Wisconsin Lutheran hires Kyle Kubacki as first women’s flag football coach

Wisconsin Lutheran College has hired Kyle Kubacki as the first head coach in the history of its women’s flag football program. The program is building toward a 2027-28 competition debut and will become the school’s 21st varsity sport.

Women’s flag football will make the college the 10th school or university in Wisconsin to sponsor the sport, the first NCAA member institution in the Milwaukee area to do so, and the sixth member of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference at the varsity level.

A 2024 Wisconsin Lutheran graduate with a bachelor’s degree in sports management, he has already been on the staff as the Warriors’ defensive line coach since 2025. Before that, he built one of the most accomplished defensive careers in program history, earning four All-NACC selections, three CSC Academic All-District honors and four NACC Scholar-Athlete nods.

Kubacki finished fourth in program history in sacks and tackles for loss and second in quarterback hurries, and he helped Wisconsin Lutheran to a record-tying 7-3 season in 2024. He also was part of Lutheran Bowl championship teams in 2021 and 2024.

Athletic director Jeremiah Hoffmann pointed to Kubacki’s passion for the college, his commitment to student-athlete development and the Christian mission he is expected to carry into the new program. Kubacki now inherits the recruiting and identity-building work of launching a team from scratch. The school wanted a coach in place by May while using the 2026-27 academic year to build.

The NCAA added women’s flag football to its Emerging Sports for Women program on Jan. 16, 2026, a pathway created in 1994 to help new women’s sports move toward championship status. LA28 has already set flag football for its Olympic debut in 2028 with six-team men’s and women’s tournaments, and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference added women’s flag football as a sponsored sport beginning in 2026-27, with five schools in its first season.