Yes. Biola University is adding women's flag football as an NCAA Division II varsity sport beginning with the 2027-28 academic year. The founding class arrives on campus in fall 2027, and the Eagles play their first season in spring 2028. Women's flag football is Biola's 18th varsity sport and 10th women's program.

Biola women's flag football plays its first season in spring 2028. A national search for the program's first head coach begins in fall 2026, the head coach recruits the founding class during the 2026-27 academic year, and those student-athletes arrive at Biola and begin practicing in fall 2027.

Women's flag football at Biola is a full varsity sport, not a club team. Student-athletes compete in NCAA Division II and receive the same support as every other Biola program, including sports medicine, strength and conditioning, and academic support services.

Biola women's flag football competes in NCAA Division II. Biola is a member of the Pacific West Conference (PacWest), and conference affiliation for flag football will be announced as the collegiate landscape develops.

Biola is conducting a national search for the first head coach in program history. Interested candidates can find the head coach job posting on Biola's careers site. The head coach will spend the 2026-27 academic year recruiting the founding class, establishing the program's culture, and building its first schedule. The hire will be announced on athletics.biola.edu and added to the department's staff directory.

Biola's first schedule is being built now. Several four-year colleges within day-trip distance of campus already sponsor women's flag football or plan to by 2027-28, giving the Eagles a growing regional group of opponents in Southern California. Regional travel will also be a part of the team's schedule.

Biola women's flag football will play home games at Al Barbour Field, Biola's lighted synthetic turf field in La Mirada, California. Practices will be held at Al Barbour Field and on Biola's varsity grass field.

Complete the Biola women's flag football recruiting questionnaire. The coaching staff will use it to identify and contact prospective members of the founding class. Share your high school graduation year, positions, high school and club teams, academic record, and any highlight film. Because Biola is a Christ-centered university, coaches also want to know you as a person and understand your faith background. Applicants to Biola are asked to submit their personal testimony. Biola is ranked the most comprehensively Christian university in North America.

The founding class is the first team in Biola women's flag football history. Those student-athletes set the program's traditions, shape its culture, and establish the standard for every team that follows. Every player on the 2027-28 roster will always be part of the team that started the program.

The founding class enrolls at Biola in fall 2027, so the first recruiting class is primarily high school students graduating in 2027, along with transfer students who will enter Biola in fall 2027. Younger prospects are encouraged to complete the recruiting questionnaire as well for consideration in future years.

Yes. As an NCAA Division II program, Biola is able to offer athletic scholarships for women's flag football, as it does for all of its varsity sports. Like most Division II institutions, Biola uses a partial-scholarship (equivalency) model, so athletic aid is often combined with academic scholarships and need-based aid. Contact the coaching staff for details. Prospective students can also visit the Office of Financial Aid for general scholarship and grant information.

Prospective NCAA Division II student-athletes register with the NCAA Eligibility Center at eligibilitycenter.org, complete the required high school core courses, and meet Division II academic standards. Biola's compliance office helps recruited student-athletes through the process.

Yes. Biola welcomes transfer student-athletes from community colleges and four-year schools. Transfer eligibility is governed by NCAA Division II rules, so contact the coaching staff and Biola's admissions and compliance offices early.

Yes. Current Biola students who are interested in joining the founding women's flag football team follow a process similar to prospective student-athletes. Start by filling out the Biola women's flag football recruiting questionnaire so the coaching staff knows you are interested.

The coaching staff may hold tryouts when permissible under NCAA legislation. The founding roster will be built primarily from incoming students recruited for the founding class, and a limited number of roster spots may become available to current Biola students at the discretion of the head coach.

Current Biola students who join the team must meet NCAA Division II eligibility requirements and complete Biola Athletics compliance paperwork and sports medicine clearance before practicing or competing. The coaching staff and Biola's compliance office will walk students through each step.

Biola is a Christ-centered university and a learning community where all faculty, staff, and students are professing Christians. Applicants share about their faith as part of admission, and students take Bible and theology classes and take part in chapel. Read more in the Biola Athletics FAQ.

Women's flag football is a fast, non-contact version of American football in which defenders stop the ball carrier by pulling a flag from her belt instead of tackling. College women's flag football is typically played 7-on-7, and scoring is similar to tackle football, with six points for a touchdown.

The college women's flag football championship season is in the spring. Teams practice in the fall, and competition often uses tournament-style scheduling in which a team may play more than one game in a single day.

Yes. In January 2026, all three NCAA divisions added women's flag football to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program. In May 2026, an NCAA committee recommended flag football for championship status in Divisions I, II and III, which could lead to the first NCAA women's flag football championships in spring 2028, pending a membership vote in January 2027.

Yes. Flag football makes its Olympic debut at the LA28 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, with both a women's and a men's tournament. Olympic flag football is played 5-on-5, while most college women's flag football is played 7-on-7. Biola's first season in spring 2028 comes just months before the Games arrive in Biola's home region.

Women's flag football is one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States at the youth, high school, and college levels. According to the NCAA, more than 100 colleges planned to compete in women's flag football in 2026-27. In California, girls flag football grew 25.4 percent to 24,979 high school participants in 2025-26, its third season as a CIF-sanctioned sport, and now ranks sixth among girls' high school sports.

Colleges in all three NCAA divisions and the NAIA are adding women's flag football, and new programs continue to be announced. Biola University is adding the sport at the NCAA Division II varsity level, with its first season in spring 2028. Biola will have the chance to renew some historic rivalries with other local institutions adding the sport.

Biola University is among the earliest faith-based institutions to add women's flag football as an NCAA Division II varsity sport. Biola is a Christ-centered university in La Mirada, California, where all faculty, staff, and students are professing Christians.

Biola pairs NCAA Division II competition with a Christ-centered university ranked the most comprehensively Christian university in North America out of 562 institutions studied. Biola Athletics develops student-athletes through its core values of Faith, Formation and Fierce, and teams build spiritual formation into the program through devotions, Bible study, and coaches hired to mentor and disciple.

Biola added women's flag football because of the sport's national momentum, its rapid growth in California high schools, and its fit with Biola's mission. Entering the sport early lets Biola build a program around competitive excellence and spiritual formation from its very first day, and gives more young women the opportunity to compete in college at a Christ-centered university.

Biola University is located in La Mirada, California, in southeastern Los Angeles County near the Orange County line, about 20 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles and 15 minutes from the Disneyland Resort. That location puts the flag football program close to California's rapidly growing high school flag football community.

Biola is ranked No. 31 nationally for Best Undergraduate Teaching by U.S. News, and Biola Athletics ranks in the top two percent of NCAA Division II for academic success rate. In 2025-26, Biola earned 175 D2 ADA Academic Achievement Awards, more than any other school in the PacWest Conference. See the full academic record.

Biola sponsors 18 NCAA Division II varsity sports, eight for men and ten for women, with the addition of women's flag football. Men's sports: baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, outdoor track and field, and water polo. Women's sports: basketball, cross country, flag football, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, outdoor track and field, volleyball, and water polo.

News about Biola women's flag football, including the head coach hire, recruiting updates, and the first schedule, will be posted on athletics.biola.edu. Follow @biolaathletics on Instagram and Facebook. Also, make sure to follow the brand new team Instagram profile at @biolaflagfootball.