EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry College Department of Athletics is pleased to announce that it will sponsor Women's Rugby as a varsity sport for the 2023-24 academic year season. This move is in line with the increased interest of women's rugby on the E&H campus as well as its status as an "emerging sport" with the NCAA.
Additionally, Vice President for Athletics Anne Crutchfield has announced that Tom "Doc" O'Neill has been named the program's full-time head coach. O'Neill has previously served as a part-time coach for the men's and women's rugby programs. He will also continue to lead the men's rugby program.
"When I first started volunteering here in 2014, I never imagined that I would be hired part-time to coach rugby in Southwest Virginia. To now become a varsity NCAA coach is more than I ever thought would happen," said O'Neill. "It's been a vision of mine to see women's rugby really take off. I'm very excited for this new journey in my life and to help make rugby a big program here at Emory & Henry."
Emory & Henry began playing women's rugby as a club sport in 2019 as part of the non-NCAA South Atlantic Rugby Conference (SARC) under the National Collegiate Rugby umbrella. The team saw four of its players selected to represent E&H as part of a SARC All-Star Team at the National Collegiate Rugby Championships which won a national championship.
Overall, rugby reappeared on the Emory & Henry campus in 2014 with the men's club team under O'Neill's direction. There had previously been a rugby club in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The men have also excelled at the league and national level, winning Cardinal Collegiate Rugby Conference titles and placing multiple players on CCRC All-Star squads
"We are excited to be able to move women's rugby to a varsity sport," commented Crutchfield. "Doc (O'Neill) is the perfect person to lead us into this new era of competition. His familiarity with Emory & Henry over the past decade and his experience as a player at the collegiate and adult level give him the knowledge base and the contacts in the rugby world that will help us be competitive quickly."
As a NCAA emerging sport, women's rugby is part of a group of sports recognized by the NCAA that is intended to help schools provide more athletics opportunities for women and more sport-sponsorship options for the institutions. Once an emerging sport reaches 40 sponsoring institutions, it gains championship status.
"With the designation of emerging sport, the growth of women's rugby has been made a priority by the NCAA," added Crutchfield. "Emory & Henry strives to be a leader when it comes to providing opportunities for women to compete at a high level, and this will position us to do so on a national stage."
With these additions, E&H increases its varsity sport offering to 27 with 11 NCAA men's sports (baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field, wrestling), 12 NCAA women's sports (basketball, cross country, golf, rugby, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, indoor track & field, outdoor track & field, volleyball, wrestling), the Intermont Equestrian IDA & IHSA teams and competitive cheerleading & dance squads.
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