Education
BY CHLOE YOUNG
Concordia starts state’s rst college women’s ag football team
Concordia University Texas formed a women’s ag football program this fall, making it the rst university in the state to do so, per Concordia. The move by Austin’s private, Lutheran col- lege comes as women’s ag football is gaining momentum worldwide. The sport will debut at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028 and is being considered by the NCAA through its Emerging Sports for Women program, Concordia’s Director of Athletics Ronda Seagraves said. The setup Concordia launched a pilot program to begin o ering women’s ag football under the direction of head coach Keenan Hughes and his son Kaden, who is the team’s assistant coach. The father- son duo lead Texas Fury—an all-girls select ag football program that has teams across the state. The university opened applications for the spring sport in August. The team currently has around 15 players who practice for a couple of hours every week, the coaches said. They hope to grow the team to around 20-24 players and are actively recruiting. In April, Concordia will host a tournament of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference universi- ties with women’s ag football teams. The university expects to o er women’s ag football as a club sport by 2026, featuring more structured competition opportunities. By 2027, Concordia is aiming to o er women’s ag football as a varsity sport, including daily practices and the ability to compete in conference championships, Keenan Hughes said. The background Concordia decided to launch a women’s ag
Concordia University Texas’ new women’s ag football team currently practices at the university’s baseball eld.
COURTESY CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY TEXAS
football program after joining the Southern Colle- giate Athletic Conference this fall, Seagraves said. Around four of the conference’s 12 universities have expressed their intention to participate in the sport, she said. Meanwhile, conference o cials are continuing to recruit more universities to o er these programs, Keenan Hughes said. The sport has been popular among East Coast high schools for nearly 20 years, he said. Nearly 21,000 high school girls participated in ag foot- ball in the 2022-23 school year, up by 32% from the previous year, per the National Federation of State High School Associations. Despite seeing growth across the country, wom- en’s ag football has not gained much traction in Texas, he said. However, he and Concordia
Concordia student body
Concordia student athletes
40% male 60% female
60% male 40% female
SOURCE: CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY IMPACT
o cials hope to change that. “We’ve provided a platform for [female athletes] to compete at a high level, promoting gender equity in sports,” Keenan Hughes said. “It’s giving them opportunities that were historically limited to them.”
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