NSCRO News: Establishment of the NSCRO Advisory Board & Division 3 Reference is Removed

Issued by Steve Cohen, NSCRO President:

NSCRO is very pleased to announce the establishment of an Advisory Board. The Board is made up of the following 9 dedicated collegiate folks:

Darrin Barner – Coach, Wayne State College Men and Women; Great Plains RFU Men and Women’s Collegiate Director
John Bradley – Coach, Plattsburgh State College Women; Empire GU Upstate Women’s Small College Director
Mark Hanrahan – Director of Rugby Operations, Franciscan University Men; Three Rivers College Rugby Conference Commissioner
Steve Hiatt – Coach, California Maritime Academy Men; Northern California Collegiate Rugby Conference
Jacque Klein – Minnesota RFU Women’s College Commissioner
Shayne Roberson – Coach, University of Texas-San Antonio Men; Lonestar Collegiate Rugby Conference Commissioner
Mike Scott – Coach, Willamette University Men; Pacific Northwest RFU Small College Director
Todd Streeter – Coach, U.of Wisconsin-Parkside; Wisconsin RFU Collegiate Director
Allan Wilson – Coach, Denver University; Eastern Rockies RFU Men’s Collegiate Director

The purpose of the Board is provide guidance, ideas and support to NSCRO as it continues to grow and develop Small College rugby through its National Playoff system. NSCRO’s growth in recent years have been remarkable with now over 200 men’s and nearly 80 women’s college competing towards the Small College National Championship.

NSCRO is Now Small College Rugby….Division 3 reference is removed

The National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO) continues to develop and improve as an Organization. For this coming year, we have over 200 men’s and nearly 80 women’s teams participating in our playoff system. NSCRO recognizes that the needs of Small Colleges are different from the larger schools that participate in USA Rugby’s Divisions 1-A, 1-AA and 2. Thus we continue to move forward with Policies specifically written to foster the growth and development of Small College rugby.

As part of NSCRO’s development, we are no longer referring to our playoff eligible teams or National Playoffs / Championships as Division 3. We are calling it simply Small College rugby. One of the key goals of NSCRO’s Policies is to establish a “level playing field” for small colleges to compete against schools with similar resources, especially in terms of student enrollment. To refer to Small College rugby clubs as Division 3 does not fully recognize their level of play, commitment to the sport and accomplishments both on and off the pitch, especially in the eye of the general public.

While there are some NSCRO playoff eligible small colleges that are capable of competing against Division 1 and 2 teams, few can sustain this level of play season after season. NSCRO absolutely encourages all colleges, regardless of their size, to play at the highest level possible. Many clubs that have found success in the NSCRO playoffs have moved up to Division 2 and we applaud them for doing so.

For information about the NSCRO including our Team and Player Eligibility Policies, list of NSCRO playoff eligible clubs, and current National playoff brackets, go to www.nscro.org or contact NSCRO President Steve Cohen at sdcohen4@mindspring.com.

For more information about NSCRO, visit www.nscro.org.