iStockphoto / BluIz60/Sanya KushakWomen’s flag football is one January voting cycle away from becoming an NCAA championship sport, and colleges are reacting with the calm restraint normally displayed during a five-star quarterback recruitment. The next mention of flag football on an athletic department agenda is increasingly followed by the words, “How quickly can we hire a coach?” Flag football will make its Olympic debut months later at the Los Angeles Games, where six men’s teams and six women’s teams will compete. More than 40 states sponsor girls’ varsity flag football at the high school level, so colleges are not attempting to invent a player pool from scratch. A few months later, the best flag football players in the world will compete for Olympic medals in Los Angeles.