Becht Excited for New Role
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by Brian Stull
As the head coach of the St. Louis Battlehawks, it’s easy to spot Anthony Becht each game as he alternates from conversations with coaches on his headset to nearby players, discussions with officials, and of course, those animated runs along the sideline.
But as the NFL season opened up this past week, Becht has moved up from his field level view to a seat in the broadcast booth as the new radio analyst for the New York Jets.
“To be with the team that drafted me originally, to still have that relationship with them, to be the voice for them moving forward, to replace somebody like Marty Lyons–who is an absolute legend for the organization as a player and really afterwards, it was exciting,” said Becht. “It was great to get back in there and see ball and call it, maybe now as not just a former player but with a coach’s perspective it was really fun and interesting.”
Part of the “New York Sack Exchange”, Lyons is a member of the Jets Ring of Honor and joined their radio team not long after Becht was drafted. After 22 seasons, Lyons decided to step away from the microphone and become an ambassador for the team–and to pass the torch to Becht, who has called over 150 football games for ESPN and had been the Jets pre and postgame analyst.
“He actually recommended me to the Jets when they had those conversations, so that meant a lot,” shared Becht. “Really just a mentor per se as a guy that I’ve known and been around since I was drafted in 2000 by the Jets…he’s a guy who did it the right way, not only as a player on the field with the Jets, but off the field as well.”
And while he enjoys calling football games, Battlehawks fans can breathe easy.
“Coaching is my number one priority,” stated Becht. “Not only as the head coach of the Battlehawks and part of the UFL, but just in general. In my life, this is something I’m very passionate about, this is something I want to continue to be better and get great at. We’ll see what happens. Maybe I’ll be head coach of the Battlehawks for the next decade. That’d be great, I would have no problem with that.”
Becht has shared many times before how he pursued and ultimately convinced league ownership to take a chance on him, not just as a first time head coach but in St. Louis. It’s a vote of confidence that still drives him to succeed.
“I took that very strongly and I wanted to make sure that not only I did a great job, but represented the league properly because of the decision they made,” said Becht. “So far, so good, two good seasons–hopefully we can continue to take another step next year and get to the championship game.”
Preparing for each broadcast in much the same way as a head coach, Becht also continues to expand his network of football executives, coaches, and potential Battlehawks.
“It gets more eyeballs on players,” said Becht. “I get to see a lot more of some of those players who may not make a team in the preseason. All those things, it just helps me visually for our league to maybe find a couple diamonds in the rough that are out there looking for a chance.”
UFL MVP Adrian Martinez helped the Birmingham Stallions win the 2024 UFL Championship. He’s now on the practice squad for the New York Jets.
“I joke with him all the time–’Hey man, I hope you are on this team for the next couple of years so I don’t have to deal with you’,” laughed Becht. “Those are the cool things about it. I have a lot of respect for Adrian because I understand this is an example of how our league can give somebody a chance.”
Before matching up against Martinez in 2024, the two got to know each other when Becht worked for ESPN calling Adrian’s games at Nebraska.
“He got the opportunity to prove himself with Skip (Holtz) and his team and parlayed that now to a practice squad spot,” explained Becht. “Who knows where that lands or leads, but you’re there. You’re in the building. You get to learn a system that’s advantageous to helping you in your career. Hopefully, he can parlay that to maybe a roster spot one day. But you see these guys all over rosters and teams, they do come up to me to say hello and it’s pretty cool.”
The Battlehawks had six players from the 2024 team competing for NFL roster spots and Becht and General Manager Dave Boller are working to create more opportunities moving forward.
“I love all my players,” admitted Becht. “After two years of coaching, it’s number one to continue to evaluate our roster. Can we get better? Are there some players out there we can give a chance that can help us? But really, it’s top to bottom. I just think there’s so much talent out there. We’re not that traditional Jets, 49ers, Kansas City where you’ve got long-term contracts with players. You’re really trying to help grow, increase the value of that player, help them as much as you can, and then hey, they excel and move on and someone else comes in and you recycle, redo the process. That’s what’s fun about it.
“Right now, Dave and I are assessing everybody from the long-snappers to the quarterbacks. Trying to put together the best roster we can. We’ll have a lot of guys that we like who will come back. We’ll have a lot of guys that we really like that may not come back–maybe their choice or maybe just for us, we just want to go in a different direction. That’s the business of sport, you’re always trying to get better and do different things.”
With NFL practice squad players signed, evaluations and conversations are also underway on who spent time in camp but is now available or could be before the start of the UFL season.
“I always love to get more guys that are in training camps that are close,” said Becht. “Those are the ones. And of course, you’ll always have those guys you sprinkle in that are core guys and continue to contribute. We have some of those as well.”
–A reminder the St. Louis Battlehawks will host six home games in 2025. Season ticket renewals are currently underway, log into your account online or contact our offices to renew your seats for the upcoming season.