Stillman names Deon Washington as first women's flag football coach

Flag Football · By Marcus Chen · June 23, 2026

Stillman did not just hire a coach. It put Deon Washington in charge of building a women’s flag football program from the ground up, with recruiting, staffing and an identity to establish before the first season opens in spring 2027. Washington, a 2013 Stillman graduate and 2004 Central High School alum, was named the Tigers’ first head coach on June 22, giving the program an alumnus at the center of its launch.

That matters because Stillman is not treating women’s flag football like a side project. The school said the team will be its 12th active intercollegiate sport, and it has already set the operational target: begin recruiting in 2026 and sign an initial roster of 20 to 25 women. Washington’s first job is to turn that target into a roster that can survive a first-year schedule and give the program enough depth to compete in the NAIA’s first championship season for the sport.

Washington brings the kind of résumé that fits a startup program. He began coaching football at 19, served as an assistant on Central High School’s offense from 2005 to 2010, and was on the staff for Central’s 2007 Class 4A state championship season. He later worked as an assistant on the inaugural Central girls flag football teams in 2021-22, coached Greensboro High School for three seasons, and spent 2014 and 2015 coaching running backs on Teddy Keaton’s staff at Stillman. That is the profile of a builder, not just a play-caller.

Stillman is also moving early in a sport that is accelerating fast around Alabama and the NAIA. Alabama sanctioned girls flag football in 2021 in partnership with the Atlanta Falcons, NFL FLAG and Nike, and the first pilot season drew roughly 44 to 50 schools. The NAIA approved women’s flag football as its 30th championship sport on June 17, 2026, and said the inaugural national championship will be played in spring 2027, with more than 60 teams expected in that first title year. Stillman’s hire puts Tuscaloosa into that growth curve before the field gets crowded.