Humboldt joins DI PMRC West this season. /// Photo: Jackie Finlan •
The week began with the early release of the 2016-17 fall and spring playoff dates, and the updates on the upcoming collegiate season continue to flow in. While conferences continue to finalize their respective calendars (a comprehensive schedule/results page will be maintained by The Breakdown), here is a sampling of what to expect this season:
VARSITY LEAGUE EXPANDS
Now named the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA), the varsity league has expanded to 15 teams. The nine returners will compete in Tier 1 and are joined by newcomer Central Washington. There are five teams in Tier 2, including second-year Sacred Heart, Bowdoin, Castleton, Molloy and University of New England. Teams are allowed to play outside of their tiers, and two separate playoff pathways have been established.
Stay tuned for the full league schedule, which is still being finalized (see below links for individual schedules). Other notes of interest include: AIC head coach Dimitri Efthimiou has resigned and the interim coach has yet to be named; Quinnipiac is playing all but one game on the road as its home field is under construction; Sacred Heart welcomed its first recruitment class; and Wheeling Jesuit dropped its women’s varsity program after recruiting players (Athletic Director has yet to respond for comment).
Tier 1 (10): AIC, Army, Brown, Central Washington, Dartmouth, Harvard, Notre Dame College, Norwich, Quinnipiac, West Chester
Tier 2 (5): Bowdoin, Castleton, Molloy, Sacred Heart, University of New England
NEW ENGLAND STRONG
The DI Northeast, DII’s Rugby Northeast (RNE) and New England Small College (NESC), and NSCRO’S Colonial Coast are banding together this fall, integrating cross-conference friendlies into their fall seasons. The leagues have made room for these competitive games – which target programs of comparable strength and/or long-standing school rivalries mirrored in other sports – by creating upper and lower tiers, or eliminating home-and-away series.
Rugby Northeast commissioner Charles Cisco, who is also head coach of Saint Michael’s, referenced the competitive gap within his own conference, which has split into Tier 1 and Tier 2 this year, as one catalyst for the crossover initiative. Instead of winning league games by 60-80 points, the Vermont team has filled those schedule vacancies with games against DI fall champion UCONN, Boston University and DII varsity Bowdoin. Cisco and like-minded programs have an eye toward the post-season and want better preparation. Similarly, the extra room in the schedule allows developing programs to reach across conference lines.
Other programs want to indulge rivalries. Two UMASS schools – Lowell and Dartmouth – will play each other, and Rhode Island and Providence College, which abut each other, will also face off. Bowl games have also been integrated in the post-season and will involve multiple conferences.
The conferences have agreed to a two-year trial period (only the New England Wide CRC turned down the invitation). Cisco has a five-year vision for RNE, one where the developing programs solidify and secure dedicated coaching and player pipelines. Ideally, he wants one competitive league and stability in the region.
“We want to better serve our communities of rugby players,” said Cisco, who worked with MaryBeth Mathews (NESC), Keith Cattanach (Colonial Coast) and Nick Hildebildle (Northeast) this summer. “We’re trying to avoid going back to when NERFU would move teams up and down [divisions] indiscriminately. We want teams to play 6-8 games, get better, and stay in their conferences. People were moving [competitions] to go and win elsewhere, and it’s hard to go to your Athletic Director and not know who you’re playing because it changes yearly.”
BIG TEN GAINS LEADERSHIP
What started as a controversial promotion morphed into an advantageous gain for a conference in need. Rutgers had been resisting its promotion into ACRA’s DI, arguing that large-school enrollment doesn’t always translate into a competitive advantage. Nonetheless, Rutgers coach Ken Pape eventually acquiesced, agreed to join DI Northeast, and presented the move to the school. And then the Big Ten came calling.
“I figured, if we’re going to do DI, we might as well go big,” said Pape. “They asked me to be commissioner, and we joined.”
Pape actually turned down the full commissioner position and requested to focus on the women’s league.
“By concentrating on the women, I’m not saying that I won’t work on the men down the road, but the women need a lot of support and focus,” Pape said. “They lack identity and haven’t take advantage of the Big Ten brand. We’re missing many key pieces to being a successful league.”
Pape is busy establishing a tangible presence for the women’s conference and will be rolling out a resourceful website that engages its members and potential partners. The league itself has divided into east and west pools, and the schedule is forthcoming.
“We’re bringing back 30 girls, which is a great number for us,” Pape looked toward Rutgers’ fall season. “We’re still very young, but a good number of them have had two years in my system. It’ll be difficult against Penn State of course, but we’ll be competitive with the Ohio States and Michigans.”
MORE MOVEMENT … Driven by Colorado College’s Michael Windle, NSCRO is adding a conference out of Colorado … The teams that composed the Pacific Mountain Rugby Conference’s south division have left to form the Gold Coast’s new DI league, which will be complimented by DII Gold Coast teams being promoted … DII West Coast champion Humboldt will compete in the PMRC West’s DI competition this upcoming season.
