January 7th, 2022
Angela Rowe has been named head coach of Thresher women’s flag football, the first in program history, tasked with building the newest athletic program.
“It’s with great excitement and anticipation that we announce the hiring of Coach Rowe to lead our inaugural women’s flag football program,” said Bethel Athletic Director Tony Hoops.
“The mission and vision of our athletic department and [Rowe’s] coaching philosophy aligned from the very beginning. She is an elite leader of young people who will dynamically impact our campus.”
Rowe, a native of Atlanta, comes to Bethel after a long coaching career spread among flag, flex and tackle football. Most recently she was a defensive coordinator for the Atlanta Phoenix, a contact football program, where she crafted and implemented game plans.
“It is an absolute privilege to be named head coach for the inaugural women’s flag football team at Bethel College,” Rowe said.
“I am ecstatic at the opportunity to build a program with the assistance of a sound support system and aligned philosophies.”
Rowe has coached and played flag, flex and tackle football. She has experience coaching at a variety of levels, from middle-school to professional flag and tackle teams.
“We are fortunate to hire a coach with the expertise Angela brings,” Hoops said. “She has an incredibly strong background of experience in women’s football that spans over two decades.”
Rowe has spent time as a player/coach, where she was in charge of both coaching and implementing game plans, along with calling plays while on the field.
“I felt an overwhelming sense of family and community from the moment I stepped onto the campus of Bethel College,” Rowe said. “This is an immeasurable honor to be a part of the Bethel community.”
Rowe is a graduate of Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, N.C., where she was a two-sport athlete in basketball and track.
While at WCU, Rowe earned All-American honors in track while being an All-Conference basketball player.
She currently holds the WCU 400-meter record, and also earned MVP honors at the Naval Academy Basketball Tournament.
Her football honors include the Atlanta Xplosion Women’s Full-Contact Football Iron Women Award; Independent Women’s Football League World Champion, in 2001 and 2006; USA Football Alternate; and Defensive MVP for the United States Flag and Touch Football League.
For the last 22 years, along with playing and coaching football, Rowe has worked in law enforcement in the Atlanta area.
“Women’s flag football is one of the fastest growing female sports in the country,” Hoops noted. “I’m excited to see Coach Rowe build this program as we compete for the first time in spring 2023 at Thresher Stadium.”
Bethel is a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1887 and is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Known for academic excellence, Bethel ranks at #15 in the Washington Monthly list of “Best Bachelor’s Colleges” and #31 in U.S. News & World Report, Best Regional Colleges Midwest, both for 2021-22. Bethel was the only Kansas college or university selected for the American Association of College & Universities’ 2021 Institute on Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation, and has been named a TRHT Campus Center. For more information, see www.bethelks.edu
In athletics, Bethel competes within the 13-school Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, and the NAIA. For more information, see www.bethelthreshers.com