of the continent’s best coaching duos with Tomlin. Over the next seven years, Braunschweig captured five German Bowls and four Eurobowls, earning the reputation as one of Europe’s best run teams.
The effects of the pandemic canceled 2020 season seemed to knock the Lions off their pedestal in 2021, resulting in a 5-5 campaign and a semifinal loss to the rival Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns.