Flanagan (52) has been floating around the Dunedin club rugby scene for more than 20 years, but until now has never been formally involved in coaching the province's top side.
But after former scrum coach Steve Cumberland left to work in Japan, Otago coach Steve Martin contacted Flanagan and asked if he would take on the role for the Otago Air New Zealand Cup side.
Flanagan jumped at the chance and is now donning the Otago tracksuit and nutting out the techniques of the front row.
"I've always been keen to help out, no matter if it is guys at school, club players or anyone. When Steve asked me, I was surprised he asked, but keen.
"It's good to be involved. I've spent a long time on the fringe," he said.
A flanker and then a front rower who played for Otago colts, Flanagan started coaching the Alhambra-Union top side in 1988.
He had five seasons there before switching to Dunedin, where he coached the top side for nine seasons. He won three premiership club titles with Dunedin.
He also coached Otago B in the late 1990s and again for four years from 2001, making a total of eight seasons with the B side.
He was also an Otago A selector in 1998-99 but was not on the coaching team.
Otago won the NPC title in 1998.
Flanagan is not attached to any team this year.
"When I had the Bs, they always seemed to have some good people working with the As, guys like Greg Copper and Gordon Hunter, so they had plenty of ability up there."
When he first started coaching, he used to coach by himself, but as other coaches joined, he concentrated on looking after the forwards.
He said scrummaging had changed since he first started coaching, and was now very technical.
The new part-time role would not get in the way of his day job, as head of geography, history and sport at Kavanagh College.
He did not know whether the job would lead to another position, and was just taking it "as it goes".
He expected big things of the Otago scrum, and plenty of hard work was going on.
Martin said Flanagan was highly experienced, and highly regarded, and brought his expertise in scrummaging to the team.
