SALINA, Kan. — Landin Sledge, a former men's flag football player and women's coach, is the new flag coach at Kansas Wesleyan, the athletic department announced Tuesday.
Sledge comes to Salina after playing for the men's club team and starting the women's club program at his alma mater, North Carolina Charlotte.
"I'm very excited, I'm just ecstatic," Sledge said. "It's something I've been looking forward to doing for the past couple of years and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm ready to work."
Sledge, a 2025 graduate of UNC Charlotte with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, played quarterback for the men's club team while founding and developing the women's program. The 49ers were 30-10 against Division I and II opponents under Sledge's leadership in the past three seasons, including an 8-2 record in the first year.
"Coach Sledge brings extensive experience coaching flag football and possesses a deep understanding of the game that will immediately benefit our student athletes and program," KWU director of athletics Miguel Paredes said. "Coach Sledge has established a strong reputation as an outstanding recruiter demonstrating the ability to identify, attract and develop talented student athletes. We are confident that his leadership, passion and vision will continue to elevate our flag football program and contribute to the success of our student-athletes both on and off the field."
Sledge was a standout quarterback for Riverside High School in Durham, N.C., where he threw for 6,799 career passing yards and 74 touchdowns from 2017-2020 before attending UNC Charlotte. After enrolling at UNC Charlotte, a roommate introduced him to flag football when walk-on opportunities for football weren't available.
"I went out and I kind of fell in love with it," he said.
The idea of fielding a women's team increasingly grew.
"We had a couple out my freshman year but never had enough to fill a whole team," he said. "What kind of inspired that was we had a player from Georgia reach out and see if we had a women's team and I was like 'No, we don't, let's go ahead and start it.'"
Sledge said his on campus visit to KWU convinced him.
"I met with Miguel, I met with Meagan (Contreras, assistant athletic director/senior women's leader) and some other coaches and I loved everybody. I really enjoyed meeting everyone in the building," he said. "That was the main reason why I accepted the job. I also love the city."
KWU was 14-5 and finished third in the Inaugural NAIA Flag Football Invitational in May in Bradenton, Fla. It's one of the best team finishes for a KWU team in school history at an official NAIA postseason event.
"My goals are to just stay consistent with what's been going on for the past couple of years," Sledge said. "Being out in the community and fundraising and obviously winning and getting these women better every day."
Sledge said he's somewhat familiar with the team he's inheriting.
"I've been keeping up with them, I know there's a lot of big pieces that left including the quarterback (Chihiro Iwata) and some of the receivers," he said. "But there's been a lot of recruiting. (Interim) Coach (Chris) Snyder did a really good job getting a good 2026 class in and now we're just trying to build off what he did and what (former coach) Melinda (Nguyen) did. I've brought in some recruits as well and we're going to see what the season looks like."
Sledge said he wants his KWU teams to be representative of past squads.
"We're going to be very disciplined; we're going to be very hardworking," he said. "You'll see maybe some different stuff that you might not have seen in the past … but you'll definitely see a good team. We'll be very young so you'll see some things that need to be worked out but we'll try to be consistent with what Kansas Wesleyan has done over the past couple years."
—KCAC—