Chatting with Lewis University AD John Ashaolu

Collegiate Flag Football recently chatted with John Ashaolu, the Assistant Vice President for Athletics at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois. CFF spoke to Mr. Ashaolu regarding the timeline leading up to the addition of flag football, expectations for the program, the coaching search, roster/scholarship sizing, and his thoughts on the future of the sport at the NCAA D-II level.

Lewis announced the addition of flag football in late October and will begin competing during the 2026-27 academic year. Lewis is the first school from the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference to add the sport, but it will initially compete as an independent. Thank you to John Ashaolu for taking the time to discuss Lewis's flag football program with Collegiate Flag Football!

What was the timeline and process for adding flag football at Lewis University?

JA: "I would say around this time last year [October 2024] is when leadership started talking about it and keeping an eye on schools that are adding it. That's when it started and I had been talking to a lot of my colleagues.

One of my mentors is Jon Fagg, who's the AD at UT Arlington. They announced it earlier this year, so I talked to him too, picked his brain a little bit about it. Kind of like what's happening in this interview right now. What's the rationale? What's the positivity received in adding the sport? We talked about how there's an emerging flag football scene in the Texas area. It's a sport that's really blown up around the country and they wanted to give them a front seat of that.

As I delved deeper, I talked to the AD at Mount St. Mary's [Brad Davis] and a couple of other Division II schools in the Conference Carolinas. I spoke to some people over there to just kind of pick their brains about the logistics, startup costs, viability, and ability to find a coach. That's key, finding a good coach for any sport.

We were just doing our research the past year, and then looking here in Illinois and the Midwest, how many high schools really have a flag football program? In the high school league [IHSA], they're in their second year, so it's been blowing up here. We actually had a high school flag football league approach us at the beginning of this year to use one of our turf fields. So they used our field for a couple of their own games. A lot of parents and spectators came out and it allowed me to see it up close and personal.

Through all that, we felt it was time to move on in and add the sport. I feel like it'll bring a new and different environment to the campus. It'll be a sport that women can participate in. Another thing we looked at too, because we consider ourselves a high-level D-II program, we have a lot of successful sports. We looked at whether it's a program that can be successful right away.

We were 11th last year in the Learfield Directors' Cup, so we don't want to add a program that we don't feel will be successful from resources, scholarships, and all those factors. It looks like we can definitely come in and be resourced at the right field. We have 2 turf fields on campus now. When you're talking about a good student experience, you don't want them not to have a place to play and practice. Everything just kind of lined up."

At what point did you realize flag football was going to be added?

JA: "I think when we started talking about it, as soon as I did my research into it, I had a good feeling it was going to happen eventually. It was just a matter of when. We started the first conversation with leadership, and it felt like it was a viable sport to add. After we initially talked about it, it seemed like 3 or 4 schools made announcements adding the sport. It was like, "Wow, okay, we were just talking about this."

Where will the flag football team be playing its games?

JA: "Our 2nd turf field has football lines. We unveiled that about 2 months into my tenure. Our current stadium, Lewis Stadium, doesn't have football lines on it. That stadium is used for lacrosse and soccer. The 2nd field has the football lines on it, and there are a couple of things we have to do to get ready. We have to add some bleachers, but we're ahead of a lot of other people who are starting the sport because we have a signature field ready to go."

What are you looking for in a head coach to lead this program?

JA: "What I've done since I've gotten here, and it's been done before I got here, is that I try to hire experts in their field. People who know more than me in their fields. That's what I'm looking for, someone who understands the sport, can be our resident expert in flag football. Someone who knows how to recruit and where to recruit. It would be great to get someone who's experienced, but it's a newer sport, so I'm not going to find someone who's been coaching the sport [collegiately] for 10 years. I'm looking for someone who can definitely come in and have confidence that they are an expert in the field of flag football coaching."

When would you like to have a coach hired?

JA: "It would be great if we could have someone in place in a month or a month and a half. I'm going to tap into my network to see if I can get leads that way. I've had some search firms reach out to see if they can help, so that's an option too."

Are you considering high school coaches as well?

JA: "We'll look at everything. It's a new sport and because of that you may have to look outside the box to find a coach. It's not something like basketball or volleyball because there are tons of them. There are people that have been doing that for 20, 30 years in those sports. So we'll look outside the box, look at high school coaches, just looking for some that can feel confident, be a steal for the program, and get us off to a great start with the sport."

Editor's Note: Those interested in the Lewis University flag football coaching position can apply here.

How many roster sports are you considering?

JA: "If we can get to 15 to 20 in the first year, that's what I've kind of seen looking around, that would be great. Then build on it from there and try to get as many as 25. That's what the outlook is, but we're going to rely on the coach coming in to let us know if we're on the right track."

How many scholarships are you planning to offer?

JA: "We haven't finalized the scholarship plans, but it will probably be like the other sports. We'll give the coach their allotment of scholarships and they can divide them amongst the team as much as they feel is best. If they want to divide it equally among everybody, or if there are some high-level players, they're going to get one or the other.

That goes back to the coach we hire. We really want someone who understands the landscape, knows how to recruit, and builds the program. We're going to give that person autonomy like we do with our other coaches that here and have been super successful.

We're going to scholarship the sport the right way because we want to continue to compete at a high level. We want to be synonymous with winning a championship when the NCAA determines the championship for this in a few years. We want to be in that championship picture right away."

Do you have any advice for fellow athletic directors who might be considering flag football as a varsity sport?

JA: "It is a new sport, so due diligence is important. Talking to people who have maybe added it already or are about to add it. Get those different thoughts and experiences people have had already so you don't make the mistakes they made.

Making sure your university leadership understands the importance of resourcing it the right way. There might be some schools out there that add it for the sake of enrollment. I think it's more important to create a great student-athlete experience so that you're resourcing it the right way, where these student-athletes feel like they can compete for championships like a lot of our other sports.

A lot of our sports they know when the season begins, they're going to be in the national picture. They're going to be nationally relevant, whether it's men's volleyball, women's volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball. We want that same thing for the flag football team."

Where do you see flag football at the NCAA Division II level in 2030?

JA: "I see it definitely as a championship sport. I see it as a sport that's thriving. I see it as a popular sport and a lot of female sports are getting that notoriety and it's definitely well deserved. I think it's going to fall along that same trend. You're going to give student-athletes another opportunity to play at the college level, and at a high level.

I actually have an 8-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son. He started playing football this year and I'm trying to get my daughter to start thinking about playing flag football next year. She's throwing around the football, getting used to catching the football, and running with it. It's very exciting and it's something that I'm super interested in as a parent. My daughter's playing basketball and she's doing volleyball, it's an opportunity for her to add another sport to her repertoire. She could have an opportunity to thrive in any of those sports, to be able to play at a college level, and maybe get a college scholarship.