{"id":41077,"date":"2025-11-14T09:20:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/?p=41077"},"modified":"2025-11-14T09:55:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:55:36","slug":"flag-football-coach-nguyen-steps-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/flag-football-coach-nguyen-steps-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Flag Football Coach Nguyen Steps Down"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Melinda Nguyen, who guided Kansas Wesleyan\u2019s flag football program to unprecedented heights during three seasons, has announced her resignation.<\/p>\n

She has accepted a Division I head coaching job in a southern state.<\/p>\n

Nguyen\u2019s KWU teams won nearly 75 percent of their games (49-17) and were 27-5 against Kansas Conference opponents \u2014 four of the losses to Ottawa, the five-time defending winners of the NAIA’s flag football finals. The Coyotes defeated the Braves in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has done a fabulous job,\u201d Athletic Director Miguel Paredes said. \u201cShe took a program that was just starting and, in my opinion, turned it into one of the powerhouses in NAIA flag football while competing every year against the defending national champs. She represented the institution very well, not just as far as making (NAIA) nationals, but doing a great job recruiting, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nguyen guided KWU to a 15-7 record (8-1 KCAC) during her first season in 2023, the program\u2019s third year of existence.<\/p>\n

The 2024 team was the most successful in school history, going 19-4 (11-2 KCAC) and was the first conference team to defeat Ottawa, 18-13 on March 28 in Salina. Nguyen was named KCAC Coach of the Year.<\/p>\n

Last spring the Coyotes were 15-6 (8-2 KCAC) and made the program\u2019s first-ever appearance in the NAIA Flag Football Finals A Bracket. They lost to top-seeded Ottawa 26-25 in double overtime in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the growth of the overall program,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cI think in the past we were seen as underdogs, a team that really wasn\u2019t feared. We had some talent but were overlooked. Now, I think we\u2019ve made a statement; we\u2019ve made our mark. People are paying attention to us, looking at us like \u2018I don\u2019t know if I want to play them anymore.\u2019 I think that\u2019s huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

She credits her athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it really comes down to the players who came in,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201c(Quarterback) Chihiro Iwata \u2013 I didn\u2019t have to do anything. She\u2019s just an amazing athlete, high IQ, great technically. She\u2019s a real difference-maker. Putting structure around her, building a team around her that could be successful and putting them in the best position to be successful has really helped.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seniors last year were really strong leaders. We used their talents to the best of our team\u2019s ability, and I think we took advantage of the different tools that we had and put them in the right places.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nguyen is proud of the culture the program has developed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe culture when I first got here was just very different,\u201d she said. \u201cHaving that foundation and then building that into a program where players are really playing for each other I think made a really big difference. You can see the camaraderie, the friendships, the memories \u2014 they\u2019re having fun out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paredes said he plans to have a new coach in place before Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

Nguyen is optimistic the Coyotes will continue to succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to see the season all the way through,\u201d she said. \u201cI have a lot of seniors I would love to see graduate, but I\u2019m leaving confident that the stage is set. Everything has been taught. Of course, there\u2019s things that we could polish up, but that\u2019s always the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve told them Kansas Wesleyan is a strong team with or without a head coach. All I do is guide. You have a quarterback who\u2019s the best in the country or best in the world, can call her own plays. Then you have a phenomenal defensive mind (graduate assistant Alexa Mansur) who can support them. I think they\u2019re going to be strong whether I\u2019m here or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story by Bob Davidson<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":41078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFlag Football Coach Nguyen Steps Down - Kansas Wesleyan University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/flag-football-coach-nguyen-steps-down\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Flag Football Coach Nguyen Steps Down - Kansas Wesleyan University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/flag-football-coach-nguyen-steps-down\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kansas Wesleyan University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-14T15:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-14T15:55:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/74102685-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UGGA BUGGA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/flag-football-coach-nguyen-steps-down\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/flag-football-coach-nguyen-steps-down\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UGGA BUGGA\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/e90677b3c5a5134bf95098646f89807a\"},\"headline\":\"Flag Football Coach Nguyen Steps Down\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-14T15:20:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-14T15:55:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/flag-football-coach-nguyen-steps-down\/\"},\"wordCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/flag-football-coach-nguyen-steps-down\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/74102685-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Athletics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/flag-football-coach-nguyen-steps-down\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/flag-football-coach-nguyen-steps-down\/\",\"name\":\"Flag Football Coach Nguyen Steps Down - 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