Courtesy Nebraska Athletics
The Nebraska flag football program has its first head coach: Liz Sowers, a five-time national champion at the NAIA level for Ottawa University in Kansas, will lead the program. Katie Sowers, her sister and a former NFL assistant, was also hired as associate head coach.
The two will join the Cornhuskers’ athletic department this summer, completing this season with Ottawa first. They will prepare for the first season of Nebraska flag football, in the spring of 2028.
Liz holds an 88-8 record while leading Ottawa to the last five national championships at the NAIA level. She’s earned conference coach of the year three times, while also serving as the defensive coordinator for the USA Women’s National Team in 2023, helping the United States to the Continental Championships gold medal. In her playing career, Liz was a seven-time First-Team All-American for the Kansas City Titans. She also played for the West Michigan Mayhem, Kansas City Tribe and Kansas City Glory. She was on the 2016, 2018 and 2021 USA Women’s Flag Football teams and on the 2013 and 2017 USA Women’s Tackle Football teams. She is a two-time gold medalist with the national tackle football team and also won gold with the national flag football team in 2018. She played four years of college basketball, including two at Hesston (Kan.) College and two at Oakland University.
Katie has also been a part of five national championships at Ottawa, serving as associate head coach and defensive coordinator. She also worked as the head coach for the Italian Women’s National Flag Football team in 2023-24. Before that, Katie worked with the Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers and Atlanta Falcons. She was selected for the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship with the Chiefs in 2021, working with the tight ends. She was an offensive quality control coach with the 49ers from 2017-2021. Before that, she was a player personnel scout with the Falcons from 2015-17. Katie played basketball and soccer and ran track at Goshen College.