IMHO college rugby has the most potential to turn a profit. Hiring this guy is defo a step in the right direction. For Immediate Release May 7, 2010 USA Rugby Hires Todd Bell as Director of College Rugby BOULDER, COLO. — USA Rugby officially announced today that Todd Bell has been hired as the organization’s Director of College Rugby. Bell comes to USA Rugby after a 15-year career with the nation’s oldest college coaches association, the American Football Coaches Association, where he most recently served as the organization’s Director of Media and Membership Relations. Bell was responsible for media relations for the 10,000-member organization, including the promotion of all AFCA awards and media services at the association’s annual convention. He directed the AFCA’s All-America and Coach of the Year programs and Division III Coaches’ Poll voting board. He served as the staff liaison to the NCAA Division III Football Committee and the Football Championship Subdivision Board of Directors. From 1997-2007, Bell also directed operations for the AFCA’s Division III national team that compiled a 10-1 record in the Aztec Bowl and served as the selection committee coordinator or co-coordinator for the Hula Bowl from 1997-2001 and 2005-2006. In 1990, he began a 20-year affiliation with the AT&T Cotton Bowl that continues to this day. He serves as a member of the bowl’s game operations staff each year. In addition to the AT&T Cotton Bowl, Bell’s event experience includes numerous NCAA, Big 12 and Southwest Conference basketball tournaments and the 1995 and 2004 Major League Baseball All-Star Games. As the first USA Rugby staffer solely dedicated to the college game, Bell will work with a new College Rugby Strategic Committee to manage all aspects of USA Rugby’s new college department including the creation of a governance model, a College Coaches Association, the establishment of best practice templates that support the development of college programs, and the review of the current college competition structure. In addition, he will oversee regular season and postseason collegiate competition, coaching and player development, the promotion of the Women’s NCAA Initiative and sponsorship and media opportunities. “As one of the few Olympic team sports that is not overseen in some way by the NCAA it is our responsibility as a National Governing Body to produce a high-level regular season competition and postseason championship event that showcases rugby and our top tier programs nationwide,” Bell said. “At the same time we have to continue to improve the experience for our athletes at the other levels of college rugby. “I am excited about this opportunity and look forward to working with our college strategic committee to grow intercollegiate rugby.” In addition to his work with the AFCA, the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) graduate has also served as a consultant to USA Football, managing that organization’s 2007 Senior National Team and 2009 and 2010 Junior National Teams. He served as a press officer for the United States Olympic Committee at the 2003 Pan American Games, 2005 World University Games, 2006 Winter Olympics and 2008 Summer Olympics. Bell was also a member of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee’s media services staff during the 2002 Winter Olympics. USA RUGBY, founded in 1975, is the national governing body for rugby and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Rugby Board (IRB). The organization is responsible for the development of boys, girls, high school, collegiate and club rugby programs, as well as the nation’s rugby coaches, referees, administrators and all of its national teams that represent the U.S. in international competitions. As part of this development, USA Rugby hosts a number of courses, clinics, National Championship events and international matches throughout the year. For more information, please visit www.usarugby.org. Inspiring America to fall in love with Rugby Sara Wright | Director of Communications & Public Relations | USA Rugby 2500 Arapahoe Avenue, Suite 200 | Boulder CO 80302 W: 303.539.0300 x101 | C: 719.310.2606 | Fax: 303-539-0311 The 2010 USA Rugby Championship Season is upon us! Visit www.usarugby.org/goto/championships for more information.
http://www.rugbymag.com/news/colleg...r-understands-playing-for-the-love-of-it.aspx New Collegiate Director Understands Playing for the Love of It By Alex Goff The funny thing about Todd Bell, USA Rugby’s new Collegiate Director, is that he liked his old job just fine. Bell worked for 15 years at the American Football Coaches Association, and was serving as the organization’s Director of Media and Membership Relations when he saw USA Rugby’s posting for the new position. “I was not looking to leave here,” said Bell from his soon-to-be-vacated office in Texas. “If I didn’t think this was a great opportunity I wouldn’t have changed anything. I thought [the USA Rugby job] was an interesting opportunity, with 7s rugby becoming an Olympic sport, the sport’s profile has an opportunity to be raised in the US and the college game is going to be a big part of that.” Bell’s background in working with coaches, and his background in working with the NCAA, was what made him a good fit for the job. Not a rugby man, Bell has worked hard to get up to speed on what’s going on with the game – he’s used to working with different sports, not just football. “I couldn’t sit down and talk about the Xs and Os of the game,” Bell told RUGBYMag.com. “I haven’t seen the game much but what intrigued me more than anything else was the fact that this was a college-specific job. I feel like rugby is on the verge of potentially exploding. I’ve been in and around college athletics my entire professional life and this was a chance to really help build something; with the advent of the [college] premier league, and the pool of talent coming up from high school – kids who need a place to play - there’s a tremendous opportunity to remake college rugby and as a result help the USA at the international level.” He has some issues to deal with, of course, not least of which being what to do about the new coaches association – the USCRA, which was set up in part because of frustration among college coaches that the college game was getting short shrift from USA Rugby. Bell sees no problem with the advent of the USCRA, adding that working with coaches will be an important part of the job. “This is a club sport for the most part and the coach is the point person for most of these teams,” he said. “They are the movers and the shakers and I expect to be working with a lot of coaches. The USCRA and USA Rugby in the end all want the same thing: we want to grow collegiate rugby in the US. While what’s happened gives the appearance of being a fragmented situation, I can’t do anything about the past I am looking forward to working with anybody at the collegiate level … whether they are a USCRA guy or not.” He added that the coaches, for the most part, are volunteers who have to organize a successful and rewarding rugby program while holding down another job. “The coaches for the most part are coaching these teams simply because they love the sport and love doing it,” Bell added. “I’ve worked within a coaches association and I appreciate what they’re trying to do.” Bell, who will keep his base of operations in Texas, just outside of Dallas, officially starts work June 1, but will be on the job earlier than that as he attends the first meeting of the College Premier League in a week’s time in Salt Lake City. There he will also be able to attend the U19 and High School Championships. But the key activity there is to nail down a vision for what this new national college league will look like. Involved in college sports for decades, Bell will be able to provide some needed insight in terms of generating athlete and fan interest, and working out logistics. “We need to get that sorted as soon as possible because it has an impact on every other level,” he said. “It’s for the top programs in the country, but it’s going to impact schools across the levels as things change. In addition, the women’s game has to be paid attention as well; we’ll be looking at their competition season to figure out best model for them and we need to keep them as an emerging sport in the NCAA.” The NCAA is another organization Bell knows something about. “You accumulate knowledge over the years,” he explained. “So you can say ‘I haven’t done this specifically,’ but I’ve done something like this. Over my time here I’ve had a chance to work on a lot of different projects from running all star games to running meetings with an awful lot of high-powered, Type-A people. Part of my job was to run committees with high-profile coaches, and I’ve been involved in the processes for selecting coaches of the year and All American teams. I’ve run board of trustee meetings, worked on the Hula Bowl, and on the DIII national team selection. I’ve worked events such as the Summer Olympics and a Big XII conference, from bowl teams in college football to six-man high school football in small towns you’ve never heard of. “I know there are a lot of levels in college rugby, from the top teams like Cal to the DIV programs in New England.” Bell said he hopes to leave the meeting in Salt Lake City with a finalized competition structure that outlines the schedule and the number of teams in it. Everyone, he said, is waiting for that information so they can move ahead with planning 2010-2011. After that he will start work on a best practices manual which, he acknowledges, will need the input from many sources. He’s all for that, but also doesn’t want to lose sight of the real reason college rugby happens – the players. “One thing that really appealed to me about collegiate rugby what that these kids are as true a student-athlete you’re ever going to find,” Bell concluded. “They pay to play, and that’s something to be celebrated. What they do to play, you really have to love this.”
Collegiate Strategic Committee Named BOULDER, Colo.- Supporting its commitment to develop college rugby, USA Rugby confirmed today the members of its College Rugby Strategic Committee who will advise and guide the work of Todd Bell, USA Rugby Collegiate Director, whose appointment was announced in early May. The new College Rugby Strategic Committee will be chaired by USA Rugby’s Board member Peter Seccia and will include a cross section of coaches and administrators from the college game. Joining Seccia on the committee will be Pat Kane (USA Rugby South Congress and Director of Men’s Rugby at Wake Forest University); Chip Auscavitch (NERFU Director of Division II Men’s Colleges); Marty Bradley (Collegiate Director, Rugby South / Assistant Coach University of Tennessee Men’s Rugby); MaryBeth Mathews (Assistant Dean of First Year Students and Head Coach Varsity Women's Rugby Bowdoin College); Dan Payne (Director of Rugby Life University); Matt Sherman (USA Rugby and University of San Diego State Men’s Coach); Alex Williams (USA Rugby Women’s High Performance Manager); and Bell. The College Rugby Strategic Committee have now met three times and will narrow its focus on the creation of a new Elite Men’s College Competition and the impact it will have on all levels of the college game. The Committee will also be in charge of creating a best practices paper for the development of college programs. Kane will head up the integration of the new men’s competition supported by Sherman and Auscavitch, while Mathews and Bradley have commenced work on the development of a best practices document. For more information, please contact USA Rugby’s Communication Director Swright@usarugby.org or College Rugby Director Todd Bell at tbell@usarugby.org.
Premier College Tournament Launched BOULDER, Colo. - Men's intercollegiate rugby will have a new look next year with the debut of USA Rugby's Division I Premier competition in March 2011. Officials from USA Rugby and 20 men’s college rugby programs met in Sandy, Utah over the weekend to discuss the framework for a new national rugby competition that will feature up to 32 college teams from around the country. The new competition will be operated by USA Rugby under the oversight of the organization’s College Department. This top-level competition will augment USA Rugby’s current Division I and Division II championship structure at the college level. “There is no doubt in my mind that the new-look elite men’s college competition will make a significant contribution to the development of rugby in the United States,” USA Rugby CEO and President of Rugby Operations Nigel Melville said. “There is still much work to be done but this is a positive start towards a new era in college rugby.” The teams will be split into four conferences and will begin regular season competition in March 2011. Each team will play the other members of its conference with the top two teams in each conference advancing to a three-weekend playoff tournament that will be held in May. Also discussed during the college meeting last weekend was the promotion/relegation system that will be used to provide a pathway for Division I programs to challenge for a spot in the Premier competition. “The big positive for me is that so many people were willing to work for the good of the competition as a whole,” Texas A&M Head Coach Craig Coates said. “To have the opportunity to play some of the top teams in the country in league competition is what we want and I think we will wind up with something we can all be proud of.” Programs represented at the meeting were Arizona, Arkansas State, Army, BYU, Cal Poly-SLO, California, Central Washington, Colorado, Colorado State, Kutztown, LSU, Navy, Ohio State, Penn State, San Diego State, St. Mary’s (Calif.), Texas A&M, UC Davis, UCLA and Utah. An additional 10 programs that were unable to send representatives to the meeting also expressed interest in joining the competition. They include Air Force, Arizona State, Dartmouth, Delaware, Life, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Rutgers, Tennessee and Wyoming. For more information, please contact USA Rugby’s Communication Director Swright@usarugby.org or USA Rugby’s Collegiate Director Todd Bell at tbell@usarugby.org.
http://www.rugbymag.com/news/canada...details-arriving-on-college-premier-plan.aspx Details Arriving on College Premier Plan USA Rugby’s plan for a collegiate premier league looks a lot closer to reality after this past weekend’s meeting of college coaches, said new USA Rugby Collegiate Director Todd Bell. “I thought it was a good two days,” Bell told RUGBYMag.com. “It gave us ample opportunity to have a thorough discussion. People got the chance to explain the situation at their individual programs.” Nothing has been finalized, said Bell, because teams have to go back to their administrations to get approval for any plan. The plan itself appears to be as follows: Teams play a season of around seven weeks; the original plan was four conferences of eight teams, and the teams in each conference play each other once. However, Bell said 32 teams is the maximum, but the competition may end up with a different number. Playoffs would be held in May and would involved eight teams over three weeks – quarterfinals, semis and final. No double-game weekends in the playoffs, although during league play teams may opt for two games on a weekend to help save money or time. “We’ve got a framework,” said Bell. “It’s now a matter of finalizing of who the teams will be. The schools understand what the league involves, and they know that if they’re not completely sure they can do it, don’t join.” The DI college season will remain the same as always, minus the Premier League teams. The playoffs will still have the same playoff structure of previous years. Premier League teams are free to play teams in any other division, but will not compete in DI playoffs. Among the complications this brings up is whether territorial and LAU competitions will make changes. Examples: Five teams from Southern California are interested, which would essentially eviscerate the current SoCal DI league; The same goes for the West-West league. Cal, St. Mary’s and UC Davis out of NorCal have stated interest, so does that mean Sacramento State, Chico State and Stanford play a three-team league, move to DII, or encourage some DII teams to play in a revamped DI league? All those questions will be answered in part through the new College Committee announced Wednesday. For the Premier League teams, the biggest issue is money. “Cost is an issue for everybody,” said Bell. “I do think that for most regions, when people go back and look at it, the cost is not that much different from what they’ve been experiencing. But we do have to address costs and missed class time. We can’t lose sight of the fact these are full-time students.” The next big step, then, is to garner some sponsorship interest.
I really think the way forward here is exactly what Todd Bell is saying.......sponsorship. Get a TV contract, get a fanbase and at least raise the profile enough to make it a self-sufficient operation. I like this. Sadly I think looking at soccer, I can see a potential for building a quick winner in a hurry by the importation of foreign players. BYU has an distinct English contingent. Life has almost a United Nations of players. California has a number of parachute players. I think Todd Bell will need to limit the foreign players and also embrace the crowds and quality of the 3 BC schools. UBC, SFU and UVIC are all playing in the BC Premier League which (in my opinion) is superior to the USA Super League. I know its not an ideal solution to include a couple of Canadian schools but if they can be convinced to join I think they have a lot to offer.
The title sponsor should have been the National Guard, but due to budget cut backs I think they have down graded their sponsorship with USA Rugby. However I suspect that the NFL is also gotten in on the action with the National Guard which would probably be a better deal for the NG in the short team. If these were rugby clubs I could see you point, but since they are universities unfortunately I don't agree. As you well know colleges in the west America and Europe are multi national and restricting the club rugby team to only Americans wouldn't be right IMHO. In my opinion I would like to see the college teams only allow players who are enrolled at that school to play for that school. Also, maybe Todd Bell could come to an agreement with college teams in the premier league that they will only offer financial assistance to American players. The Canadian Universities would be good from a competiton stand point but I doubt the average college sports fan would get it. To compromise maybe the winner of the College Premier League could play a series with the top Canadian teams. Another idea that has been floating around for a while is a domestic competiton with the All Americans. The idea would have the All Americans playing against individual international universities such as UCB or Oxford or university select sides from South Africa, New Zealand etc. in a domestic tournament.
Sounds like the way College Rugby is going might be the right way after all. http://www.rugbymag.com/features/go...do-conference-changes-have-rugby-ripples.aspx GoffonRugby: Do Conference Changes Have Rugby Ripples? An Opinion Column by Alex Goff The University of Colorado has confirmed today that it will switch from the Big 12 to the Pac 10 next season. This is the first move in a series expected to rock college sports. The University of Nebraska is expected to switch to the Big 10 as the Big 12 fragments. Speculation is rife about what else will happen, as colleges from the Big 12 switch to conferences that fit them geographically. The expectation is that college sports (specifically college football) will eventually settle into four super conferences. The ramifications for college rugby are unclear, in that very few college rugby leagues follow along football conference lines. However, this is what the changes could mean: 1. American college rugby is ahead of the curve as it works to develop some super conferences of their own in the plan for the new College Premier League. It turns out football and rugby will end up following a similar path. 2. Some college football programs might be left out. There’s real concern that some of the teams in the Mountain West won’t end up in one of the major conferences. This is interesting in a rugby sense because many of the programs in the Mountain West are outstanding rugby programs. Then again, the Mountain West might absorb the leftovers of the Big 12 and become one of those Super Conferences. 3. What happens to the growing number of conference-mirroring rugby tournaments? The Ivy League has its own rugby competition and won’t be affected. The ACC is basically played as a league … one wonders what happens to it. The Big 10, Pac 10, Big 12, and SEC would all have to change their teams, and you wonder if that makes sense if they include too many teams. The overriding message of these upcoming college football conference changes is that rugby fans should remember that nothing is set in stone. College football conferences change. College hockey, soccer and other sports have their own conference names, as they arrange based on quality, not only geography, tradition, or who has a good football team. Rugby still struggles with an inferiority complex where those in the sport feel they have to mirror other sports. But that apologetic approach doesn’t help the standard of rugby improve. Look at the USA 7s Collegiate Championship Invitational – good teams against good teams are what matters.
http://www.americanrugbynews.com/artman/publish/college/CPL_Not_Quite_Done.shtml CPL Not Quite Done The new college Division I Premier League is not yet signed, sealed and delivered although it appears to be nearly a done deal. USA Rugby is still waiting for teams that have indicated they want in to return their participation agreements. USA Rugby’s collegiate director Todd Bell tells ARN that an announcement will be forthcoming at such time when all teams have signed off on the league. “They are verbally committed, but nothing is official until they return a signed participation agreement,” says Bell. “We'll make an official announcement once all the teams have signed up.” As we reported when ARN first broke the story of the new Premier League earlier this year, the league is projected to comprise 32 teams from all regions of the country. Those teams will be split into four geographic regions with each team competing in a seven-game regular season. The top two teams from each region will advance to the playoffs, which will consist of quarterfinals, semifinals and a grand final. It’s also envisaged that there will be a promotion/relegation system in place within each region. The new Premier League is tentatively set to begin in the spring of 2011. When an official announcement is made on the league, you'll see it right here.
http://www.rugbymag.com/news/colleges/college-gen/collegiate-premier-league-di-taking-shape.aspx Collegiate Premier League, DI Taking Shape By Pat Clifton Remember when the college football scene was going to explode, super conferences were going to be formed and life as we know it was going to change, and then none of the aforementioned happened? Well, it kind of did in collegiate rugby. The collegiate DI Premier league is taking shape. Though Bowling Green declined an invitation early on, it appears the remaining 31 teams who were extended an invite are still on board. “We expect to have the 31 teams,” said USA Rugby collegiate director Todd Bell. “We’ve got verbal sign-off from everybody, and there’s three schools that are just waiting to get paperwork signed from people who are on vacation, but I expect we’ll have all three of the teams in here before too long.” Bell also said 31 is the number they’re looking to run with for the competition’s inaugural campaign, despite originally targeting 32. While all seems to be good and well on the Premier front, there are still some things to be hashed out in the remaining DI. RUGBYMag.com has learned USA Rugby is looking for 16 “conferences”. Gone would be the Territorial championships, as the winner of each conference would advance to the DI Sweet 16. Sounds easy enough, but it might not be. Bell circulated a list of 12 conferences that he’d confirmed as of July 8 - New York State, Metro NY, Northeast, Ivy, Atlantic Coast, South, Midwest-East, Midwest-West, West-Central, West-West, West-Texas and Northern California. Pacific Northwest and Southern California can now be added to that list. By our count, that’s 14 conferences. Chair of Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union’s collegiate committee, Carl Schmitt, said MARFU will likely not form a DI league of its own for the 2010-2011 season, but rather wait until the 2011-2012 competitive cycle, as all of the TU‘s DI teams have either joined the Atlantic Coast or the Premier league. Similar scenarios have SoCal and the South feeling comfortable with just one DI conference. It’s unclear what will happen if two more conferences cannot be created or identified, but awarding two at-large bids is a possible solution. With only two at-large bids seemingly possible, there could be 12 conferences feeling spurned come tournament time. In the past, USA Rugby has awarded multiple bids to “traditionally strong” territories, but tabbing two “traditionally strong” conferences this coming season will be no easy feat, with 32 of the nation’s best clubs out of consideration. More details and information will unfold in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned to RUGBYMag.com
http://www.rugbymag.com/features/opinions/changes-in-college-game-signal-progress.aspx Changes in College Game Signal Progress By Pat Clifton (Cal and San Diego State will now be conference foes in DI Premier.) The collegiate rugby landscape is currently undergoing a serious remodel, and Todd Bell, hired as USA Rugby’s collegiate director in May, is the architect, foreman and interior decorator. There’s still a lot of work to be done and details to be finalized before the DI premier league kicks off next Spring, and even prior to DI play this Fall, but at first glance, Bell’s blueprints look pretty good. The concept of the premier league makes a lot of sense - get top-level teams playing against top-level competition in a meaningful league structure. Of course, the idea of a premier league is a lot older than Bell’s tenure at USA Rugby, but he’s overseeing the concept’s coming of age. If it’s going to be successful, the league needs its members to fulfill their schedules, which will undoubtedly require some serious support from participant universities and colleges. In an effort to calm initial concerns over just that, Bell, most likely with some help, drafted participation agreements requiring the John Hancock of school officials. Only time will tell if these agreements will be lived up to, but with 28 already signed and on Bell’s desk, there’s no reason to be pessimistic about the league at this point. The biggest cause for being optimistic about the future of collegiate rugby, and more specifically Bell, is what’s happening with the rest of DI. The idea is to have 16 conferences, with the winner of each conference earning a spot at nationals. There are still some details to be worked out, like how many teams must a conference have? After talking to numerous coaches, club administrators and territorial officials, it’s still unclear whether a conference must have four, six or seven teams to warrant a bid to nationals. This is an important issue. According to West president Bill Sexton, the West’s three leagues - West, Central and Texas - will contain four teams each, while the Atlantic Coast Rugby League, last we heard, has in the neighborhood of eight teams. Clearly, that makes it easier for a team in the West to win its league and advance to nationals than in the ACRL. However, the West-West league was hit harder than possibly any other by the formation of the premier league, with Colorado, Colorado State, Air Force and Wyoming moving up. So, is it fair to punish the New Mexicos of the world by not allowing their leagues a bid to nationals? That’s certainly a question Bell will have to answer. There are other questions/concerns, too. For example, some regions of the country are perceived to be stronger, like Southern and Northern California, but their leagues only get the same amount of bids as, say, the South? For the first year, most likely. There are currently only 14 conferences nationwide, so it’s possible there will be two at-large bids to nationals if two more conferences can’t be identified, but conceptually, each conference receives one bid. As with the premier league, there are still concerns about how DI will work, but the idea is solid for several reasons. For starters, creating “conferences” prevents having to explain to outsiders what a union is and makes the complexities of college rugby a little easier pill to swallow. In addition to nixing the esoteric word “union”, which American sports fans most often identify with holdouts or collective bargaining agreements, the new DI model at least cloaks, if not severs, its relationship with territories. There is no college football or basketball equivalent to rugby’s territories, making it hard for the average sports fan to comprehend TUs and how they work. Sure, it’s not that difficult a system, but it doesn’t take much for a semi-interested fan, administrator or even sports reporter to become overwhelmed and uninterested. Ponder this example: Last season Arkansas, a DII team, won the Heart of America. However, they did not automatically qualify for the West TU championships. They had to play Creighton, winners of the Great Plains, for a right to play Saint Louis, winners of the Missouri Union, before they could have qualified for the West. In summation, Arkansas won its union (conference) title, and then had to beat the winners of two other unions before reaching the territorial tournament. That’s a lot to take in if you’re an unknowing outsider. Imagine trying to explain that to a local sportswriter, and then, God forbid, they follow up your explanation with “why?” DII will be played under the same structure in 2010/2011 as it was previously, as will the women’s game, but it’s been said Bell foresees duplicating the DI structure in DII and the women’s game in the near future. This makes a whole lot of sense, and it follows a traditional American collegiate model - March Madness. If you win your conference - you’re in. Now, if in time nationals remains a 16-team venture, instead of expanding to 32, then complaints could justifiably flow in. But in the first year of DI after the creation of the premier league, it makes sense to have a 16-team tournament, as it’s been difficult enough to identify 16 conferences. Of course, in order for DI to survive in its new form, traditional DII teams are going to have to step up. Many already have. For example, that West-West league now contains Northern Colorado, the Colorado School of Mines and Denver University, all of which were DII last season. To assure DI can not only maintain a healthy competitive environment but also grow, Bell, so we’ve heard, has said large universities won’t be allowed to wallow in DII much longer. Just like coaches do to players, club administrators do to coaches and schools do to administrators, Bell is going to hold programs to a standard. If rugby is going to grow to the heights we as a community want it to, it’s got some changes to make. And as with any major change, there will be naysayers and detractors, but it seems as though Bell is willing to nudge us ruggers, an often stubborn group of people, in the right direction, whether we like it or not.
http://www.rugbymag.com/magazine/current-issue/the-college-revolution.aspx The College Revolution By Alex Goff “In a revolution, as in a novel, the most difficult part to invent is the end.” Alexis de Tocqueville The French-born de Tocqueville wasn’t a fan of American college rugby, but his words ring true over 150 years later. Things are going to change — we just don’t know exactly how. The creation of a new College Rugby Association, hiring of USA Rugby’s first collegiate director, development of the College Premier League (CPL), and emergence of the Collegiate Championship Invitational (CCI) as a real force in the game all mean change. But what change? A Seven-a-Side Future “There are going to be some big changes,” said Navy head coach Mike Flanagan, who freely admits he’s not a 7s man but also acknowledges that the success of the USA 7s and the Collegiate Championship Invitational cannot be ignored. “We’re creating a national college league which can promote our game and change how we compete. In the CCI, we’ve got an event that was done right, on network TV. “You don’t think 7s has power in the college game? NBC does,” stated Flanagan. “The CCI showed us that college 7s has the potential to be huge,” said Utah Coach Blake Burdette, whose team won the CCI. “At Utah we got a lot of positives out of it. We beat Cal, and the school’s athletes, coaches and administrators saw us on TV. It changed everything.” Even for a team not at the CCI, it was significant. “Sevens has a lot of potential. Athletic Directors saw the CCI and know about 7s being in the Olympics,” said Texas A&M head coach Craig Coates, who has been active in the US College Rugby Association. “After one tournament, the CCI is the de-facto National Collegiate 7s Championship; and we want to look at how to get there.” Premier League Dawn Most want to be in the CPL too. USA Rugby has committed to a College Premier League for spring 2011, with most of the top college teams involved. What that means for competing teams is a demanding schedule against the best in the country, which will ultimately produce better players. Thirty-two programs were invited, and only one, Bowling Green, said a flat-out “no.” But enthusiasm from team and administration alike is just a start. No one can predict how the league and the teams will negotiate the early growing pains. Some teams could end up overstressed, less so by travel budgets (most believe they won’t change much), but more by having really tough games every week. Injuries and fatigue could hurt squads that don’t have depth. It’s ironic in a way. Critics of teams like Cal and BYU claim those teams benefit from the ‘two games in two days’ playoff process, because their depth allows them to rest players on those weekends. But playing tough games every week will reward deep squads too. “With the new CPL, USA Rugby is finally getting it,” said Utah head coach Blake Burdette. “I think this will help the sport grow.” Burdette added that rugby doesn’t have to replicate football conferences to be successful — note how football conferences are all changing anyway. Instead, he feels college rugby simply needs to create a competition that fans, players and coaches can get behind. “We have an opportunity to sell this conference,” added Navy’s Flanagan. “Can we get reasonable TV coverage? Absolutely.” Will it get sold? Well that’s the issue. ... see the rest of this and many other articles in the print version of RUGBY Magazine. Contact us at publisher@rugbymag.com to subscribe.
http://rugbyamerica.net/2010/08/17/collegiate-premier-league-conferences-announced/ Division I Premier: Conferences Announced Posted on August 17, 2010 by RugbyAmerica USA Rugby officially released the list of conferences and participating teams for the 2011 launch of their new collegiate competition. Slated as a tier above Division I, the 31 team competition is being referred to as Division I Premier. The teams that have joined the initial four conferences represent some of the very best college rugby has to offer. Fourteen of the sixteen teams that reached the Collegiate Sweet 16 in 2010 have moved to the competition with only Bowling Green and Syracuse not joining. Bowling Green officially declined invitation, but there is no word as to whether Syracuse was ever in the mix to join one of the new conferences. The two most intriguing teams headed into play are Claremont whom will be making a major jump. The 2010 Division II National Champions will be skipping over Division I right to the DI Premier. The other team being Life University who is fielding an undergraduate side and have to immediately be counted as one of the top teams in the competition. Here are the conferences: Rugby East Conference: Dartmouth, Penn State, Ohio State, Army, Navy, Kutztown, Rutgers, Delaware Pacific Conference: Cal, Cal Poly, Central Washington, Claremont, San Diego State, St. Mary’s, UC Davis, UCLA Western Conference: Air Force, Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Colorado State, Utah, Wyoming Mid-South Conference: Arkansas State, Life, LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M Issues with the conference break-downs were inevitable, but overall a fine job was done. There are plenty of natural rivalries in each conference that will give the competition immediately marketable matchups. The most interesting prospect in the entire competition is seeing how some teams, accustomed to success, will deal with adversity. There are a lot of good teams involved and at least one team is going to end up as the doormat in every conference. Play kicks off in March with each team playing against each of the other teams in their conference. The top two teams from each conference move onto the playoffs to compete for a chance to be the inaugural champions of Division I Premier.
http://rugbyamerica.net/2010/08/24/2011-division-i-premier-schedule-announced/ 2011 Division I Premier Schedule Announced Posted on August 24, 2010 by RugbyAmerica The Division I Premier competition has officially released their schedule for the 2011 season. Designed to raise the level and exposure of college rugby, the inaugural season of USA Rugby’s Division I Premier Championship will kick off on March 5 and the regular season runs through April 30th before the playoffs begin. USA Rugby views this competition as an opportunity to broaden the appeal of rugby through a true national competition featuring the countries’ top collegiate rugby programs and to create an intercollegiate pathway for players with international ambitions. Some key conference matchups in the early season schedule include opening weekend matchups with BYU at Utah, Cal at San Diego State, and Tennessee at Life. March 12th sees Arkansas State on the road to face LSU in a big Mid-South tilt. San Diego State travels to face St. Mary’s and Kutztown plays host to Penn State on March 19th. Those are just a sampling of the great weekly matchups that come courtesy of the new Division I Premier Championship. It’s going to be a great spring for rugby at both the Division I Premier and Division I levels. 2011 Conferences Rugby East Conference: Dartmouth, Penn State, Ohio State, Army, Navy, Kutztown, Rutgers, Delaware Pacific Conference: Cal, Cal Poly, Central Washington, Claremont, San Diego State, St. Mary’s, UC Davis, UCLA Western Conference: Air Force, Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Colorado State, Utah, Wyoming Mid-South Conference: Arkansas State, Life, LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M 2011 College Division I Premier Schedule March 5, 2011 Rutgers at Army Dartmouth at Delaware Ohio St. at Navy Oklahoma at Texas A&M Tennessee at Life Colorado at Arizona St. BYU at Utah Wyoming at Air Force California at San Diego St. Central Washington at Claremont St. Mary’s at UC Davis UCLA at Cal Poly-SLO March 12, 2011 Delaware at Ohio St. Arkansas St. at LSU Life at Texas A&M Colorado at Colorado St. Utah at Arizona St. Wyoming at Arizona Cal Poly-SLO at Central Washington San Diego St. at UCLA UC Davis at California March 19, 2011 Delaware at Rutgers Penn St. at Kutztown Notre Dame at LSU BYU at Colorado & Air Force* San Diego St. at St. Mary’s * Dates TBD March 26, 2011 Army at Kutztown Dartmouth at Penn St. Rutgers at Navy Arkansas St. at Oklahoma LSU at Life Texas A&M at Tennessee Arizona at Arizona St. Colorado St. at BYU California at Central Washington Cal Poly-SLO at San Diego St. Claremont at St. Mary’s UCLA at UC Davis April 2, 2011 Dartmouth at Army Ohio St. at Kutztown Penn St. at Navy Life at Arkansas St. Tennessee at Oklahoma Texas A&M at Notre Dame Air Force at Colorado Arizona at Utah Arizona St. at Colorado St. Wyoming at BYU California at UCLA/Claremont* Central Washington at UC Davis St. Mary’s at Cal Poly-SLO * Dates TBD April 9, 2011 Army at Delaware Dartmouth at Rutgers Kutztown at Navy Penn St. at Ohio St. Arkansas St. at Tennessee Notre Dame at Life Oklahoma at LSU Arizona St. at Wyoming BYU at Arizona Colorado at Utah Colorado St. at Air Force California at St. Mary’s Claremont at UCLA UC Davis at San Diego St. April 16, 2011 Army at Ohio St. Delaware at Kutztown Navy at Dartmouth Rutgers at Penn St. LSU at Tennessee Notre Dame at Arkansas St. Air Force at Utah Colorado at Wyoming Colorado St. Arizona Cal Poly-SLO at UC Davis Claremont at San Diego St. St. Mary’s at Central Washington April 22, 2011 Central Washington at UCLA April 23, 2011 Kutztown at Rutgers Navy at Delaware Ohio St. at Dartmouth Penn St. at Army Oklahoma at Notre Dame Texas A&M at Arkansas St. Air Force at Arizona St. Arizona at Colorado Utah at Colorado St./Wyoming* California at Cal Poly-SLO UC Davis at Claremont * Dates TBD April 30, 2011 Delaware at Penn St. Kutztown at Dartmouth Navy at Army Rutgers at Ohio St. Life at Oklahoma LSU at Texas A&M Tennessee at Notre Dame Arizona at Air Force Arizona St. at BYU Colorado St. at Wyoming Cal Poly-SLO at Claremont San Diego St. at Central Washington UCLA at St. Mary’s May 7, 2011 Quarterfinals May 14, 2011 Semifinals May 21, 2011 Championship
http://www.rugbymag.com/news/colleges/college-gen/college-work-not-finishes---coates.aspx College Work Not Finishes - Coates By RUGBYMag.com Staff United States College Rugby Association spokesperson Craig Coates distributed a letter to the collegiate rugby community Friday detailing how he sees college rugby changing in the next few years. Action, Coates said, is needed to make sure the College Premier League (which he calls Division 1A) fits well within the game, and to ensure DI (which he calls Division IAA) competitions make sense. In part, Coates calls for the separation of DIAA conferences from the Local Area Union and Territorial Union system. Below is the letter in its entirety: Dear Collegiate Rugby Community, This is a very exciting time to be involved in collegiate rugby and the past year has seen many changes, which we are all continuing to adapt to. With the continued work of the USA Collegiate Director, Todd Bell, and the USA Rugby Collegiate Rugby Committee, we can anticipate further far reaching changes in the not too distant future. As we observed this past summer; the introduction of the College Premier League, or Division 1A, as I will refer to it in the remainder of this letter, caused a cascade effect on the remaining college teams, resulting in the formation of new Division 1, or Division 1AA conferences, as I will refer to them. Unfortunately the realignment of college teams into these conferences had to occur on a very short timeline and in some cases resulted in some teams feeling left out of the process. In the sincere interest of avoiding such a hasty process going forward, and to ensure the full participation and understanding of all college rugby teams, the following text details proposals coming out of the Collegiate Rugby Committee. These must be ratified by the USA Rugby Board and I personally hope that they are done so with a resounding positive vote. However, the USA Rugby Board will not meet for some period of time, which would again leave colleges with minimal time to get the new conferences right. We all know how very difficult it is to achieve any meaningful and informed progress during the summer months so this needs to be completed before the end of the spring semester at the very latest. The sole primary goal of this letter is to get the college rugby teams in your area talking and planning for the future. The primary objective of the realignment of collegiate rugby competitions is to mirror as closely as possible, traditional USA Collegiate Athletic conferences and competitions. These are things that the general public understands, follows and supports with great passion. It is far past time that USA Collegiate Rugby aligned itself with mainstream collegiate athletics and took advantage of the opportunities that this will present. Some of the details below will be mandated, some are subject to flux. Start talking to your respective college rugby teams and figure out what will work in your region of the country. The following only applies to Men’s Collegiate Rugby. There is a Collegiate Women’s Rugby Working Group that is working towards proposals for realigning the collegiate women’s competition. Collegiate Rugby Competitions for the 2011‐2012 competitive season. Division 1A – 4 Conferences. Each of the existing conferences should have the ability and power to remove and/or add teams to their conference. i.e. do what works for the founding teams and provide an opportunity for Division 1AA teams to petition for admittance to the conference. Division 1AA – Multiple Conferences. • Players and clubs will still be CIPP registered with USA Rugby. • However, any current LAU and/or TU dues will cease to be paid and will instead be directed to the respective D1AA rugby conference. • Each conference can set their dues structure and decide what they spend the funds on. • Each conference can independently pursue sponsorship opportunities (another very important reason to get this moving sooner rather than later). • To receive an automatic bid to the national playoffs, each conference must have a minimum of 8 teams. Conferences can choose to play a Fall/Spring split schedule, or a single semester schedule. • If a conference has 8 or 9 teams, a full schedule must be played by each team, i.e. each team plays all the other teams. A playoff structure can NOT be used to determine who advances. • If a conference has 10 or 10+ teams, a split conference structure can be used, with a championship game being used to determine who advances to the National Playoffs. Each team MUST play a minimum of 7 league matches. • Smaller conferences (<8) can be formed and are eligible to receive at large bids to the national playoffs (to be determined by a competitions committee). However, to be eligible for an at large bid, a team must have played in at least 2 registered non‐conference matches. i.e. both teams agree at the beginning of the season that these matches are formal registered non‐conference matches, with the expectation that each team will put out their best available team at the time of that match. • Similarly, the 2nd place team in an 8 or 8+ team conference is eligible to receive an at large bid to the national playoffs, so long as they have also played at least 2 registered non‐conference matches (to be designated as such by both teams prior to the beginning of the season). • Teams do not have to play registered non‐conference matches but if they do not play these matches they are not eligible to receive an at large bid to the national playoffs and the matches must be scheduled and designated as such at the beginning of the season, not added mid‐ or post‐season. • College Rugby teams whose college football teams participate in D1 football competitions must play D1AA rugby if they wish to advance to national playoffs. These teams can choose to play in D2 rugby competitions, however they will NOT be eligible to advance to the national D2 playoffs. Exceptions will be considered via a waiver process for extreme situations, e.g. very small private schools with a small student body whose football teams still participate in D1 football competitions. Teams whose college football teams play in lower divisions (or who don’t have a football team) can of course play in the highest rugby division for which they are admitted. • Each independent D1AA conference will be responsible for the removal or addition of college rugby teams to their conference. Division 2 • For the 2011‐2012 competitive season, D2 teams will remain within the current LAU/TU competitive structures and national playoff system. • For the 2012‐2013 competitive season, D2 teams will assemble into independent rugby conferences. Division 3 • Division 3 Collegiate Rugby will be recognized officially by USA Rugby, including the support of a National Championship playoff system. Best Wishes in Rugby, Craig Coates, Coach Texas A&M RFC