SEWANEE RUGBY News > Notes from Coach Brian Stringer

Although Sewanee Rugby missed their ambitious target of reaching the 2009 USA Rugby South Division 3 South Championships, much praise must be made of the team's efforts.

As the smallest competitive rugby club in the USA - yes, the entire country, and by competitive I mean a team that consistently places high in their conference, we must recognize how hard it is to maintain that level of competitiveness, and how hard the team works to bridge the gap between ourselves with a co-ed enrollment of around 1,400 students and our nearest rivals - Furman, Lee, Tennessee Tech, Tulane etc. who all have at least a thousand more students.

This year's D3 South Champions, Coastal Carolina, has an enrollment of more than 7,000 co-ed students.

Additionally, Sewanee is an academically-based University with a high entrance standard and even higher fees. The University does not offer athletic scholarships. There is fierce competition for student-athletes who also happen to be very bright. The Varsity athletic programs for male students include football, soccer, baseball, basketball, golf, track and field and the newly introduced lacrosse. Somewhere in the middle of all this competition, Sewanee rugby tries to find suitable athletes who would, at least like to try, playing rugby.

For decades, rugby in the USA has received a bad rap; some of it no doubt justified. In my eight years as the rugby coach, I have seen a phenomenal change in the collegiate game. In most case, gone are the days of outlandish behavior, bad judgment and binge drinking. All this has been replaced by dedicated athletes who embrace the uniqueness of rugby and work endlessly to improve their skills, dedication, sportsmanship and determination to the best that they can. Sewanee Rugby has been a classic example.

When I first started coaching Sewanee, we couldn't win for trying. Sometime the scores against us were horrifying. I would lie awake at night wondering what I'd let myself in for. But we improved. It wasn't easy. Sometimes I would have only 6 - 7 players out for practice. But we improved. Then we started to win a few games. The roster grew, and more wins came our way, until one Sunday afternoon in February 2005, playing the second match of a back-to-back weekend, we defeated Western Kentucky (the then current champions) 11 - 10, after trailing 10 - 3 with 10-minutes to go. The victory gave us the Conference Championship and set in motion a whole new Sewanee Rugby culture.

Matt Farr, our loose-head prop of the day, called it the "Sewanee Rugby Revolution" and the title stuck. The players started to pride themselves in playing "sexy rugby" (I was never quite sure what that meant), and beating much larger schools - UGA, Vanderbilt, MTSU.

Regardless of all the glory we enjoyed between 2005 and 2007, Sewanee played tough, uncompromising yet alway fair rugby. To this day, the team is recognized for their style of tough rugby, yet always praised for their sportsmanship and fairness. What rugby has given to all the players I've been very privileged to coach over these last eight years is immeasurable. They have learned life lessons no other sport could have given them. Humble always in victory and generous in defeat. They have extended the hand of friendship to every player from every team they have played. They have truly embraced the ethos of a very remarkable sport.

Today, collegiate rugby throughout the nation is enjoying a following even I could only have dreamed of when I started at Sewanee. Last week, more than 3,000 people, paying $5 a head, packed themselves into the tiny rugby field at the University of Utah when the home team played local rivals Brigham Young. The Fire Marshall was called to halt the entrance of even more fans because of the fire risk. Yet that same weekend, in Chicago, a match-up between the two senior men's super league rivals, what would be considered a major event, managed to draw a crowd a little over 300!

For the last three years, as well as the Sewanee coach, I have been Collegiate Director for USA Rugby South, our regional territorial union, with more than 95 college teams and over 3,500 players. I undertook this job because I had learned a great deal about collegiate rugby with Sewanee and because I needed to give back to the game from which I have gained so much. It has been very challenging, but I believe I have made an indelible mark improving wholesale the collegiate game. I now intend to step down from that role and concentrate a majority of my efforts with Sewanee. We face new and much larger challenges, and I want to insure Sewanee Rugby gets my whole-hearted attention.

The club will soon wish a fond goodbye to our graduating seniors, all who have played an important role in maintaining and improving rugby on the mountain. I salute Mark Wicker, this year's captain and a gifted athlete, Andrew Malone, know to all as "Red", Wiley Casey, our own uncompromising Kama Kazi defender, Daniel Barnes, once called "He-Man" but always willing to play where and when required, Matt Lafferman - Laffy - as President he worked as tirelessly for the club as he has on the field, Ben Swann, late to rugby, but outstanding all the same, Brad Wills, the consummate athlete who took to rugby like the proverbial swan and water, and finally dear Pete Yerkovich - Mr Speedo - the true club devotee for the last four years. Truly, I salute and admire you all.

With only a couple of matches left, the club must turn its attention to the 2009-10 season. We are lucky to already have a returning roster of some very fine rugby players. Additionally, we will be re-joined by Lawrence Coffey, a hugely talented Mid South All Star who has been riding camels in Jordan as part of his overseas study and Caleb Hawkins, a fierce second row who has been drinking vodka in St Petersburg as part of his overseas Russian studies.

With our near and far competition always improving, we will need to work even harder to maintain our current position, let alone improve. We will need to recruit new, potentially good players from the 2009 freshman intake. We will need to influence those disillusioned football players that rugby could be their game, we need to do the same with soccer players - they always make good ruggers. We need to continually remind the administration that despite our club status, we are one of the best sport teams on campus. We need to gain more support from rugby parents and the Rugby Alumni. In short, we, collectively, must do everything we can to insure the long term viability of this great program.

Finally, I'd like to thank the University Student Activities Department and the Student AFC committee who have continued to provide moral and financial support. I'd also like to sincerely thank our Faculty Adviser, Greg Pond, who has shown immeasurable confidence in the club and worked tirelessly behind the scenes to promote club sports generally and the rugby club specifically.

And of course our rugby parents and friends who have supported the club with their time, enthusiasm and donations.

Yet again I've been very lucky to enjoy another season of camaraderie and sportsmenship with these fine young men - as only rugby can.
 
Coach Brian Stringer