Binghamton names Jeff Melesky first women’s flag football coach

Binghamton University introduced Jeff Melesky as the first head coach in women’s flag football history at a press conference Thursday, Aug. 6, giving the Bearcats the person who will shape everything from the first roster to the first schedule. For a brand-new program, that job goes well beyond filling a title: Melesky will help define recruiting, staff structure, team culture and how Binghamton presents itself in a sport the NCAA continues to expand.

The hire turns a launch plan that began months ago into an actual football operation. Binghamton announced on Feb. 20, 2026, that women’s flag football would be added as a varsity sport, and the school set Spring 2028 for the inaugural season. Binghamton Athletics followed with Melesky’s hire on July 29, 2026, then posted on Aug. 3 inviting fans to watch the press conference that formally introduced him two days later. The athletics department’s women’s flag football page now lists the Bearcats’ new program, while the university’s athletics timeline places the sport among Binghamton’s broader varsity additions.

Melesky arrives with about a decade of collegiate coaching experience and spent the previous six seasons at Webber International University in Florida. There, he was listed as head women’s flag football coach and assistant sports information director, a combination that gives Binghamton both a coach who knows the college game and an administrator who understands how to present a new program publicly. That background matters for the earliest decisions now facing the Bearcats, from identifying the first wave of players to putting together a staff and setting a travel and competition calendar that can support a first season in 2028.

Binghamton’s timing also reflects where women’s flag football is headed nationally. Universities are moving into the sport while it is still building momentum at the club, varsity and emerging-sport levels, and early movers have a chance to establish recruiting pipelines before the field gets crowded. For Binghamton, Melesky’s introduction marked the point where the program stopped being an announcement and became a working project, with a coach in place to build the Bearcats’ identity from the ground up.