Milligan University among first NAIA schools to offer women’s flag football as varsity sport
MILLIGAN, Tenn. (BVM) — When the NAIA partnered with the NFL and Reigning Champs Experiences to become the first athletic affiliation to offer collegiate women’s flag football as a varsity sport last May, it opened up a new realm of possibilities for both member schools and student-athletes alike. Seeing the potential of the emerging sport, Milligan University wanted to be among the first 16 NAIA schools to declare their intent to start a women’s flag football program as it would not only help the school with an innovative new program, but also a $15,000 grant from the NFL for startup costs.
“We found out about it through communication with the national office of the NAIA,” Milligan University Vice President for Athletics and Student Development Mark Fox said. “We felt like we are constantly looking for ways to provide opportunities for women in sports in our school and this is something new.”
On Aug. 19, Fox announced that the school received the NFL’s grant to begin a women’s flag football program, becoming one of the first in the nation and the only school in the state of Tennessee to do so. The first season is projected to begin in the spring of 2021.
“Football is a big thing in the state of Tennessee and in our area,” Fox said. “What really got our attention on this is that the NFL and the NAIA were partnering with the objective of making this a sponsored sport nationally. Because of the NFL’s expertise and the commitment of the NAIA, this particular sport became very attractive to us.”
With the decision, women’s flag football became the 29th sport sponsored at Milligan and the 16th with opportunity for female student-athletes. It is the first sport added by the school since esports in 2019, as well as the first women’s-only and NAIA sport addition since women’s golf in 2010. The decision also brings the first university football team to campus as Milligan currently does not sponsor a tackle football program.
Fox is excited about the opportunity to grow both women’s ability to attend the school and to be one of the frontrunners in growing the sport.
“(We liked this) as a way to attract women who might otherwise not consider Milligan as a viable option to pursue their degree in higher education,” Fox said. “We just felt the timing was right for that and the foundational pieces and support were in place and we thought we’d give it a good old swing on the grant and we were lucky enough to be selected so here we are.”
Fox admitted that having a nationally-recognized sports league supporting the program played a large role in the university decision making. With the NFL’s support, Fox believes that the program at a university and national level will see nothing but success.
“(The NFL) has provided a tremendous amount of support and advice and direction,” Fox said. “Just by promoting flag football and putting the NFL Flag logo on this, it really gives it a level of credibility that might not otherwise be there if the NAIA was going down this road of flag football on its own. The NFL brand and marketing experience and expertise and promotional experience and expertise just elevate the quality of what’s happening. … I’ll be shocked if this doesn’t over time become a national sport that students participate in collegiately.”
Before the sport can become an official championship sport, it must obtain two status levels: emerging and invitational. With 15 schools adopting the sport, it has already gained emerging status from the NAIA. To obtain invitational status, the sport would need 25 schools to declare intent to participate and to obtain championship status, the sport would need at least 40 schools to declare intent as well as NAIA final approval. The NAIA expects to host an emerging sport or invitational championship for the sport in spring 2022.
According to the NAIA, there will be no limit to the number of participants during the regular season, but rosters would be limited in the postseason to 25 per team. Additionally, the maximum amount of games teams would be eligible to play would be 16 contests.
The NAIA also released the earliest design for a postseason in the sport which was to invite all 16 teams to participate in the “end of season” event where the teams split into four pools of four. They would play a round robin and then the winners of each pool would move to a single-elimination tournament. The format would also include consolation games to be played on the day of the championship to provide additional promotion/celebration of the sport and more games for teams.
As far as Fox is concerned, being the lone representative of the sport in the state is advantageous to the university as the participation in the sport has gained traction specifically in the southeast in states such as Georgia and Florida.
“We’re seeing more and more parks and recreation departments sponsoring women’s-only leagues,” Fox said. “I just think any time you get on the front of something you have a chance to do it really, really well just by being ahead of the game.”
Girls participation in flag football has grown on the high school level nationally over the past few years. According to statistics from the National Federation of High Schools, during the 2017-18 school year, six state athletic associations recognized the sport and there were a total of 350 schools with programs and 11,007 participants in the programs in the country. During the 2018-19 school year, the amount of athletic associations recognizing the sport grew to seven with 378 schools having programs and 11,209 participants in the country.
While the NAIA looks to help grow the sport nationally, the Milligan University community is excited to move towards the next steps of the process such as selecting a coach and recruiting future players. According to Fox, the first coach will be selected by the middle of September and, while outside recruiting for the program won’t occur until next year, the team will look to add current students and student-athletes to the program for this spring.
“We will play more of a walk-on type program this first season assuming COVID allows us to proceed on then the coach will begin recruiting efforts immediately for next fall and begin trying to get a half dozen to a dozen athletes signed,” Fox said.
When asked if the team would provide athletic scholarships to players, Fox was clear.
“Yes we will be offering scholarships to the athletes,” Fox said. “This will help them afford the quality education and unique campus life they get when they come to Milligan. We are really excited about that and I’m appreciative to the university and the president for providing that support so that we can make this a meaningful experience for these athletes.”
With the unique situation that the team will create, Fox wants the team to be a group of trailblazers unafraid to go out and promote the sport for future generations.
“It allows us to continue to grow the number of female athletes that we have and grow that opportunity for females to participate in intercollegiate sports,” Fox said. “These student-athletes are going to be trailblazers and so in that respect they are going to have different personalities. They’re playing a sport that is unique and different and new and they’re going to have to be promoters as well as the coach and it’ll be interesting to see how they help us promote their sport on campus.”
Fox has seen the decision already pay early dividends for the university. With the lack of a tackle program at the university, excitement about the flag football team has reached high levels and Fox expects it to only grow as time wears on.
“Well I think like most new things there will be a lot of initial interest and some of our current students will really enjoy it,” Fox said. “I would say the excitement meter is about a seven right now, but when we get a coach on campus and somebody talking and being present and promoting the sport on campus I would suspect it would be a 10 in the not so distant future.”
Fox can already picture game days for the flag football team and is excited for what it can bring both student-athletes and the campus community alike.
“We want to kind of help these ladies create a festive atmosphere with these game days on campus,” Fox said. “There’s a lot of synergy around this and pickup around this that will help make Milligan vibrant and more vibrant than it already is and make it a place where people want to go and study and experience college.”
