Flag football for women is coming to Radford University.
Women’s flag football is growing in popularity on a national and even international scale, and the university has taken the first step in adding the sport. Flag football will be a club sport this coming school year.
The NCAA recently recommended elevating flag football into the Emerging Sports for Women category, and the sport is scheduled for inclusion in the lineup at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Radford University’s Athletics Department announced last week it is restructuring the athletics program with the intent to grow its NCAA Division I intercollegiate program by offering high-quality sports that appeal to a greater number of student-athletes including flag football.
Athletic Director Robert Lineburg said as college athletics evolves, the costs of scholarships, dedicated facilities, travel expenses and overall operating budgets continue to escalate,
“In this environment, the allocation of resources requires greater strategic focus,” he said.
This restructuring includes three steps: establishing distance-focused intercollegiate men’s indoor and outdoor track and field programs for the 2025-26 academic year, creating women’s flag football as a club sport this fall, and discontinuing the intercollegiate men’s and women’s tennis programs. The university’s Board of Visitors will review this decision at its June 5-6 quarterly meetings and, if approved by board vote, these changes will be effective immediately.
The announcement is part of a larger plan by the university to restructure its athletic department.
Men’s and women’s tennis will be eliminated. This is where onlookers were left scratching their head as the tennis programs have been somewhat successful in the Big South Conference.
“We made the difficult decision to discontinue our tennis program following a thoughtful analysis and with a heavy heart,” Lineburg said. “Our tennis student-athletes have admirably represented Radford University since 1974, and we appreciate their many contributions. They have won Big South championships, have made NCAA tournament appearances and have helped set the standard for academic achievement among all our sports programs. Tennis athletes Chris Nelson-O’Keefe, Mike Perrone and Martin Sayer, and legendary women’s tennis coach Tom Hondras will carry on the legacy of these programs as Radford Athletics Hall of Fame members, along with former coach Mike Anderson, who led the men’s team to a number of championships. We are grateful to women’s head coach and alumna Grace Reed and her coaching staff, and interim men’s head coach Chris Leeper and his coaching staff for all the hard work they have put into leading these programs and mentoring our student-athletes.”
As part of a recently completed program review and strategic plan under development by Radford University’s Athletics Department, it was determined that the tennis programs would likely continue to struggle to remain competitive in the coming years at current funding levels, with existing facilities. Discontinuing tennis will enable the reallocation of resources to other competitive sports programs with broader appeal.
The university is adding a men’s track and field program.
“Radford University Athletics is committed to refocusing our athletics program to support the strategic priorities of our university,” Lineburg said. “By establishing Division I scholarship programs for men’s indoor and outdoor track and field along with a women’s flag football program, we will meet the needs and interests of more student-athletes.”
Current tennis players will have the option to remain at Radford and complete their degree here, in which case their scholarships would be honored. They will also have the option to transfer to other universities to play tennis and would be supported in this endeavor as well. In addition to receiving assistance from their coaching staffs during this transition, all tennis student-athletes have access to student counseling services and resources available to them through the university. The men’s tennis team does not currently have a head coach under contract, and Radford’s women’s tennis coach will remain employed for the duration of her contract and assist the tennis student-athletes during this transition.
Radford University has competed in intercollegiate varsity men’s and women’s tennis since 1974. The Big South Conference began hosting championships in men’s tennis in 1985 and women’s tennis in 1987 – the Highlanders have competed in each Big South season since then.
In 2014, the Radford University Board of Visitors voted to discontinue four NCAA Division I programs: field hockey, women’s swimming and diving, and men’s indoor and outdoor track and field. In the same meeting, the board voted to add women’s lacrosse, which played its inaugural intercollegiate season in 2016. Again, if approved by the Board of Visitors in June, this week’s changes would take place immediately.
At this time, Radford University does not have plans to discontinue any other sports.
