On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Jeremy Corr from the North Central Missouri College Flag Football program in Trenton, Missouri. We talk about the challenges of building a brand-new roster, recruiting players from across the country and internationally, and why communication is so important in the recruiting process. Coach also shares what makes North Central Missouri unique, from its affordable scholarships and supportive small-town atmosphere to his vision for building a family-oriented culture as the program enters its next season.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi, everybody. Welcome to Discover College Flag. Today, I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Jeremy from North Central Missouri. Welcome, coach. Thank you for having me. Yeah, thanks for being here. Excited to talk to you. Um, so you, you, uh, we’re talking here end of July. You’ve, you just got the job probably six weeks ago, but, uh, it’s right after- Yeah
I guess the school’s very first, uh, competitive season. Is that right?
Coach: Yeah, it is. Um, you know, they, uh… I started with my club team here in Oklahoma, and then I got, they, they reached out to me and said, “Hey, you know, we’re looking for a college coach. Would you be interested?” And I said, “Yeah, why not?” I,
Matt: I feel like that’s, that’s a lot of the, the f- flag coach these days, is a lot of people getting roped in and a lot of why nots, right?
Coach: It is. It is. Well, the issue is, is, you know, there’s n- you know, everyone’s looking for someone [00:01:00] who’s got flag college experience, and it’s just not out there. And so they’re hiring tackle football coaches, and I just happen to have experience from coaching and playing, and it just kind of… it worked out.
Matt: Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s funny ’cause you, you know, a- a- all athletic directors know is hiring coaches who were already coaches and at high levels- Yeah … and, and they’re just, they’re, that, that pool of people just isn’t there yet. So we’re, it’s gonna be interesting the next, next few years. There’s gonna be a lot of opportunity, I think.
Coach: Ye- yes, there, there will. I mean, I, I’ve, I had several interviews, um, before, um, the North Central job, and every single one of them said, “Well, you don’t have the college experience.” And I’m like, “Well, you’re not gonna have one that has the college experience, not r- not this moment. You’re not.” But, you know, it is what it is.
Matt: Yeah. Well, let’s, l- let’s talk about, I know, like I say, you’ve, you’ve only been there a, a few [00:02:00] weeks, but, uh, in terms of, you know, i- since your two-year program, you, you gotta recruit a lot, right? ‘Cause people are coming and going, uh, super fast. So w- what’s, what’s your plan, uh, to try to get folks here in terms of starting school in the fall, or are you assuming a lot of them will start in January?
Or, or what’s kinda your process for, for getting girls
Coach: at the school? I… Well, right now, um, you know, I did get hired late into the recruiting process. Um, when I say late, these people, other coaches have been building up the, um, you know, the, uh, um… What am I thinking of? They’ve been building up the, um- The rosters
talking. They- Yeah … yeah, well, they, they, they’ve been, they’ve been talking to these recruits for most of the year, and so I started late in that process. So I, I started out with [00:03:00] interviewing, trying to, trying to interview, trying to talk to over 200 girls. Um, and I was like, “Man, if I, if I wanna get this roster of 15, I’ve got to, you know, quadruple, you know, I gotta get as many girls as I can.”
The issue that I had was out of those 200, now I’m down to roughly 30 girls, and that is because- Either they didn’t respond, their parents weren’t responding. Um, I only had probably a handful tell me no, they’d already committed somewhere else. The overall issue was they just were not responding back to my texts or my phone calls or my emails.
Matt: Hmm. Interesting.
Coach: And which… Yes, um, and when I started reaching out to other coaches to try to build my schedule for this upcoming season, um, that seems to be the biggest issue that most colleges at every, at every level. Um, you know, I’m a JUCO, but even all the way up to Division 1, they’re having issues [00:04:00] that the parents or the students just, the players are not responding, um, back to us.
Matt: So, so that being said, are you finding those, those contact, that contact information, those recruiting profiles, et cetera, is that, are you looking, uh, at, at, at social media? Is there online to put, uh, websites that you’re looking at? Like, where do you find those players to be able to reach out?
Coach: Well, um, you know, I’m a, I’m a USA Flag ID coach.
So when we go to the, um, the Flag ID camps, you know, we meet the girls there, or I do. Um, we get information from them. Um, we, um, there’s a FieldLevel app, which is for coaches to… And that’s of every sport. That’s not just flag football. There’s volleyball on there and so, and so forth. Um, and then just reaching out, um, going to camps.
You know, everything that I can possibly get a hold of girls, that’s what I’m doing. Um, but [00:05:00] the FieldLevel app and Instagram have been my biggest, my biggest ways to recruit. Um, with the social media, these girls nowadays, and not just the girls, but you know, everyone is on social media, but they’re even posting, you know, their highlights just on their, on their Instagram page.
So that’s what I just, I just started doing it that way. I’d find a girl that I was interested in and say, “Okay, how do I get in contact with you?” She’d give me her phone number, the email, and then their Instagram page. And so it just kind of went from there- Yeah … as far as how many girls I was recruiting.
Matt: Okay. Well, I mean, one thing that I will say, which maybe this isn’t, uh, abnormal for flag football, but I, I, I can say that it is in a lot of sports rosters, is you’re, you’re a two-year program in Missouri, and there’s a whole lot of non-local girls on that roster. So, so how you pulling that off?
Coach: Well, you’re right, and it’s not only that we’re in Missouri, but we’re in Trenton, Missouri.
Um, the near- the [00:06:00] nearest, um, what would you’d say a, an, a major town is probably 30 minutes away, where they actually have a Walmart. Um, my town that the college is in is probably 8,000 people max, so it is a smaller, a smaller town. Um, so when it comes to that, a lot of these girls are like, “Wait a minute, they’re, they sh- the town shuts down at 10:00?”
Yes, it does. But, you know, they’re not used to that. So, you know, I am competing with that. You know, it’s not a, a big, you know, what you would say like a college town where there’s something for them all to do all the time. Um, but you’re right. I, with Missouri just passing it in the high school levels, um, I would say Out of my roster currently, I’ve got one girl that’s from Missouri.
Everywhere else, they’re from everywhere else. I’ve got girls from, um, Texas, um, Kansas, uh, I got a, I got a couple girls from Mexico, and then I’m currently in the process of talks with a girl [00:07:00] from Canada and Europe. So I’ve had to actually even reach out toward, you know, out of the country to try to get girls to, to, to come to, you know, to Trenton, Missouri.
Matt: Sure. Well, uh, I mean, it, it’s great to see more and more states adding it on as a varsity program. I’m here in Florida, which I think may have been the, one of the first, so we’ve got a lot of Florida girls here, and I think, uh, some on your roster this past season. But when it, when it comes to finding girls, you said you talked to, about the USA I- ID camps.
Uh-
Coach: Mm-hmm …
Matt: are, are you looking a lot at, like, like AAU and, and events like that? Or high school, uh, flag? Or, or kind of what, where do you, where do you specifically look? Or are you just looking at highlights and, and anywhere, everywhere that’ll take you?
Coach: Well, honestly, I’ve, I’ve reached out to… I mean, I’ve, I’ve gone to, with me playing and having my own club team, um, starting out, um, I met a lot of people and, and connections that way.
So what I did was I found [00:08:00] girls who had been playing for a year or two and didn’t, they didn’t go to college because it wasn’t available for them at that time. So I reached out to the girls that I’d been playing against, you know, and said, “Hey, look, I’ve seen you play and you haven’t been to college. If you’d like to come to college and, um, get to play, you know, you haven’t used your, your college time, so let’s do it that way.”
That’s one way that I reached out. Um, and then the other is just through the high school divisions. Like you said, in Florida, you know, you, you guys have been doing it for a long time. Um, uh, so I, you know, I, I would reach out through the Florida, you know. But most of my connections being from Oklahoma are from, like, the Texas Fury teams, your Kansas Heat, your Kansas Guardians.
Um, so I went to my, my club teams that I was familiar with and I’ve played against, and that’s where I started my recruiting.
Matt: Okay. Makes sense. Well, i- in terms of, let’s say you’re from Florida or even Mexico or, or anywhere else, but you’re- Mm-hmm … you know, you’re [00:09:00] kind of not local, what, what can one of those players expect?
Because I know not every two-year program has, has dorms or, you know, what’s the living situation? And, and more importantly for a lot of these families, you know, maybe what’s the financial situation? Are there scholarships available for flag football these days?
Coach: There is actually, and well, see, we are the first JUCO in Missouri to actually have it, so I have that advantage.
The, um, advantage that I also have is my flag football program is a Division I program. So with it being Division I, I can offer a athletic scholarship with dorms. Um, they can get an academic scholarship as well. Um, so I have the, you know, those, those means that most your, like your Division III’s, they can’t offer an athletic scholarship.
Um, so, you know, we are a two-year college, but in saying that, what it costs you to come to our college for two years and graduate costs you one year at a four-year college. [00:10:00] And, you know, I do offer scholarships. We have them, you know, we, we have dorms. Um, but even though we are a smaller program with- in a junior college, we have one of the top nursing programs in the country.
Um, we’ve got several programs at our school that, you know, can help you with your future beyond flag football. And so that’s, that’s kind of where I started, you know, where I’m going with it, you know. Say, “Hey, we are a two-year college, um, but you can come here for two years and graduate for the cost of, you know, at a one- at a four-year college.”
Matt: Well-
Coach: Um, and, and, you know, that’s, that ki- that helps, you know. And a lot of girls’, you know, parents, not really the girls, I would say your parents, they’re, you know, it’s their daughters. They don’t want them to, to go away from New Mexico, or they don’t want them to go away to Missouri. You know, even the girls from Florida, they’re like, “Eh, to Missouri.”
Um, but yeah, yeah, but you can come here at the cost, at a pretty good cost. You know, roughly, I would say about 16,000 a year is [00:11:00] what it costs you to come to our college. So we are extremely affordable, and we have everything that your four-year colleges have, it’s just a junior college.
Matt: Okay. Well, and that actually brings me to, to my next question is, you know- Mm-hmm
you’ve, I know you’ve only been there, like, six weeks, but y- you know, something had to drag you from, uh, from Oklahoma to Missouri. What was it about the school that you find is, is exceptional? Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know by going through the website.
Coach: Um, the town. I mean, I, I am f- you know, I’m from Oklahoma.
Uh, I would say a smaller town, but, um, compared to this it’s not. Um, but the whole town turns out for the program. You know, your basketball games, um, are full of the people from the town, from the kids, from the high school kids, middle school kids, their grandparents, their parents. So it’s, you have that small town community that when, yeah, the town shuts down, but they’re at your game.
They’re watching you. You know, and that’s kind [00:12:00] of where I was talking to my girls, you know. Um, th- these… They’re, you’re gonna be a, a superstar to them. You’re gonna be famous. They’re gonna be wanting your autographs. They’re gonna be wanting to take pictures of you. So you get to experience that, that, that you may not get at a bigger college because you are at a bigger college and, you know, sometimes you get overlooked with that much, that many sports going on, you know?
You gotta figure flag football being so new, it’s still one of the, the lower programs at a college. You know, um, like with Nebraska being the first power, you know, for a conference to actually give scholarships, you’re gonna be behind tackle football, you’re gonna be behind their basketball, you’re gonna be behind their baseball.
Well, at North Central Missouri, you’re gonna be one of the top sports, if not the top sport in entertainment in the town
Yeah, that’s, that’s great But that’s what, that’s what, that’s what, yeah, that’s what took me there, you know, was i- is the people around, you know, ’cause I, I went down there and stayed. [00:13:00] Since I’ve been there I’ve, I’ve driven up there, um, probably two or three times, and I just… Everyone’s welcoming, you know?
Even though I’m just a, a, a flag football coach, they’re all excited about it coming and, and the building of the program
Matt: Yeah, that’s fantastic. Well, in terms of, um, you know, let, let’s just assume we fast-forward- Mm-hmm … to next spring, uh, and, and, and you’re in charge of the team for that season. What, walk me through what do you expect an average week to look like for the players in terms of when are practices, games, classes, meals, all that stuff?
Coach: Well, um, you know, I’ll treat it just like it was when I, when I played ball. Um, we’ll have our film days. Um, once we get done with our film days, we will be out and we will incorporate what we’ve seen on the film on the field. You know, that way it takes that, you know, they m- they take what they’ve learned, and now they can see it in action.
Um, I’ll, I’ll be real big about [00:14:00] them staying in shape, so we’ll do a lot of agility drills. You know, not a whole lot of weightlifting. If we do weightlifting, it’s gonna be more, you know, high reps just to stay toned up. You know, I don’t, you know, flag football, you don’t have to be the biggest anymore, you know?
You can, you can, as long as you have the good footwork, you, you can be a great football player, flag football player. So, you know, we’ll do a lot of agility, agility, and then, you know, a lot of, of team building. You know, um, the prior team, um, had some issues. Um, they weren’t really coming together as a team.
So, you know, I’ve been brought in ’cause I’ve built a program from the ground up and treated it like it was family, and so we will do the same thing. You know, we will start this program from the ground up. And, and from the original roster, we have none coming back. None of the girls from the last year’s roster came back, so I’m having to build a 15-player roster from [00:15:00] scratch.
And, and so it’s, I’m gonna have to build it like there’s, you know, I’m coach, but, you know, we’re family, so we will, we will start there. And then obviously there’s schoolwork. You know, I’m a big advocate of, you know, your schoolwork. Flag football’s not gonna be your, you know, you’re not gonna be able to do it your whole life, so you have to be able to be ready for your future.
Um, but it will be, it’ll be a lot of film work, um, agility, like I said, and then just learning, you know, my playbook. I will be running an RPO system, um, with a lot of bunch and stack formations. Um, a lot of these girls are from 5-man. We are 7-man, so now they’ve gotta learn how to take that one-yard rusher and block, you know?
And, and the, the quarterback’s gotta be able to m- move faster and think faster with a rusher only coming from a yard away, one yard away.
Matt: Yeah, for sure. Well, [00:16:00] you said you were working on building that schedule and- Mm-hmm … and you’re the only junior college in Missouri with a team, right? So what, uh, who, who can players expect to be playing against?
Where are you headed? What’s that schedule gonna be looking like?
Coach: Well, um, as of now, you know, we’re still waiting on the NAIA to, to release their final schedule. Um, but with me also being an independent, because we are not affi- affiliated with the JUCO, I’m kind of like Notre Dame. I can play who I want and, and I’ve taken that advantage.
You know, we’re coming to back to Oklahoma. We will be playing OU’s flag, um, club team. Um, uh, the University of Oklahoma’s flag club team. We’re gonna be playing Murray State, and that’s a home and away. Um, William & Woods, William Woods will be a home and away. Um, Missouri Valley will be a M- uh, home and away.
Um, let me think who else. Let me look, actually. Let me see. I’ve got-
Um, [00:17:00] Hastings, Hastings College is also another one, Westminster, and then we have a, a small tournament between Knox College and DuPage, DuPage College, I think that’s how… I don’t know how to say that right. Um, so we’re gonna be ha- we have a lot of games already set in stone. Um, but I’ve also reached out to Missouri Baptist, I’ve reached out to Bethel, um, and McPherson College.
So I’ve reached out to a, a handful. Um, the one thing I was not gonna do was play Ottawa. I wasn’t gonna play Kansas Wesleyan. You know, I’m not gonna put these girls and the new team against your two powerhouses. I’m not gonna do that yet. Um, so, you know, we, I tried to find the same competition level that I was gonna be dealing with with these girls, um, for at least the first year and see how we, how we go from there.
Ultimate goal is to be at the nationals in Florida, um, at our first year. Um, that would be the goal, but we’ll see how we do.
Matt: Awesome. [00:18:00] Awesome. Well, Coach, really appreciate, uh, the time, the insight. Thank you. Gonna leave you with one last la- one last question, is if you had one piece of advice for anybody that was interested in playing flag football in college, what would that be?
Coach: Communicate. Communication. You know, like I said, the, the 2026 class, for whatever reason, um, we are having, all the colleges and coaches are having a massive problem with them not communicating back with us. Um, with it being so n- not really new, but the attention, the, the s- the growth is new, um, these girls, I, I believe that them and their families are so overwhelmed, and they really don’t understand the, the recruiting process, if that makes sense.
And so, you know, you reach out to them, but you may not hear nothing back for a month or two months, and you’re like, “Well, you know, you said you’re interested. You know, I sent you a letter of intent. Um, you haven’t signed it. What, what’s going on?” Um, [00:19:00] so it’s just that, you know? Communication. Even if you’re…
These coaches, we have a certain timeframe that we have to have our rosters built and everything up and running. So, you know, we’re honoring you, and we want you to come play for us, but show us that respect, I guess you can say, and, and just let us know. If you don’t wanna come play for us, cool. I have to go move on, ’cause I gotta try to find, you know, two or three girls maybe to replace you.
So the communication key for the future, you know? My ’27 class, ’28 class, they’re blowing me up. I mean, they will send me highlight videos. “Hey, Coach, look at what I did this weekend.” So if they would just continue to do that, they’re not gonna have an issue. And another big issue is not every single player is a D1 caliber.
I know that sounds bad. You, you get what I mean? And, and I don’t wanna say that to them, but take a junior college level, take a Division II route, you know? Just because we’re a junior college, you can [00:20:00] still transfer to a four-year college just getting that little bit more experience. And, you know, it’s kind of like with tackle football.
You know, you see it all the time with tackle football guys out of high school, they’ll go play JUCO. And then what do you see next? They’re getting Division I or Power Five conference scholarships. So you s- don’t put all your eggs in a ba- in one basket thinking, “I’m gonna go Division I.” Um, even though there are some Division I schools out there, the Division II way, the NAIA way, JUCO ways are also still a really good process to get you where you wanna go.
Matt: Yeah, for sure. And, and by the time, if you- Yeah … if you do your two years, there’s gonna be just that many more Division I programs that start programs by the time you’re ready to take that leap.
Coach: Yes, yes.
Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Well, Coach, I wish you the best of luck as you fill out that roster- Oh, thank you … and, and get ready for that first season.
And, uh, we wish you nothing but the best.
Coach: Thank you so [00:21:00] much.