A brand new coach is taking a totally new approach to building the last remaining original UFA franchise.
March 5, 2026 by Alex Rubin in Analysis, Profile
At precisely 12:01 AM on a Wednesday this past October, Cameron Brock’s phone buzzed.
It wasn’t a random late-night notification. It was the first legal second of the UFA free agency window, and Nathan Bussberg—the newly minted head coach and general manager of the Indianapolis AlleyCats—was already working. Having schedule-sent a batch of more than 40 recruitment texts the moment the league’s “no-tampering” clock expired, Bussberg sent a message to the rest of the league: the AlleyCats were done treading water.
“He texted me at 12:01 the day he was able to finally contact me,” says Brock, the UFA’s all-time leading goal scorer and an Alleycats legend.
For a team that has historically relied on homegrown talent and modest budgets, this level of aggressive proactivity marks a radical shift in philosophy. Bussberg is central to Indianapolis’s expected revival this season, and while he may not be a household name on the national club circuit, the AlleyCats believe they have found the architect of their next great era.
Fans have been following along on social media since October as the Indianapolis AlleyCats announced the new signings of more than a dozen stars, including Brock, Jon Mast, Xavier Payne, James Pollard, William Wettengel, Jeremiah Branson, Joe Cubitt, Jake Felton, Elliot Hawkins, and Nate Little. Bussberg has had a hand in every signing.
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