İTÜ HORNETS — INTERVIEW WITH HEAD COACH AHMET ÖZMEN

For years the team made the playoffs but couldn't get past the final. In two seasons it has won four titles. Looking at it from the inside, what was the first thing that changed — is there a single day, a single conversation, a single game?

We've now won four championships in the university league, and in that arena we've long been a college team playing football at the very top level. In past years, though, as a club we struggled to carry that success over to the pro league. Even though the 2022 pro semifinal was a huge blow for us, I'd say it was the game that fueled our ambition and made us more determined than any other. But reducing the four championships won over the last two years — across both the pro and university leagues — to a single game or a single moment is very difficult, and it would do an injustice to so many wonderful memories. These titles came as the reward for the patience and hard work that followed the steady, determined continuation of the changes in our club's organization since 2021. We built a great team and overcame every challenge together. Reaping that reward in 2025 was an enormous prize for us, and sustaining it in 2026 — achieving consistent success — turned us into a team that has managed to leave behind an important legacy and responsibility for the future.

Dominating the university and pro leagues at the same time means two rosters, two rhythms. How do you manage this structure, and which is harder?

More than half of the squad carrying both leagues are the same players. On one hand that's a great fortune, but on the other — especially given the uncertainties in our leagues' schedules — it creates major challenges when it comes to load management. We have very talented players; we have a flexible group that can run many different schemes and plays on both offense and defense, and we're always trying to learn and improve.

Does your dominance raise the level of the league, or does it deepen the gap? What's your advice to programs that want to compete with you?

Even though we lost more games in the regular season this year, we had a relatively easier season despite some very serious injuries and absences. The regular-season games we lost were also results decided by a single score. Regardless of the league's quality, as a team we love this game and do everything we can to put on a good show for the people who watch us.

Which game challenged you the most over this four-title stretch — when you were closest to losing, what saved the team?

The 2025 final was very hard-fought. Against an opponent we'd played much more comfortably at the start of the season, we struggled in the final, and a fumble in our own red zone in the final quarter left us in a very difficult spot. Here, the defense holding the opposing offense to just a field goal kept the score within a single point, and once we got the ball back we went straight on the attack. We ran our best plays again and took the lead. If the opponent had scored again, the game could have slipped away — and that's when our captain Bora Yılmaz stepped up. With an incredible pass coverage on the opponent's 4th down, he brought us the game and the championship.

In the final, your defense shone as much as the trophy did. Can you describe, from the inside, that unit that gets little attention from outside — what defines this defense's character?

Defense is very important in this game — especially in our league, having a good defense is crucial to becoming champions. Since the start of the season, our defense performed worse than the previous year, and it was the offense that carried us all the way to the final quarter of the championship game; but in those tense 7–8 minutes at the end of the final, the defense's brilliant play and determination saved us. Rookie DT Ulaş Keçeli forcing the league's most experienced RB into a fumble — with a broken finger — and captain Ertürk Alan capping off his flawless game with the fumble recovery was the defining moment of the match.

Where do you see Turkish American football five years from now — and what's Hornets' role in that picture?

That's a podcast topic and hard to express in a few sentences :). Personally, I'm someone who loves the amateur spirit of sport, but because of the flawed structures of Turkey's sports federations, we're in a place that is neither amateur nor professional — so a lot of effort goes to waste. First, I want to see this fixed, and then I want to see the focus that is currently confined to a single sport spread out, so that — like every other sports discipline — this sport too becomes a structure that can offer young people real options with the right support. As it has been for 33 years, Hornets will remain one of the country's deep-rooted and successful clubs in this sport, a team that continues to develop the country's most talented athletes and most valuable sportspeople.

For sharing in our story through these wonderful questions — and, through you, my endless thanks to my players, who gave their all the entire season and whose efforts I saw once again just how precious they are while answering these questions, and to my coaching and sideline staff, without whom I could never have succeeded.

Warm regards,

Ahmet Özmen

Head Coach

İTÜ HORNETS