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Johnson resignation reopens past chapters

So the national team coach resigns, spotlighting management's failure to deliver basic resources in a World Cup qualifying year.

Even if 2009 doesn't exactly parallel 2006, Scott Johnson's forthcoming departure shows USA Rugby's leadership again has been asleep at the switch.

Three years ago, the board of directors all but ignored the union's insolvency while accepting the management committee's contention that a new strategic plan and 'governance' would change everything for the Eagles. Now, having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on foreign consultants who crafted an unworkable approach premised on IRB welfare, America's flagship 'high performance' program is once more starting over.

This time America is six places lower on the international rankings than when Tom Billups departed. To paraphrase Anglo-Irish parliamentarian Edmund Burke, when organizations change plans and structure but the same problems persist, it's time to evaluate the leadership.

Last week chief executive Nigel Melville all but declared USA Rugby's professionalization campaign stillborn, underlining that the board's decision to retain Peter Thorburn for the winless 2007 World Cup (indeed, the first-ever winless Eagle season) cost the union more than 18 months of time to launch a domestic pro league and get ready for 2011.

So, if you believe that a pro league is the Eagles' panacea and that the economic downturn alone has stymied its hopes, then Kevin Roberts and colleagues missed the window of opportunity for whatever potential there may have been for the North American 4 or the HP regions. Based on past practice, the IRB is not likely to soon restore past funding levels.

If, on the other hand, you think it more telling that Boulder's payroll has swollen and the union has seized on past chief executive Doug Arnot's tactic of portraying revenue from loss-making events as evidence of growing income, then the case is that Johnson's delayed hiring diverted focus and spending from the professionalization strategy. That is more serious. Both shortcomings go right to the board and executive management.

Of course Eagle spending has grown in comparison with historical standards, and must be considered in any evaluation of Johnson's (and Thorburn's) tenure. But if there is one thing Johnson's departure cannot be blamed on, it's professionalization abroad (including Canada). As vice chair Bob Latham has trumpeted, no 'tier 2' country received more IRB cash than America. USARFU's leadership has had more tools and resources than ever before, and has suffered one of the shortest coaching tenures in Eagle history.

Along with poor decision making goes lack of supervision. Johnson's increasingly frantic efforts to jumpstart a pro competition should have been a warning sign: Why isn't the coach coaching? The role of Eagle head man is of sufficient stature that the board should have been intimately involved; if it was, it failed. So too the congress, which features many of the old directors who previously mismanaged the USA 7s and Arnot's 'big events' strategy, has failed its role.

The union yesterday yesterday issued a terse release stating Johnson had submitted 90 days' notice of his intention to depart. Most of Johnson's remarks to me were confidential.

Much as then-assistant Brett Taylor declined the opportunity in 2006, some leading domestic coaches have already signaled disinterest in the open position.

Related stories:
    2009
    Melville: USARFU pro strategy scaled back

    2008
    On the high performance era: The vision
    On the high performance era: Execution
    On the high performance era: Commerce

    2006
    New board seated, faces tall order
    Magleby resigns from Executive committee
    Thorburn named USA coach, players protest Billups exit
    NA4 coaches, Solomons tapped
    Griffiths arrival signals belated Arnot exit
    Taylor declines national team post
    Latham leading Dallas transition team
    National office exodus? Latham less than forthcoming 
    Eagle coach Billups resigns; unwilling to start season with no money, lame-duck CEO
    Arnot’s exit: USA Board left uninformed
    Under pressure, Arnot resigns; CEO's delayed exit raises questions 
    Past treasurer worried about spending plans; Board gets cloudy fundraising picture

A time for heritage

Yes yes, we have reached the denouement of the Johnson affair. Another time. Today's post treats the diametrically opposed topic of commitment to heritage.

Speaking at his 2005 induction to baseball's hall of fame, Ryne Sandberg compellingly portrayed the role of tradition in sports. One passage is worth quoting at length:

I was in awe every time I walked onto the field. That's respect. I was taught you ... make a great play, act like you've done it before; get a big hit, look for the third base coach and get ready to run the bases.

These guys sitting up here [i.e., previous honorees] did not pave the way for the rest of us so that players could swing for the fences every time up and forget how to move a runner over to third. It's disrespectful to them, to you and to the game of baseball that we all played growing up.

A lot of people say this honor validates my career, but I didn't work hard for validation. I didn't play the game right because I saw a reward at the end of the tunnel. I played it right because that's what you're supposed to do, play it right and with respect ... . If this validates anything, it's that guys who taught me the game ... did what they were supposed to do, and I did what I was supposed to do.

Who is teaching future generations about the best traditions of American rugby? About the heritage of the land of the free and the home of the brave?

No organization has been truer to this purpose than the United States Rugby Football Foundation, the San Diego-based nonprofit that's better known for its work among youth.

Saturday, February 14, USRFF will posthumously honor University of California coach Miles 'Doc' Hudson and St. Mary's College head man Pat Vincent at a charity dinner. Each man nurtured America's flickering flame during the long night between the early 20th century and the 1970s.

Hudson, who began at Cal in 1938, racked up a 339-84-23 record over a 37-year span that included matches against New Zealand, Australia, and a combined Oxford-Cambridge side. The 1965 and 1971 editions that toured down under rate among the finest-ever American college XVs.

Vincent, twice an All Black, moved to California in 1968 and coached at the Moraga school until his untimely passing in 1983. Like original Eagle coach Dennis Storer, he was a Commonwealth man who brilliantly adapted to his adopted country, endowing his charges with the best of the established and the possible.

'As we do every year, the Rugby Foundation is looking forward to celebrating another year of growth at the youth and high school levels of rugby in this country,' past Eagle captain and USRFF executive director Brian Vizard said in a statement. 'We also look forward to honoring Doc and Pat for all they've done for rugby in the US.'

Jack Clark, the Cal and Eagle lock who has inherited Hudson's mantle, is to lead the evening's slate of distinguished speakers, which also include Hudson's son Ron, as successful Division 1 football coach, and St Mary's Eagles Brad Andrews and Jerry Kelleher. Andrews, Clark, and Kelleher all played for the national team under Ray Cornbill.

A limited number of tickets are available for purchase. Also on the weekend, USRFF is staging a charity golf tournament.

BYU academy, TV matches on tap

George Hook, the loquacious Irish rugby presenter, once harrangued that college players shouldn't be in America's test squad.

The context nullified Hook's categorical. The player in question was of Polynesian heritage (i.e., familiar with rugby), 25 years old (having served a mission), and studying at Brigham Young. Why is the latter feature notable?

Like Cal and a half dozen or so other collegiate teams, BYU outstrips virtually every US club team in offering a professionalized environment.

Today the Cougars are set to unveil an 'academy' for training youth and high school-age players (and coaches). The program is seen as a step toward a hoped-for summer camp, and naturally enough BYU also is looking to gain prospects for its varsity team. Several of the current squad were part of a previous iteration earlier this decade.

Next month, the Utah school will unveil a remodeled 2,100-seat rugby and soccer facility on its Provo campus with a March 13 match against Penn State. Some of the Cougars' matches will be broadcast on the school's television station, accessible via Dish Network and DirecTV as well as Comcast and Cox cable services, as South Field boasts floodlights and broadcast suitable television facilities.

In sports, there are few catalysts for improving standards which can compete with TV. The camera magnifies athleticism and excitment, and exposes poor contests to sparse crowds. At BYU, rugby has become one of the top five sports on campus, according to assistant coach Kimball Kjar, the 2003 World Cup scrumhalf.

Hook should have known better, since he spent several years as America's technical director in the mid-1990s. But then, he is hardly the last foreigner to dogmatically insist on a Commonwealth-style model.

Interestingly, the Cougars' head coach, David Smyth, also is Irish but sounded very like an American varsity mentor in announcing this past month's walk-on tryout schedule:

'We generally like to take physical and athletic players from any sport and then we can teach them the game of rugby. With ... the experienced players already here we can plug in athletes and develop them into solid rugby players in time and with their own effort. Really, we look for solid athletes who want to put the Y on their chest.'

Florida field report: Does the model hold?

Florida high schools present several problems that recommend a U19 approach, a local coach corresponds in response to last week's post on loosened 'single school' eligibility.

'Finding knowledgeable coaches with the dedication to run the team and attend all practices, games, and league meetings is a bottleneck for the growth of high school rugby (also finding facilities and referees). It's even more difficult to find someone who can run a practice in the afternoon immediately following school,' according to Dave McFadden, coach of Tampa's Pelicans, the 2008 U19 state champs.

'The few clubs in Florida that were associated with a particular school have mostly changed over to U19 clubs to avoid the additional administrative strains.  However, we all hope that rugby will become a varsity sport here in the future once there are enough rugby knowledgeable administrators and teachers to properly manage it,' he adds.

Florida grew to 19 teams from 9 in 2007. Effective adult supervision is crucial. There's no reason to believe this field report isn't as useful as it is concise.

And yet McFadden's sequence unintentionally makes an often overlooked point about the varsity model. Instead of school officials who have rugby skills, it calls for rugby coaches and managers who can speak to administrators on their own terms (while also presenting rugby as an appealing, 'cool' athletic endeavor to students). It requires leaders who can identify and manage the team's needs for fields and facilities, strength and conditioning, medical care, budget and expenditure, and so on -- and then uphold their end of the bargain, just the same as any other (often unpaid) school sports coach.

The result would be a rugby program the school athletic director and principal can be proud of, much like the tennis or water polo teams. Though not so important as basketball or baseball, these are mainstream sports because school officials feel confident there are quality standards and controls that have don't require intimate knowledge of an 'esoteric English game' [sic].

Note that varsity status is optional to the varsity model, and can be seen as a culmination of program building rather than a precursor.

McFadden adds that Florida union data shows about 70 percent of high school players are leaving the sport. 'Allowing graduated players to stay with their club will help to retain some of these players.  We also need to start U21 clubs in association with high school teams to keep them in the game until they are ready to move on to an adult club,' he suggests.

That may be an effective local approach, and perhaps such Florida sides may rise to challenge Highland and its ilk in the composite bracket of the national championships . But it is not a good argument to redefining the single-school category, for rugby's single handedly trying to change America's understanding of high school play as teenagers who go to class together.

Interesting report. Thanks Dave.

Melville: USARFU pro strategy scaled back

The game clock appears to be running out on USA Rugby's professionalization strategy.

Reduced 2009 International Rugby Board funding is undermining slow-moving plans to fuel growth by commercializing Eagle and all-star play, calling into question the viability of a stalled agenda and possibly even marking the shelving of the 2006 strategic plan.

In a wide-ranging blog post, chief executive Nigel Melville yesterday signaled that despite 2009 being a World Cup qualification year, the union can't afford to prioritize the national team, which had been positioned as its primary commercial engine; that plans for revenue-generating competitions remain on hold; and that the oft-delayed four-region high performance (HP) plan will continue in limbo.

'The focus will be on the Under-17, U-18, U-20, All-Americans, and the Eagles 7s, player talent identification and tracking, a select number of all-star events, and an elite player development camp this summer. Regional high performance centers staffed by full-time specialist staff will have to wait,' Melville wrote.

The admission comes against the backdrop of the Eagles falling to 19th from 13th in the IRB standings since 2005, when IRB HP monies began to arrive. As the US has received as much as any other so-called tier 2 union, as then chairman (and current vice chair) Bob Latham noted at the time, logically that suggests America's rivals have done more with the same amount or less.

The North American 4 has been no more successful. Touted as a Super 14-style property that would be commercialized by selling franchises to private investors, the IRB-funded competition has been treated more like Eagle training camps, won little public attention, and reportedly been reduced from a round-robin to a knockout quadrangular.

Meanwhile the HP ideal is shifting away from regional to nationalized management. After three years, just one local HP manager is on the job while the size of Boulder's staff has grown to record levels. In combination with the unannounced 'suspension' of the Inter-Territorial Tournament, the combined trajectory of the NA4 and HP programs suggests professionalization has crowded out a long-established feature of the US game and replaced it with uncertain prospects.

As the light of a leading contributor to Boulder's revenue flickers, the 2006 strategic plan looks to be following in the footsteps of the disastrous 'big events' approach pursued by then-chair Neal Brendel and then-chief executive Doug Arnot at the start of the decade, when the capital-intensive launch of the USA 7s and the simultaneous failure to raise sponsor dollars drove the union to insolvency and set the stage for America's 'amateur' board to be replaced by a reduced group led by Kevin Roberts.

While the loss of IRB dollars is not likely to cause the same kind of disruptions as in 2005 (i.e., massive dues hikes or the firesale of assets such as the USA 7s), it's seems likely that broader union activities or staffing could be in jeopardy. Meanwhile, USARFU's poor record in the three primary metrics that underpin its professionalization strategy -- '1) position of US men’s team in world rankings, 2) development of the North American [Four] Series, 3) win rate in our international match program' -- could begin prompt hard questions from the recently dormant Congress.

Melville was to communicate his new plans in a conference call with territorial presidents and other high-ranking officials, according to people familiar with the matter. The Board was expected to meet next month.

Related:
    On the high performance era: The vision
    On the high performance era: Execution
    On the high performance era: Commerce

HS champs: dilution more worrying than elimination

The most significant feature of USARFU's newly revealed high school plan is not whether and when it will cease holding national championships, but how it defines high school.

Allowing up to five graduates and/or non-students to compete on a 'single school' team defies everyone else's understanding of the term. No other mainstream sport even bothers with the concept: you play for the school you go to, or you play for a regional all-star team, and never the twain meets.

The concept of transitioning toward state-based high school championships and a national Under 19 title is sound enough. The model pertains in American baseball, basketball, soccer, and a host of other sports. So playing for Highland Park and then moving up to the Dallas Harlequins U19 side would make sense.

But in aiming to leverage the school system, the union hasn't understood that varsity rugby has to look like any other varsity program to parents, the athletic director, and the principal. That means your son or daughter plays with the kids he or she goes to class with.

The essence of the 'varsity model' is not whether rugby is sanctioned, but whether it has a field and facilities, a budget, coaching and medical support, and credibility on campus. With these things, high school teams could compete for top-tier athletes and count on school and parental support. Then the quality of our game would soar. If not, then raw playing numbers will never matter so much.

This explains why parochial schools from Xavier in New York to Jesuit in Sacramento have consistently proven among the strongest in the country.

High school eligibility for rugby needs to be the same as for any other sport. As to the national championship, Americans like them.

National HS champs on the way out as 'single school' guidelines loosened

Loosened high school eligibility regulations will allow up to one-third of a 2009 'single school' XV to have graduated or be enrolled elsewhere, and the backtracking is part of USA Rugby's plan to discontinue the national scholastic championship after 2011.

Worried that 'many players [have] no access to any form of national [championship] event,' USA Rugby's 2008-09 rules allow teams ostensibly drawn from one student body to field five 'special exemption' players, a category that includes athletes from nearby high schools or who have finished secondary schooling but not turned 19 before September 1. Last year's standard, restricting teams in the single-school category to youngsters actually enrolled at the school, was too strict, the union's Youth committee reported in a December memo.

The change sets rugby apart from from conventional scholastic standards governing students who want to play a sport not offered by their school. If the school you're attending doesn't field a team in a given sport, typically you can play for another school that does. If you're attending private school, then you've already made a choice about schooling and extracurricular activities, and the option of competing for a public school team is generally foreclosed. Graduates are almost never part of the mix.

Not only the decision but also how it came to light are likely to be controversial. In October 2007, USA Rugby recast its secondary school playoffs in two divisions, one for teams comprising players from a single institution, and one for teams of players who are under the age of 19. In announcing the change, it declared that 'The strategic goal for USA Rugby is to have rugby formally recognized and supported by high schools. The new championship structure will support this goal by encouraging the formation of single high school teams, while allowing multi-school club teams to continue to compete.'

The move was well-received for creating 'apples to apples' competitions. But in describing its most recent tack, the union's circular asserted the 2007 decision actually set the union on course for single-school championships to be determined by state authorities (e.g., state-based rugby organizations), while USA Rugby's scholastic event would morph into an Under-19 national championship.

While such a transition has been much discussed, the contemporary press release made no mention of the objective, nor did it surface in conversations with then-youth manager Peter Steinberg. A union official could not immediately produce any 2007 documentation memorializing the decision. The December 2008 memo, which circulated to territorial presidents, state-based rugby organization officials, and sundry other 'youth leaders', does not appear to address discontinuing the high school championship.

USA Rugby did not respond to a query about the estimate of how many high school players are missing out on its national championship competition. ERugbyNews first reported the plan to discontinue the 29-year-old event (subscription required).

The decision sets the union up to adjudicate yet another level of eligibility filings and challenges, as the new standard is something like club-level rules limiting the number of foreign-born players. Historically, compliance has been time consuming, fraught, and even prompted litigation derailing the 2003 Super League final.

Were USA Rugby to follow traditional American practice, it would cede eligibility decisions to local school boards that are intimately connected to state athletic bodies, according to sports administrators with experience in the field. Yet despite Boulder's vision of state-based high school rugby, the December memo makes clear the union's discomfort with all that this entails, asserting organizers of state high school rugby championships ought to 'consider the model that USA Rugby has established for the national high school championship.'

The guidelines, approved by the board of directors and circulated last week, call for special exemption players to decrease to three in 2010 and two in 2011, the final year of the single-school tournament.

Youth team signups prompt CIPP change

Youth and high school teams have been banding together to meet USA Rugby's registration requirements, confounding the union's administrative practices while raising questions about the national body's overall role.

In the course of signing up for USARFU's Club and Individual Participation Program (CIPP), many clubs that are part of state-based rugby organizations (SBROs) have represented themselves as a single group, in part because that's how the local registration programs work, and also since each team saves $150. These teams, which additionally pay fees to the statewide governing body, have continued conventional player registration, at a cost of $10 per athlete.

In response, the union recently circulated a memo stating group registration isn't addressed in USARFU's constitution; that 'there is not ample time to fully accommodate all USA Rugby’s bylaws and governance processes to effect a change for this competition season'; and that every team was to pay the $150 charge. Subsequently it was agreed that SBRO payments would be capped at 20 teams, according to new youth director Mark Griffin.

The matter points up the tension between USARFU's view that SBROs are a useful means of penetrating the state-level bodies which administer mainstream high school athletics, and the value of rugby-specific local, territorial, and national bodies if SBRO are independently managing affairs. Many SBRO officials deeply resent sending large sums of adolescent dues to Boulder, arguing that their shoestring operations receive no cash benefits and little to no meaningful services in return.

'This appears to be another money grab using the only thing that [USARFU] has left that the local youth organizations actually need and/or use -- liability insurance. ...I've purchased my own liability policy... [which additionally] provides an accident medical policy for the kid,' wrote one veteran administrator.

In its circular, the union that it would add compliant SBROs to its insurance policy. Meanwhile, Griffin is has gotten started fleshing out the role of the SBRO, including its functional relationship with other governing authorities, by canvassing the 14 organizations presently recognized by Boulder.

In a related matter, the national body recently told the seven territories that it had set a goal of reaching 100,000 youth participants in 2009. To achieve that milestone, rugby will have to reach into new sectors such as school districts, Griffin said.

NorCal refs, Sacto schools team on recruiting drive

Northern California's referee society is teaming up with the talent-laden Sacramento Valley high school league in an effort to cover more high school games while attracting younger officials.

At the February 6-8 Kickoff Tournament, one of the region's larger scholastic events, the society will conduct an introductory certification clinic and assign high-level officials to evaluate referee assignments, while waiving participant fees and covering expenses. Subsequently, the Sacramento high school league will double regular-season match fees for refs who officiate high school games.

The society, whose training programs are among America's most extensive, normally can't cover most scholastic games because there are too many. Meanwhile, match evaluations for aspiring refs, which are key to opportunities for higher-level games, can be hard to come by.

NCRRS (Northern California Rugby Referee Society) is hoping to lure experienced players under the age of 30 to convert to refereeing, in part because it believes younger officials will be better suited to keep up with the new laws, and would like to extend its coverage at least to the high school varsity matches.

The Kickoff Tournament is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and will include a Friday night match between the University of Calgary and Cal, which draws quite heavily on Sacramento schools.

Griffin to chase the game in youth role

For Mark Griffin, recently announced as USA Rugby's youth and high school director, the name of the game is catchup.

Filling a role vacant for more than a year, the former Old Blue and Eagle hooker will be responsible for a strategic, fast-growing segment which has been restive about dues hikes and duplicative costs that aren't seen to have spawned new, youth-focused services. Indeed, the founder of a nonprofit which helps inner-city schools introduce rugby to their curriculum was tapped in large part because Play Rugby USA has outstripped the union in tapping into school districts.

One important objective: articulating the role of so-called state-based rugby organizations (SBRO) in relation to the union's traditional territories and local unions. America's dozen or so SBROs take their cue from the organizing bodies of conventional high school sports, so it's not clear why should be three levels of rugby organization in the picture, particularly as the unions don't geographically correspond to state boundaries.

Further, many SBRO adherents question why their standalone organizations send dues to Boulder, effectively subsidizing senior and elite programs as well as administrative overhead. Once-a-year, one-size-fits-all youth conferences and a national championship are seen as a meager return; many would prefer to 'do what works' and play for state crowns.

The English-born Griffin, for some years in New York finance while earning 9 caps from 2003 to 2005, also will face headwinds in that he joins most of the union's senior management in being foreign-born. So too was his predecessor, Pete Steinberg, in a position where a native accent -- more properly, to communicate instinctively with school and state athletic officials -- has been considered apropos.

But Griffin's Play Rugby has made headway in a big-city school district, where rugby's successes have been rare. Instead, if Griffin was 'an obvious pick', as chief executive Nigel Melville said in announcing the hiring, the more meaningful question might be what was the delay?

Play Rugby will operate under a formal agreement with the union, the 33-year-old said. 'Play Rugby provides a philanthropic appeal to urban programming, [while] USA Rugby [has] a national appeal to corporate sponsors,' he observed in an email.