Former Illinois State linebacker LaVoise-Deontae McCoy is enjoying a dual role as a first-year coach at UW-Stout. He is the school’s defensive backs coach and the head women’s flag football coach. (Photo by Carl Olson, StoutBlueDevils.com)
By Barry Bottino
LaVoise Deontate-McCoy never imagined he would be coaching college football.
After the Illinois State linebacker’s career concluded in 2024, he spent a year at Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Chicago’s south suburbs helping the football program.
“I thought I was going to get a job in (information technology) and be a high school coach,” he said. “If you asked me in college if I wanted to coach college, I would’ve said no.”
Today, McCoy is not only coaching in college, but he’s pulling double duty at NCAA Division III Wisconsin-Stout.
During the fall, he serves as the defensive backs coach for the Blue Devils, who are 2-1 this season. When he was started the job in March, he took over as head coach of the school’s women’s flag football program.
“There’s a lot on my plate, but it’s what I asked for and what I wanted,” McCoy said.
Growth of flag football
McCoy’s first exposure to women’s flag football came during off-season training as a college player in Florida with well-known trainer Tevin Allen’s Gold Feet Global.
His older brother Dontae, an ISU alum and fellow linebacker, was teammates with Allen in Normal from 2011-2014. The two have remained close friends.
“I look at (Tevin) as my big brother,” LaVoise-Deontae McCoy said. “When I would train down there with him, he would always have flag football athletes training there.”
During one spring break training trip, McCoy said one of the athletes was a Division I flag recruit preparing for college.
“That was my first time seeing that flag might really blow up,” he said.
According to CollegiateFlagFootball.com, a website dedicated to the sport, 60 schools have NCAA-sanctioned teams. Another 100 NCAA schools have club teams.
In 2025, Stout became the first four-year Wisconsin school to launch a flag program. Thanks to a unique partnership with financial support from the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, the Midwest College Women’s Flag Football League was born. Stout won the inaugural league title in 2025.
The league tournament is hosted at the Vikings’ TCO Performance Center.
Taking over
When McCoy got to campus this spring, he jumped right into both sports.
He met on his second day on the job with Duey Naatz, the now-retired Stout athletic director who coached the flag program in 2025 and serves today as McCoy’s offensive coordinator. Ten days later, McCoy was on the practice field with his 26 flag athletes.
“He broke down the team and gave me the keys right away,” McCoy said. “Having Duey to lean on was good for me. It was a quick turnaround, but it was really special to have somebody to ease me into it.”
During his first season at the helm, McCoy served as head coach and defensive coordinator. He led the flag program to a 6-5 record and a fourth-place finish in the 2026 Midwest League championship tournament.
Eighteen members of his roster also play another sport as Stout.
“A lot of my best players are soccer players,” said McCoy, whose roster also includes members of the Stout women’s basketball and golf teams. “They have pride in it. They work out all year long. They don’t really have an off-season.”
Their introduction to flag, however, did not mean football was new to them.
“For so many of the girls, their brothers played or their dads played,” McCoy said. “They’ve always been around football. They understand man (defense) concepts. They understand zone concepts. They understand blitzes.
“The intricate details you think about with men’s football are the same in flag football.”
The female athletes also received a helping hand from the men’s football coaches.
Offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Nick Pesik and quarterbacks coach Kobe Berghammer have visited practice to share their knowledge.
“They gave our girls the full experience of breaking down the nuances of what they’re doing,” McCoy said.
On the gridiron
Coaching defensive backs in the fall was a smooth transition, McCoy said, because of his history as a player.
Known as an all-conference linebacker at Illinois State, he played safety as a freshman for the Redbirds.
“My whole life, I only played two positions,” he said. “In high school, I only played safety. The things I learned playing safety matched with the things I learned playing linebacker. It all helped me being a coach.”
The Blue Devils are 2-1 and receiving votes in national D-III polls. During last week’s bye, McCoy was watching high school games in Illinois, which is his recruiting turf for Stout.
“They were looking for someone who knew Illinois,” he said of the hiring process at Stout. “It was a perfect storm for both sides.”
McCoy said during the bye, he also served as defensive coordinator in Stout’s 21-0 junior varsity victory against UW-Eau Claire.
During his first spring, his plate quickly became full managing both aspects of the job.
“My days would start at about 5 a.m. and end at about 5:30 p.m.,” he said. “Early in the morning during spring ball, we’d have football practice at 6:30 and finish at 9.”
From there, it was off to recruiting, watching film and meeting with players.
“Right after meetings, it was right out to flag practice for two to three hours,” he said.
Eyes on the Redbirds, Salukis
Amid his busy days, McCoy said he still makes time for Illinois State games.
“I love my alma mater,” he said. “There’s not an Illinois State game that I’m not watching. I’ve been part of Illinois State’s family since I was 8 years old (watching Dontae). The older guys there right now were my young guys. That’s special to see.”
McCoy also watches plenty of ISU rival Southern Illinois to root on his childhood friend, D.J. Williams, the Salukis’ standout quarterback.
“I’ll never fail to tell him that I’m always proud of him,” McCoy said. “It’s amazing that someone I grew up with and who I consider one of my brothers is playing at such a high level.”
That cheering, however, has its limits.
“D.J. knows that when they run into Illinois State, I’m not going to be a fan of his,” he joked.
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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