MU’s flag football team inaugural coach, Frank Jennaco. CSIDOLPHINS.COM / COURTESY
Maria Castaño, A&E Section Editor
Manhattan University (MU) has introduced the women’s flag football and acrobatic and tumbling teams as brand-new athletic programs that are set to begin play during the fall of 2026. Hallie Fowler was announced on July 14, 2025, as the inaugural Acrobatics & Tumbling Head Coach, and has been working on recruiting the 32 athletes currently on the team. Frank Jennaco was revealed as the inaugural Head Coach for the women’s flag football team at the beginning of 2026 and has recruited 30 athletes for the team.
Fowler was a renowned student-athlete before coming to MU, being named an All-American by the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association (NCATA) in 2025, winning a national title in Open Pyramid in 2024 as well as a national title in Six-Element Acro in 2025. She was also a competitive gymnastics coach during her time at Quinnipiac and a competitive team director at JAG Gymnastics in Wallingford, Conn.
Her capabilities as a top-ranked athlete made her MU’s choice to lead one of their newest Division I teams. Acrobatic & Tumbling was only recently recognized as an NCAA sport, and Fowler shared with The Quadrangle the importance of this shift and emphasized it as a historical moment for the athletic world.
“We are the only team starting this year for our first-ever season,” Fowler said. “My 30 freshmen are the only ones to step in as NCAA athletes and leave as NCAA athletes, so it’s really special to not only have built that team, but to kind of have Manhattan [University] be a part of the fact that we are NCAA…. I don’t even know how to explain the gravity of it all. The history of how much impact these women are having, not just at this school, but also throughout the country and all of women’s athletics. They have a huge impact on my life, and I hope to have a huge impact on their lives.”
Jennaco also had a fruitful professional career before coming to MU, coaching the flag football team at the College of Staten Island into an undefeated 11-0 record during the 2024-25 regular season, and operating as the founder and president of the National Collegiate Flag Football League since 2024. Similarly to Fowler, Jennaco is full of ambition for what he wants to achieve with the women’s flag football team, and places emphasis on giving the athletes a positive experience so they can reflect all of their potential in the field.
“I think it’s really important to clearly identify what your standards are going to be,” Jennaco said. “Identify what steps you need to take in order to achieve the goals that you want and lay them out early and as clearly as possible, so that way we have a framework, we have a pathway for our athletes to follow; so that way they can go and achieve their goals and their dreams, and ultimately represent Manhattan University in a positive way.”
Jennaco is focusing on building a strong foundation for this new sport at MU by forming positive bonds between teammates, but also with the rest of the community. He shared with The Quadrangle that he’s hosting a football reunion, scheduled on Sept. 13, where past football alumni can come back to campus and see how the sport has progressed and what flag football is about. He wants to make flag football a core sport for MU that will bring people together.
“It’s going to be really about driving awareness this fall, so that way we can get people out to our games because we know that we’re going to be a really good team,” Jennaco said. “That’s really what our goal is: to get people in our stands, get our supporters out there. I truly believe that within a year – and I told Jordan, our athletic director, this when he hired me – that by the end of the year we’ll be the best team on campus, and I also think that we’ll be the most supported too. We want to be the game where Friday nights, that’s where everybody goes.”
The following games the flag football team has on schedule are on Oct. 25; this will be their first-ever game at home, against Manor College. Their next game will be another home game on Nov. 7 against the College of Staten Island. The Acrobatic & Tumbling team’s schedule is set primarily for spring 2027.
“Our first ever competition is [on] Feb. 6,” Fowler said. “It’s an away meet at Morgan State [University], and then we are currently in the works with a top 10 ranked team for our first home game, and that will be a big deal for us. Then we have four home games that we are planning this season, and three away games. Then hopefully, you’ll see us in the national championship in April.”
The process of recruitment from these newer teams poses a challenge as MU lacks any specific background athletes can look at, making the reputation and experience of the inaugural coaches especially critical. Reese Arnold, a freshman majoring in exercise science who specializes in playing as a linebacker or center on the flag football team, shared with The Quadrangle why she chose to become a part of the team.
“It was honestly because Coach Frank is building a program here where he really values and supports his players,” Arnold said. “I can tell he wants us to be the best we can be and will do anything to help us get to that level. And there’s so many resources for us here, like our two athletic training rooms, the gym, a really nice field and coaches who again, want the best for us and want to see us thrive and grow, and who are more focused on us playing the best we possibly can, so that stood out to me.”
This focus on building community on campus and seeing athletes as individuals is instrumental in the development of collegiate sports teams, so coaches are responsible for overseeing the competitive well-being of the team as well as looking over everyone and helping them achieve their best. Fowler shared with The Quadrangle her goal as a coach for the Acrobatics & Tumbling team.
“I always tell all of my recruits, nobody’s going pro here,” Fowler said. “So, I want you to come in and leave a better human than the way you came in. My goal at the end of the day is to not only have you enjoy your four years here and be successful, but also have you leave with a job. Have you leave with more connections than the day you came in.”
The future looks busy and bright for both teams, looking forward to championships in the near future, as well as many games that will showcase their abilities. Arnold commented on the importance she feels in being part of the first class of the flag football team.
“I’m really excited to be part of the inaugural team for Manhattan [University],” Arnold said. “Especially playing girls flag football, because there’s so many young girls who play FNL growing up, and then they age out of it, and there’s not any option for them to keep playing … especially for my little sister, because my little sister is 11 and she plays and she loves it. So, I want to show her that she can keep doing this, and there is a future in flag [football] if she wants it.”