Alumna Nellie Mixon has come home to take the reins of the new women’s flag football team as head coach.

A 2006 graduate of the sport management program, Mixon was a member of the NCAA women’s basketball team and currently sits fifth on the program’s all-time points list with 1,453 for her career. Mixon joined The United States Army in 2010 and served as a Sergeant in the Army Transportation Corps' 88M Motor Transport until 2021.

Mixon began playing professional women’s tackle football in 2021 as a tight end for the Philadelphia Phantomz of the Women’s National Football Conference, a 16-team league that plays a six-game spring schedule. Mixon also plays flag football in the Ska’moog Flag Football League, based in New Jersey.

“It’s such a surreal moment to go back to the very place that helped shape your future,” said Mixon about her return to Neumann as a head coach. “These young ladies have no idea the barriers they are breaking. I look forward to being a part of something so amazing and so powerful as we go through this journey together.” 

“Coach Mixon’s appreciation and understanding of our institutional values coupled with her knowledge of women’s football and women’s flag football gives this new program a wonderful start and point of distinction,” said Dr. Chris Domes.

With the endorsement of and financial support from the NFL and RCX Sports, the Atlantic East Conference announced in June 2023 that it would launch flag football as a varsity sport in the spring of 2025.

Flag football was a club sport in 2024 at four Atlantic East schools (Centenary, Immaculata, Marymount, and Neumann), which competed in a championship tournament on April 13, the first official competition in the sport. Neumann finished in third place.

Flag football is similar to the NFL game with some key differences: a shorter field, seven-on-seven play, and no offensive or defensive line players. Instead of tackling, players in possession of the ball are downed when an opponent removes a breakaway flag from their waist belts.

The role of flag football coach is a part-time position at the university. Mixon lives in Burlington, NJ, and is employed full-time with New Jersey Transit.

She will be assisted by another Neumann alum, Matthew Lawson ‘18, who also serves as director of campus recreation and club sports.