Meredith College spotlights flag football coach in summer magazine

Meredith College put its flag football coach in the middle of its Summer 2026 magazine, a sign the sport has moved from announcement to campus identity. The Aug. 6 issue, Volume 51, Number 2, featured “Meet the Flag Football Coach” and an image of Bryonne Herring working with players at camp, the kind of detail that turns a new team into a visible part of Meredith’s athletics brand.

Herring is listed in Meredith’s directory as head flag football coach and strength and conditioning coordinator, a dual job that fits a program still building its habits as much as its playbook. Meredith announced on May 5, 2025 that flag football would become its newest sport, and the athletics archive has since added related items including “Meredith First Flag Football Camp Achieves Goals” and “Meet the Flag Football Coach Video.” That kind of paper trail matters because it shows the sport is being treated as a standing part of the college’s athletics coverage, not a one-off rollout.

The path from announcement to recruitment was already visible by spring. Meredith listed a “Meredith College Flag Football: Spring Prospect Camp” for April 4, 2026, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. The school’s own note that the first flag football camp “achieves goals” also pointed to recruiting being underway for the inaugural team, which is the real test for any new program: whether prospective players show up when the sign-up sheet opens.

The magazine feature fits into a larger institutional push. Meredith’s own athletics and admissions pages frame flag football inside the college’s women’s athletics and student-life offerings, while a Fall 2025 magazine feature, “Go Avenging Angels. Go Meredith.,” focused on how athletics investment supports the college’s future. The Summer 2026 issue also says Meredith is celebrating the Class of 2026, putting the new sport inside a broader story about where the college wants to go next.