HEAD COACH MELISSA VALENZUELA

Melissa Valenzuela joined Illinois Wesleyan as head coach of the inaugural women's flag football team in December 2024.

Valenzuela comes to IWU with more than 10 years of experience in both flag and tackle football. Most recently, Valenzuela coached girls flag football at Riverdale High School in Portland and was the wide receiver and defensive backs coach with the Oregon Ravens of the Women's National Football Conference.

Valenzuela has coached women's semi-contact, co-ed adult, and youth flag football teams in the Pacific Northwest since 2011. She was a co-creator of the first 5-on-5 women's flag football league in Seattle, Wash., and spearheaded the creation of the sport in Portland.

Additionally, Valenzuela served as a Flag Football Ambassador with the Northwest Flag Football Alliance and Women's Flag Football Network from 2015 to 2019. 

A student of the game, Valenzuela got her start in flag football as a player, co-captain, and team manager of the Cascadia Women's Contact Flag Football Team and various co-ed teams since 2011. She was a part of back-to-back Silver Champion teams for the NW Flag Football Championships. 

Valenzuela graduated from St. Edward's University in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in English writing and rhetoric before receiving her master's degree in recreation administration from Aurora University in 2003. Additionally, Valenzuela served eight years in the United States Army Reserves as a medical specialist.