Club Spotlight: Everett Elite Flag Football

Welcome to the first edition of the FFF Club Spotlight — a series where we sit down with the coaches and organizers who are building the flag football community from the ground up. Our goal is simple: help families understand the people and programs behind the game so they can find the right fit for their athlete.

We're kicking things off with Coach Jacob Hiatt, the owner and head coach of Everett Elite Flag Football, based out of the North Seattle area and serving the greater Seattle metro. Jacob has been coaching flag football for 12 years, and his program is one of the only dedicated flag-specific clubs in the Pacific Northwest.

At a Glance

• Club: Everett Elite Flag Football
• Location: Everett / North Seattle metro area, WA
• Head Coach: Jacob Hiatt
• Experience: 12 years coaching flag football
• Divisions: High school girls (travel & developmental), 12U boys, 14U girls (in development)
• Instagram: @everetteliteflagfootball

From Tackle Sidelines to Flag-Only

FFF: Tell us about your background. How did you end up coaching flag football full-time?

Jacob's introduction to flag football started as a kid playing in Skyhawks leagues. He went on to play tackle through semi-pro and coached tackle heavily for years. For a while, he ran the typical rotation — tackle in the fall, flag in the spring — but kept running into the same problem: he'd lose his flag players in the fall and his tackle players in the spring. The constant roster turnover made it nearly impossible to develop athletes over time.

That's when he made the call. Nobody in his area was building a year-round, flag-specific program. He saw the gap, committed to flag full-time, and hasn't looked back.

"Anybody can do tackle as far as coaching — if you have the love for the game, tackle will always be there. You can be 50, 60, 70 years old, still be a tackle coach. Flag is kind of a young person's sport. It requires a little more pep. It's fast." — Coach Jacob Hiatt

A Flag-First Philosophy

FFF: What's your coaching philosophy, both on and off the field?

Jacob is big on character first. He's looking for athletes who are dedicated to the sport and hungry to get better — talent, he says, can always be developed. His approach emphasizes unity, teamwork, and being relatable to young athletes rather than running a rigid, hardline program.

On the field, Everett Elite is laser-focused on the specifics of flag football as its own sport. While many coaches run seven-on-seven drills borrowed from the tackle world — route running, no-pad work — Jacob questions whether that translates to actual flag play. His program hones in on flag pulling, spacing, tempo, and game IQ: the details that separate a good athlete from a great flag football player.

"There's a lot of great programs that offer flag football. There's not a lot that really live flag football. We're obsessed over here." — Coach Jacob Hiatt

Building the Program

FFF: Tell us about your current teams and where you're headed.

Right now, Everett Elite's high school girls division is the flagship. They run both a travel team and a developmental team — the developmental squad is designed for athletes who may not be ready to travel yet but want the training, the experience, and a path to a roster spot when one opens up. Check out the Everett Elite Gold team profile to learn more about their competitive high school squad. On the boys side, they have a 12U division, and a 14U girls team is in the works.

Jacob is the first to acknowledge his program isn't 20 or 30 teams deep — yet. Because he's so hands-on with coaching, he's capped by how many places he can be at once. The long-term vision is to build a crew of like-minded coaches he can trust to run the same system and carry the same values, which would let the program scale without sacrificing quality.

The Biggest Challenge

FFF: What's the hardest part of growing a competitive flag football organization right now?

For Jacob, it comes back to coaching. Training athletes is the easy part; finding and developing coaches who understand that flag football is its own complete sport — not just tackle-lite — is the real bottleneck. He sees a lot of coaches who come from tackle backgrounds and assume they can plug and play. The reality is that the tempo, the psychological approach, and the on-field strategy in competitive flag are fundamentally different from rec league ball.

Until flag football gets the respect it deserves as its own game on a national level, Jacob believes recruiting quality coaching leadership will remain the biggest hurdle for programs like his.

"Getting athletes trained is kind of easy for me. Getting coaches trained is a whole other animal." — Coach Jacob Hiatt

Spring & Summer 2026

FFF: What does the upcoming season look like for Everett Elite?

The high school girls travel roster is full after an offseason of scouting, recruiting, and tryouts. The team is a mix of brand-new talent and experienced players, and they're hitting the road for tournaments in California and the Pacific Northwest. They're also part of the Elite Flag Football Alliance, a regional collective of club teams from Washington, Idaho, and Oregon that organizes offseason games and tournaments to give Northwest programs more competitive opportunities closer to home.

That last part is a big deal. As Jacob points out, the tournament circuit is heavily concentrated in Southern California and Florida, and Northwest teams don't always have easy access to high-level competition. The Alliance is an effort to change that.

Advice for New Families

FFF: What would you tell a family that's just entering the sport?

Jacob's advice is straightforward: get out there and play. Join a rec league. Don't overthink your first couple of seasons. Even with an average coach or a casual league, an athlete is going to see the timing, the spacing, and the nuances of the game just by being on the field. After a season or two, they'll have a much better sense of whether they love it and where they want to go next.

If you're looking for a league near you, our league directory is a great place to start.

Rapid Fire

5v5 or 7v7? 5v5, no question. More space, more speed, more highlights. Jacob has played fives his whole life and believes the spacing makes it the more dynamic and demanding format — especially on offense, where tempo and execution are everything.

Go-to 2-point conversion play? RPO with a mobile quarterback. Look for a corner or crossing route first; if it's not there, roll the QB out and punch it in. If the defense comes up, attack through the air. If they sit back, hit the pylon on the ground.

Favorite event last season? NFL Flag Regionals. Jacob loves the production value of NFL Flag tournaments — they're big, flashy, and the kids get a kick out of the experience. Next on his bucket list: the World Championship.

Find Everett Elite

If you're a family or athlete in the Seattle metro area looking for a program that lives and breathes flag football, Everett Elite is worth a look. They're one of the only dedicated flag-specific clubs in the region, and Coach Hiatt's 12 years of experience speak for themselves.

Look them up on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube — and check out their full organization profile on Flag Football Finder.

Looking for flag football opportunities near you? Search teams and leagues on Flag Football Finder. High school athletes exploring the next level can browse our college flag football directory and create an athlete profile to get discovered by coaches.

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