“This is our first element in our efforts to restart football,” Wilberforce University President Vann. R. Newkirk said. “We are fundraising to build a new stadium with the hopes of launching an intercollegiate male football team in late 2027 or early 2028. But right now, we’re working on the women’s flag football to make sure that we have a balance of athletic teams between men and women and this is an important aspect for us.”
The women’s flag team will be coached by Earnest J. Wilson III. He has been the head coach of football programs at Savannah State, Elizabeth City State, Defiance College and Minnesota State-Vermilion and helped create the Dayton Skyhawks Indoor Football League team in 1999.
“This is an opportunity to start something from scratch and leave a legacy for Wilberforce,” Wilson said. “I always love helping young people out, that’s my thing, and now this flag football being an Olympic sport, it’s beginning to get competitive.”
Creating a 4,000-seat stadium next to its gymnasium is the current plan for a facility to house the football team.
The University speaking with other Ohio universities, including Wittenberg University, to set up a schedule which could include 16 games, Wilson said.
The program is looking to be able to field close to 30 players on its team with partial scholarship opportunities, and will hold tryouts in the future.
“We are thrilled to present more opportunities for women to compete at the collegiate level,” Wilberforce Director of Athletics Roosevelt Barnes said. “Flag football’s rapid growth allows Wilberforce to position itself at the forefront of this emerging athletic movement. This addition not only enhances our sports offerings but also creates new pathways for prospective student-athletes to pursue academic goals, athletic excellence, and lifelong community impact.”
The school has been in contact with several pro football organizations, colleges and the Ohio High School Athletic Association. This Spring is the first year girls flag football is being sponsored for Ohio high schools, which became the 17th state in the country to sanction the sport.
Wilberforce announced it was studying options regarding bring back men’s football in September 2025. Wilberforce, the oldest private HBCU school in the country, last played football in 1947.
“We want to be the first at doing stuff,” Newkirk said. “This is going to get women in the community on our campus invested in football. Then next thing, we’ll roll out our football team and we hope by that time, we’ve got a huge base of people are looking at that.”
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