Billings Readying Bearcats for NCAA Country

Lander University (Greenville, S.C.) is another collegiate team that really could have benefitted from a spring season this year. Buck Billings, formerly of McMinn Tribe in Tennessee, has been guiding the women’s (and men’s) team since January 2019, and foresaw a 7s season filling with promise. Covid-19, of course, halted all on-field activity, but Billings is still readying the women’s team for National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) membership in fall 2021. He is looking for the right players – ones who are interested in the NCAA student-athlete experience but also want to shape what the varsity team’s future.

The athletic department oversees the rugby teams, which currently carry the descriptor “club” in their official listings. When the women join NIRA next year, Lander University will treat the team like every other NCAA varsity program on campus, also opening up access to scholarship monies.

“We don’t have a lot of scholarship money now but we have a very low cost,” Billings said. “Many of the [NIRA] rugby schools are private liberal arts colleges that cost a little more. With rugby and academic scholarships, Lander is still cheaper without any aid. … It’s liberal arts academics with public university price.”

Billings anticipates two equivalencies (i.e., scholarship monies the equivalent of two full tuitions) but emphasized that scholarships shouldn’t be only the data point that student-athletes consider when considering college rugby programs. Lander is a small school with approximately 3,000 students and small class sizes.

“But we’re also one of the fastest-growing schools in South Carolina,” Billings said. “We place a high percentage of students into law and medical schools, and our nursing school is the second-best in the state.

“We’re located a few hours from Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Tybee Island, Hilton Head, so you’re close to the beach, and two hours from the [Blue Ridge] mountains,” Billings continued. It’s not a school in the middle of nowhere, and the kids can get a little bit of everything. It’s a hidden gem and I just need to educate people on that.”

Billings indicated that much of his recruitment has been focused in the southeast region thus far but the intention is to bring the diversity of the U.S. to South Carolina.

“One of the challenges of our sport is connecting college coaches with varsity rugby players,” Billings described his experience with recruiting thus far. “A lot of our coaches at the high school level are volunteers and wear a lot of hats. They’re raising money for the program, managing the entire team, and coaching, and they have full-time jobs and families. So it can be a challenge to get all four parties – the college coaches, high school coaches, players and parents – connected. But I’m learning how to do that better.”

When building Lander’s roster for the 2019-20 season, Billings started with his former players. McMinn Tribe alumnae Danielle Satherlie, Julianne Carter and Paige Wisebaker relocated to Greenville, and they helped root Billings’ coaching philosophy.

“I coach the three Ps: the person, the profession, and the player,” Billings summarized the program’s foci on individual growth, academic excellence, and rugby development. “They’re not going pro in rugby; they’re going pro in something else. I want them ready for that. When they graduate, they’re ready for life, not just rugby.”

Billings also believes, “Success is at the intersection of hard work, talent and opportunity,” a sentiment that is also the rugby team’s purpose statement.

The Tribe trio joined another three recruits for the fall, a handful of returners from the team’s club days, and athletic walk-ons like Allyson Arias, who is one of several soccer crossovers, and Taelor Fulmore, a former softball standout. The team had just enough numbers for 15s, although that wasn’t always the case for Lander’s opponents. The Bearcats played a friendly fall against Mount St. Mary’s B side (12s), College of Charleston (15s), Lee University (10s) and Elon University (7s).

Fourteen players carried over from the fall and some transfer students from NIRA’s Colby-Sawyer College (N.H.) punched up the spring roster.

“I thought we were going to have a very good 7s team this spring and I hate that we never got to play,” Billings said. “We would have tried for NSCRO 7s nationals.”

The break from on-field action has allowed Billings to focus more attention on recruitment, and Lander has announced six fall 2020 commits thus far: Sullivan Beckham (Charleston, S.C.), Paige Fister (Mt Pleasant, S.C.), Natalie Garret (Spring Hill, Tenn.), Kaylynn Hamby (McMinn, Tenn.) and Kristy Hampton (McMinn Tribe, Tenn.).

“Our roster is still growing, even this late in the year,” Billings said. “I would like to see our sport get to the extent where, by the start of the fall of their [high school] senior years, the kids who are really committed to playing varsity rugby in college have made their decisions. That will be a good thing for the sport, because unfortunately I will still have kids reaching out to me this late in the game and it’s almost too late at times.”

Lander University did adjust its admission policies to account for Covid-19 disruptions. It suspended the need for standardized tests (SATs, ACTs) but raised the GPA requirement.

“I had kids this year that I really liked but they were waiting until the spring of their senior year to take their standardized tests,” Billings said. “Covid-19 ended that. So you had kids with good PSATs or PACTs and thought they would have done well on their standardized tests, but their GPAs weren’t great because they had a bad freshman or sophomore year. It cost me a couple of players, but it’s also about me educating the kids to get their test scores started early and be more academically aware.”

Billings anticipates approximately 30 players on the women’s fall roster, and the team to still be young with no seniors. The competition situation is still evolving, though, given the state of USA Rugby and new opportunities.

“I just want to play fall-only 15s and spring 7s,” Billings said when considering competition options. “Most of the southern teams in USA Rugby play half their season in the fall and spring for 15s, and I think that’s silly. We have kids who study abroad and do other things, so it’s just hard to plan across two seasons. My people [in the athletic department] don’t want us playing during exam times and really recognize the athletic calendar.”

USA Rugby’s DI and DII fall championship pathways fit those seasonal requirements, as does NSCRO, which contests a national 15s championship in the fall. USA Rugby is restructuring after Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the uncertainty surrounding the national governing body’s future served as a catalyst for neighboring teams and leagues to start talking to each other. DI Clemson coach Marty Sarkees and NSCRO Elon coach Alley Mitchell reached out to Billings to collaborate.

“I wanted our team to play in an environment that was good for us but also for the area teams, and NSCRO’s Open model can accept bigger and smaller teams,” Billings said of NSCRO’s new arm, the National Collegiate Rugby Organization (NCRO). [Brand relaunch forthcoming]

RELATED: Smarto Tabbed as NCRO Women’s Open Commish

Billings indicated that the formation of a southern NCRO league is still in the formative stages but that teams from the South Independent Rugby Conference (SIRC) could also be joining. However it shapes up, Lander will only spend one year with the competition, since NIRA membership awaits in fall 2021.

“I really want to see NCAA rugby here at Lander and want the players to be NCAA athletes,” Billings said. “I’m not knocking non-NCAA athletes, but I want that for my kids. I was an NCAA athlete for football and I value that experience.”

When Lander does join NIRA, it will compete in NCAA D-II. Its closest competition will be Queens University of Charlotte (N.C.) followed by Alderson Broaddus University (W.V.).

“When we elevate to NCAA varsity, we will have true athletic scholarships that can be stacked with other scholarships we already offer,” Billings said. “When we do, we’ll be competitive with all the other schools. It’ll be a game-changer.”

For more information, visit the Lander women’s rugby homepage and also check out the prospective student questionnaire.