By Rugby Fan Central Team
National Collegiate Rugby will select 20 coaches for its Fall 2026 Coaching Mentorship Program, which begins just two days after applications close.
College rugby coaches interested in National Collegiate Rugby’s Fall 2026 Coaching Mentorship Program have only days remaining to apply.
Applications close Friday, September 4, with the six-week program beginning Sunday, September 6. NCR will select 20 mentees to work with experienced coaches from college rugby, Women’s Elite Rugby and Major League Rugby.
That creates a particularly tight turnaround between the application deadline and the opening of the program.
NCR has not publicly specified when successful applicants will be notified. Its announcement also does not list a separate participation fee for the mentorship program, although NCR states that all selected mentees must be NCR members.
Fall 2026 Program at a Glance
Application deadline: September 4, 2026
Program begins: September 6
Program ends: October 11
Mentees selected: 20
Format: Six-week virtual mentorship
Eligibility: Open to coaches of all experience levels; selected mentees must be NCR members
Program fee: No separate mentorship fee is stated in NCR’s announcement
Selection notification: NCR has not published a notification date
Coaches From Across the U.S. Rugby Landscape
The fall mentor group brings together coaches working at several levels of the American game.
Among the most recognizable names is Sylvia Braaten, head coach of TC Gemini in Women’s Elite Rugby and a former USA international.
Major League Rugby is represented by Chicago Hounds head coach Chris Latham and Hounds forwards coach Todd Dammers.
They are joined by a substantial group of college coaches, including Brown women’s head coach Rosalind Chou, St. Bonaventure women’s head coach Meredith Pyke, Virginia women’s head coach Nancy Kechner, University of New Haven women’s head coach Emily Record, Thomas College women’s head coach Farrah Douglas and Swarthmore men’s head coach Phil Egner.
Rugby coach, consultant and coach educator Steve Lewis completes the 10-person mentor group.
What Will Mentees Actually Do?
Rather than operating as a traditional coaching course, NCR’s program is built around direct interaction between individual mentors and mentees.
Participants will hold weekly one-on-one virtual meetings during the September 6–October 11 cycle.
Those conversations can focus on:
- Practice design and game strategy
- Rugby-specific skills development
- Goal setting and accountability
- Game-day management
- Building team culture
- Developing confidence as a coach
The structure gives developing coaches an opportunity to discuss challenges within their own programs with someone outside their normal coaching environment.
That was one of the benefits identified by Florida State women’s rugby coach Ashford Evans-Brown, who previously participated in the program and was paired with Chou.
Evans-Brown said the mentorship gave him an outside perspective on practice structure, tactical questions and how he approached coaching decisions. Rather than simply being told how to coach, he described the process as one that challenged him to examine why he was making particular decisions and consider different approaches.
Building on NCR’s Coaching Development Program
The mentorship initiative began in fall 2025, when NCR launched the program with 40 mentees.
That initial version ran for 12 weeks. NCR followed it with a six-week spring program in 2026 and has retained the shorter format for this fall.
The fall cycle also arrives as the 2026–27 college rugby season gets underway. The mentorship program also comes amid a broader discussion about NCR’s role in American college rugby and coach development , giving participating coaches an opportunity to work with mentors while actively managing teams, practices and matches.NCR says the broader objective is to improve coaching quality, expand professional networks and ultimately improve the experience for college rugby players.
September 4 Application Deadline
Coaches do not have much time to decide.
Applications must be submitted by Friday, September 4, and the first week of the program begins with a kickoff meeting on September 6.
NCR says coaches at all experience levels are encouraged to apply, but all mentees selected for the program must be NCR members.
With only 20 positions available and the program beginning two days after applications close, interested coaches should submit their applications before Friday’s deadline.
