On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Garrett Roth from the Ferrum College Flag Football Program in Virginia. We talk about how he recruits athletes from across the country and looks for athleticism, positivity, and players who fit the program’s culture. He describes Ferrum’s close-knit community, strong support for athletics, and the scholarship opportunities available to student-athletes. Lastly, we discuss the program’s busy spring schedule and the experienced international coaching staff helping build Ferrum Flag Football.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, everybody. Welcome to Discover College Flag. Today, I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Roth up at Ferrum College in Virginia. Welcome, Coach.
Coach: Thank you for having me. Excited to be here.
Matt: Yeah, thanks for coming on. Uh, you guys, uh, you had o- one season under your belts, and, and, and it was a pretty good one, yeah?
Coach: Yeah. I mean, really exciting first season for us, especially being all incoming recruits, just a whole bunch of freshmen out there. Really good start to, to our program and, and what we’re trying to build, and it’s put us on the path that we were hoping to be trodden already.
Matt: Yeah. Sorry I, uh, I, I didn’t get a chance to see you play, uh, over at IMG.
That’s about, like, you know- … 10 miles down the road from me here in Bradenton. But, uh, I did go over there to watch some of the, some of the NAIA tournament games. But, I mean, for you guys in terms of, of y- of your recruiting, you know, it’s nice to now, you know, have some sort of, you know, championship or, or, or stuff, stuff that you guys are playing for, obviously, with the, with the [00:01:00] conference, uh, already set.
But for your recruiting, I mean, you look at, you look at your roster that you had this past spring, and it’s, it’s, it’s mostly freshmen, right? It’s kind of h- almost has to be, but how do you, how do you balance that, trying for year two, like, you don’t just wanna have, you know, a whole team and you’re only recruiting once every four years, right?
You gotta try- Yeah … to mix in some stuff. So, so how, how… what’s your thought process on that?
Coach: Well, we went big the second year. Uh, we realized we perform… we did not perform the way we wanted to in Bradenton last year. Um, took a, a loss that we weren’t very, very thrilled with, especially after beating the team the, the previous day.
I think a lot of that for us and, and also, you know, our championship game, the conference as, as well, we felt like depth played a, a factor in both of those games as we started to wear out through the, the season. It’s a [00:02:00] highly, highly physical sport and, and it’ll do that to you. Um, so we went big with this recruiting class.
We brought in 20 girls, which is, is huge. I mean, we’re sitting now at, at 35 with just our, our freshmen and, and sophomores at this, at this point. And we retained pretty well. We were, we were 15 out of 20, only, only 3 of, of which ended up going somewhere else to, to play, play flag. So we, we retained pretty solidly over, over the summer, but we knew we had holes to fill, and we wanted to, to continue to, to boost our depth.
So that was certainly a big part of our recruiting mindset. And then now in the future, I feel like we get to- Minimize those numbers a little bit. I think for us it’s, it’s always gonna be a program we wanna try and hold about that 30, 35-ish range in, in terms of roster [00:03:00] size. And flag football is, is really volatile, I think, at this point in, in terms of, you know, rosters moving here and, and there, and if a coach goes somewhere, teams, teams follow in, and all sorts of stuff happening, especially with big programs continuing to, to pop up left and right.
And, you know, we, we know how talented we are, so we expect some of our girls to be thinking about stuff like that as, as we continue to, to progress. So I think really our goal as we continue to move forward is, is to be somewhere in about the eight-ish range each year and, and really start to set a long-term plan of, okay, here’s how we build out four different successful classes, so when we lose this first freshman class eventually, it doesn’t decimate what our team looks like.
Um, so it’s a process to get there, and we’ve layered our scholarship percentages and, and stuff out to help [00:04:00] us in that standpoint in terms of setting budgets for each year and, and whatnot. But really, I, I think the goal at, at this point is, is to Maintain some of this momentum, slow it down a, a little bit, but still have a steady, solid core group that we’re bringing in each recruiting class and, and trying to hover around a, a spot where we feel like we’re deep enough to go compete in how, however many games, wherever.
Matt: So, uh, and, and that makes total sense and, and I think it’s, you know, it’s difficult because it is new in, in, in trying to balance, you know, people transferring, kids graduating, whatever the case may be for… W- when it comes to whether it’s what you did for the class of ’26 or what you’re doing for class of ’27, what, what, what’s the balance of looking?
Are you looking just at, uh, pred- predominantly high school flag players? Are you doing the AAU club scene? Are you looking at, you know, [00:05:00] just athletes from other sports and, you know, turning them into flag players? Because I know that that happens a lot, uh, as well. Mm-hmm. So, so kind of what’s your process there?
Coach: Yeah, I think everything you mentioned is in there. I, I think something unique for us at this point is, is we don’t have any transfers on the team, uh, which has kept us pretty young, and it’s not something I’m opposed to down the line. But, uh, team culture is a big part of, of what we’re trying to build and, and chemistry and, and building people within our program.
And with this coaching staff, especially with, with two of our coordinators having national team experience playing, playing-wise, we feel like we can really develop young athletes in, in this program. So really, we’re looking at high school for sure. You’ll see on, on our roster how many kids we have from the West Coast, which is really pretty unprecedented for a, a school all the way out in the Blue Ridge Mountains in, in Virginia.
Um, so we will definitely spend our fair share of time looking at the high schools and, and going through who we [00:06:00] feel like is some of the best talent over there. Uh, anyone who comes through the club scene right now, and, and I’ve told a couple recruits this, is for our girls who we have on the team right now who came through clubs, even if they’re not the biggest club out there, they come in at an elevated level from what we expect just because they’re out there playing flag that much more often.
They’re playing that higher level of, of competition. I think that’s a factor in our success from our high school-only girls as well, is they’re coming from California, which is a really big state with a lot of athletic talent, and they’re really starting to continue to pick up the pace over there with, with flag.
So that has shown us a lot of talent, at least from the club scene that, you know, we had an idea of them coming in, where they might sit at. Okay, you might be a rotation player or something like that, a- and they’ve exceeded that because of that experience that they’ve been able to, to gain. And then I’m an adventurous one when it comes to [00:07:00] pursuing some dual sport athletes and, and stuff like that, um, and, and transitioning athletes over.
We have one of the, the best basketball girls at our school playing on, on our team. That’s our one upperclassman that we’ve got right now. Uh, and we brought her in at the end of last year with two weeks left in the season, and she ended up playing and almost getting an interception, getting a couple pla- pass deflections in our conference championship, uh, semifinal, uh, for the, for the conference tournament.
And that was two weeks of playing with, with the team and, and a talented team that wasn’t an easy group to, to crack into. Um, and then I, I mean, I’ll explore all, any and all options. I’ve, I’ve hit up the transfer portal for, uh, Division I volleyball at times. I think those are some of the best athletes in the country.
My, my girlfriend, um, was a, a D1 volleyball player, so I, I watched her play as she finished up her graduate year last year at, at UVA. [00:08:00] Um, and just, it’s hard to beat a girl who’s 6’2″, 6’3″ jumping out the gym. So I’ve explored that route a little bit. I haven’t gotten a lot of luck, um, but I’ll be adventurous in, in those senses as, as well when it comes to, to recruiting.
I want to exhaust all avenues, and it’s one of the biggest factors to our success is the way that we’ve been able to, to find talent and, and then continue to develop them when we’ve gotten them out here.
Matt: Okay. Well, whether it’s high school, club, anything else like that, w- what kind of makes up the things you’re looking for in a player both on and off the field?
Coach: Yeah. I think on the field to start, it starts with athleticism, just going back to what we feel like we can do from a player, player development perspective and coming into a program where our practices, especially with, with the depth that we have now, are elite every day. I feel like our second string group [00:09:00] could be a top 25 team in, in the country if we, we rolled them out there and, and gave them a, a full season.
So for us it’s, it’s really do you have the base tools? Are you, are you quick? Can you jump up and, and get some height to, to catch the football, high point the football? Um, are you able to make people miss? Are you gonna catch the football? Do you have the IQ side of, of things in terms of just a, a base understanding of, of the game?
If that is there, we feel like we can teach the rest from the small little fundamentals. We take that time throughout the year where we’re doing small groups and, and stuff like that, so where our coordinators and, and myself can really pour into individual athletes in, in smaller settings, um, just to continue to focus on said player development.
Uh, so really at the very basic level in terms of on the field, that’s what we’re looking for. And, and that’s why we’ll explore [00:10:00] options like dual sport athletes. We’ll explore options like taking random shots in, in the dark at who- whoever we feel like will, will fill that space because we know once we get them on the field, it’s just a, a, a rocket ship upwards from there.
Off the field, two biggest buzzwords for us are uplift and believe. Um, stole the second one a, a little from, from Ted Lasso. It’s one of my, my favorite shows. Um, but I believe everything starts with that word, you know. And in terms of the recruiting process, you have to believe in me as a coach, you have to believe in Ferrum as a school, you have to believe in the academics that we have here.
You have to believe in flag football continuing to, to develop. There’s so many different things that you can point to and say, “Okay, that starts with having a belief.” And then for us, the uplifting part, being a positive teammate, that’s something that is a, a big factor for us as, as well. I, I take it back to my time, uh, [00:11:00] working in, in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings and, and doing stats, and- A much easier math problem, I think, is just addition and subtraction.
And when I look at team chemistry and culture and, and what we wanna bring in, it’s plus signs, positive numbers. ‘Cause if we have a, a list of, of teammates who are all positive, the end result is gonna be a positive one. If we have some negatives thrown in there, gets a little trickier in, in the math department.
We don’t know what that final result is, is gonna be. So that’s really what we look for off the field as, as well, is, is just to kinda have that positive energy. I feel like that’s what our coaching staff brings a lot is, is you’ll see us jumping up and down on, on the sideline as we score touchdowns and, and whatnot.
Um, we wanna be facilitators for that fun experience out here.
Matt: Okay, awesome. What you, you… One thing you mentioned was the scholarship component, and I know that’s, like, a big question mark girls have now with considering there’s programs at all levels, [00:12:00] and there’s varsity, there’s club, there’s, you know, there’s a million things out there.
So sounds like you guys have, you know, some, some athletic money available for flag football players. Does that stack with academics? What, what can a, a pr- prospective s- student athlete kind of, uh, expect maybe, you know, I don’t… You’re not obviously giving me any hard numbers here. Yeah. But just, just some, some average, uh, things that, that they could be aware of.
Coach: Yeah, so academic and athletic, sta- stacking the two of those is huge. And then for any student athlete, I think at, at this point, um, the FAFSA is, is an important part of the financial package as, as well. Um, what I think is, is awesome for us is, is we will compete financially with a lot of schools across the country who are in flag right now.
Um, I got the, the chance to hear what numbers a, a Division I school was, was throwing around and, and we’ve got the same, same thing going over here. Um, [00:13:00] really just to loosely map it out. You know, if you’re a scholarship athlete for us, um, even maybe before the FAFSA gets involved, we could be looking in a space where we’re past tuition and, and we’re into the dorm room and meal plan side of things, uh, which is awesome.
I wish I’d was on, on scholarship when I went to, to college at, at Colorado State and had a package like the one that, that we’re throwing out. But, um, academic is huge, scales with what your weighted GPA is. Um, athletic of, of course, we base on, on ability and, and stuff like that, but we have pretty good flexibility with that number, which is, is very nice to, to be able to have, especially with flag being as, as early as it is.
That’s something that I’ve absolutely loved about my time at Ferrum is, is they’re gonna invest in us, um, and, and really try and push this, this sport to [00:14:00] what they think it can be for our school. Um, and then the FAFSA, like I said, plays, plays a role in that, and it’s something I review with, with all my student athletes when I get them on a call and, and talk about bringing them to school.
And I, I lay out the hard numbers there as, as much as I can just because it is such an important part, I think, of, of the recruiting process to know what those numbers look like for you, ’cause the rest of the fit could be there. We could be the perfect school, but if we’re super expensive for what your, your budget looks like, it’s just not gonna, not gonna fit.
Um, so it’s something we definitely aren’t afraid to, to discuss too often. Um- And we do a pretty good job. Another thing for us too is with our emphasis of, you know, being able to bring in dual sport athletes, which is such a big part of our team. Like, we have five girls who play basketball and flag. We have a girl who does track and flag.
We have three girls who do cheer and, [00:15:00] and flag. We have three girls who play soccer and flag. And you’re able to stack those two athletic scholarships together as, as well. Um, so if you’re a quality soccer player, a quality basketball player, you could end up getting something from both, and that’s when we really look at extremely competitive financial packages, which are, are exciting for us to put together, and I don’t mind having something to do over winter break when it comes to watching some, some women’s basketball on campus.
Matt: Awesome. Well, let’s talk about the school. Uh, something, something drew you there just besides flag football. What are the things about the school that you found that are pretty cool? Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know by going through the website.
Coach: Yeah, I think number one is the community atmosphere out here.
I, I came from California, coached at the high school level over there for two years before I made my way over here, and drove my U-Haul across the, the country to, to come out here. Stepped on [00:16:00] campus, and it was something that I felt right away was just how close-knit this community is, how much- of an impact athletics has on Ferrum as a whole.
It was something that I think really continues to be such a big factor in, in what makes this place so special. Our president, Dr. Martin, sweetest lady you will ever meet, gives the biggest hugs ever. She, she calls me the, the founding father, um, because we were founded by, by mothers way, way back in the day.
Um, and now I’ve, I’ve founded our flag football program as, as the first coach. Um, but super awesome, awesome lady. She says, “Welcome home” to everybody who, who steps on campus. That’s what she says in, in orientation and in all those big speeches early in, in the year. Um, and I felt that energy of this being a place I could call home as soon as I, I stepped on campus.
I walked into [00:17:00] a basketball game. There’s 300, 400 kids in the student section, which for us as a smaller school is 30, 40% of, of our student population. Super loud in there, presence there, athletic director’s there, other coaches are there. Um, just a really special community to, to be a part of and, and we see it in our flag games as well.
You’re gonna see 200, 250 people out there in, in our football stadium, which is, is a pretty good starting point for us to be at, and it’s that athletic community that we’ve created, and it’s just the town of, of Ferrum as, as a whole. It’s really a, a special place and, and something that I contribute a lot of our success to.
Matt: Yeah, that’s awesome. Well, let’s fast-forward. Let’s say you’re in the middle of that season. Walk me through, what’s a typical week look like for a player in terms of winter classes, practices, games, all that kind of thing?
Coach: Yeah, so middle of spring, we definitely won’t shy away from playing as many games as, as we possibly can.
[00:18:00] We’re gonna max it out every year. We’re gonna go to every tournament we can get to. Um, so I, I love to play, and I love to play good teams, and that’s what we will, we’ll do all year this year and in every year from here on out. We’ve got five Division 1s on the schedule who we’re excited about playing this year, including, uh, Cal Poly coming from the West Coast.
Um, Texas Arlington is, is coming, coming this way. We’ll go down. We’ll play Gardner-Webb. We’ll play Norfolk State. Um, so really getting out there and, and competing as, as much as possible. Um- So a typical week for us, ’cause we get 20 hours of, of team athletic related activity each, each week in our championship season, which is, is that spring.
So on Monday we would do… So our class schedule will go 8:00 to 3:50, 8:00 AM to, to 3:50 PM is, is when our classes fit in between. Uh, we will [00:19:00] practice Monday through Saturday. If we don’t have games on any of those days, we’ll, we’ll practice 4:30 to 6:30. Mondays we will have lift as well. Monday, Wednesday, Friday we have our lift.
Usually we find a slot for those within class time or right before practice is our, our two options that we’ll, we’ll set there. We don’t, we don’t quite know what we’re doing in the spring yet for, for lift, but last year that’s kinda what we fit into and, and if we have to split the groups we will, but I like to keep them together as, as much as we can.
Um, so we will lift and practice on, on Monday. Um, we will usually, if we have the hours available, do a beginning of the week film session as well every Monday. Um, and then Tuesday we will do our offense small groups. They’ll be mixed into those, those class times. We’ll take everybody’s schedule and, and figure it out of, of when everybody’s available.[00:20:00]
We’ll have practice that night as well. Wednesdays we will have lifts, we’ll have practice, we’ll have study hall in there as well. We do a team study hall every week. That is a pretty popular game day for us as, as well is, is to have a midweek game on a Wednesday Those are usually late-ish afternoon that we get those rolling, whether it’s, it’s home or away.
Um, and if we do end up having a game day on those, we’ll have a film session the day before as well. Um, and then we’ll move study hall to, to another day. Thursday, defense small groups, practice, and then Friday we’re in the weight room again, practicing again. We do team dinners every Friday as, as well.
We’ve, we’ve shifted that a- around at, at times what day of the week that is, but it’s usually on, on Fridays. And then most of the time, especially mid-season, we’re playing on Saturday, so we get [00:21:00] game film on, in on, on Fridays as well. And then Saturday we’re playing, that’s usually mid-afternoon, early afternoon that we get those games in on, on Saturdays.
We might play a double header there. And then we’re taking every Sunday off un- unless we’ve gotta do some maneuvering of, of our week-to-week schedule. But that gives you somewhat of an idea of, of what we try and, and do in, in the school year. Um, as we, we get into spring and we keep ourselves busy, that is, is for sure.
We’re gonna be a team that maxes out those 20 hours that we can get every week. And, and what I love is, is we’ve really created the culture where my girls are asking every week, “Coach, do we have any extra hours? Can we get out on, on the field with, with you and our, our coordinators and, and get some work in, in small groups?”
Or they’re coming into the office and, and grabbing footballs and, and stuff so they can get out there on, on their own. So certainly- Is something we build our identity around as, [00:22:00] as well is just packing that schedule and, and really getting out there as, as much as we can.
Matt: Okay. Well, we talked about the roster size in terms of players, and you kind of mentioned it a little bit, but let’s talk about the roster in terms of staff, who all’s there, who’s helping out with the team, et cetera.
Coach: Yeah, so you got myself, Coach Roth, Garrett Roth, um, second year now at, at the college level, two years in, in high school at, at Rancho Cordova High School in, in California. Um, so I’m head coach, and then my two, two coordinators are, are Gaspar Ramos, who is our offensive coordinator. He’s from Panama. Um, he plays on the Panama Men’s National Team.
Just got back from Germany a couple weeks ago from playing in the IFAF tournament. He is a killer on the field. I cannot wait to, to get out and, and play with him a little bit in, in some tournaments and, and stuff around. Um, but he is awesome for us. He’s coached the, uh, Panama Saints club team as well, which from [00:23:00] my time recruiting some of those girls and, and watching them, that’s, I mean, that’s a lot of the Panama National Team girls that have gone through that program and, and that he has coached himself.
Um, and he was the, the coordinator for, for that program. So really, really excited to have him on the staff because that is, is huge. And then our defensive coordinator is, is Coach Mario Ruiz. He is from Spain, uh, coached at the club level over there for, for six years. Uh, really, really talented young guy.
He still plays football for us at Ferrum, which is, is awesome and that is something in itself to manage both, um, because he brings a lot of time over to, to flag football and invests in what we’re doing super heavily to where I’ve handed him the keys to the defense and we’ve got a very complex defense at, at that in terms of what we’re, we’re running, we’re gonna be- 25, 28 plays deep on the defensive side of the ball, which is, is [00:24:00] definitely a very consistent and, and solid game plan that we’re able to put together there.
Um, he’s got experience playing on some of the youth flag national teams for Spain, um, playing on, on some of the tackle national teams as, as well, so he’s been in that, that space. Um, some point he’ll probably end up playing professionally over, over the summers in, in Spain for, for tackle. S- very talented guy him- himself, and to have that one-two punch of coordinators is pretty rare right now, which is something that we’re really excited about, especially…
Not to toot my own horn, but I feel like I’m, I’m pretty quality at, at the head coach spot as well. I, I feel like this staff is, is gonna be one of the best in the country for, for a long time.
Matt: Yeah. Sounds like it. Well, Coach, you’ve given us some really good insights, and, uh, wanna leave you with one last question, and that is, if you had one piece of advice for, you know, some high school girl out there playing flag football right now who may wanna [00:25:00] play in college, what would that be?
Coach: Oh, that’s, that’s probably the toughest question of, of the day right there- … because there’s so many different things I feel like I could, I could throw out there. Uh, I think really the, the main one is, is just push yourself, advertise your- yourself in terms of, you know, get a, get a Instagram created, get your clips up there, start emailing coaches.
There’s enough availability in these programs across the country, um, to create opportunities for yourself by doing that. Um, and it’s gonna take the work on the field as well, and that’s something that I would, would throw in there and into my words of advice is, you know, last year for us, the, the girls that were coming out and doing the optional small groups and, and stuff like that that we’d have in the fall, every single one got playing time the, in the, in the season.[00:26:00]
Um, and that is an indicator of, you know, the, the level of effort and, and pride that they’re taking in- into their, their craft. So I think it’s just working hard is, is one, but also pushing yourself and, and being confident in, in the fact that, you know, you can have this opportunity as, as long as you go out and, and try and take it.
So creating that Instagram, uh, a Hudl highlight reel or, or something like that, getting on something like FieldLevel or, or whatever it, it looks like, um, and emailing coaches I think is, is gonna be the best route to just getting your name out there. And as soon as the first offer comes rolling in, it’s, it’s a, a steamroll from, from there, ’cause other, other coaches will, will catch attention and, and it’ll continue to, to snowball from, from that standpoint.
But there’s so many things that I could throw into that, that question, um, and, and so many different pieces of advice, but I think that would be kind of the main things that I would [00:27:00] focus on.
Matt: All right. Awesome. Well, Coach, really appreciate it. Wish you the best of luck, uh, in year two, and, uh, hopefully there’ll be some sort of event down here in Bradenton and I can, uh, w- we can get together in, in real life, all right?
Coach: Yeah, I mean, that’s, that’s the goal is to be back down there. I enjoyed the, the weather down there, so hopefully we will be back this year and raising that trophy at the end of it.
Matt: All right. Well, best of luck to you.
Coach: Appreciate it. Thank you.