Below is his open letter of resignation:

Alumni, friends and families, it is with mixed emotions that I am submitting my letter of resignation as the head coach of the Chico State Men’s rugby team.

As some of you may know, I was instrumental in starting the Chico Oaks Youth Rugby Club last year. With my oldest son being one of the newest members of the Alumni and my youngest son starting to get active in the sport, now is the time to change my area of focus! I actually had a suspicion Christmas Eve morning of 2011 that the 2012 season would be my last season as the head coach of the Chico State Men’s Rugby team. It wasn’t until late February, when I had only one day off since January 3, 2012, that I made my final decision to resign however. With the college playing on Saturdays and the youth teams playing on Sundays you can see how there wasn’t time for anything other than rugby! Running both programs takes way too much time away from my family and my “real job”! It is now that I must make the choice to step away from the college men’s program.

To those that I have had the pleasure of coaching, I thank you all for the great memories and life long friendships that we have formed in the past 8 years! Lord knows we have shared a lot: failures, successes, weddings, child births and other personal issues, etc. These times I will always cherish!

There is also a large group of alumni and parents/friends/room mates of players that I have had the pleasure of getting to know as they have attended alumni events or games watching their alma mater and kids or friends represent the Wildcats!! It is people like you that make a college “club” program successful! I look forward to seeing you all in the seasons to come, just on the “other side of the rope!”

At the end of each season the players are responsible to complete a coach evaluation. While the majority where positive (whether they were telling the truth or simply trying to get through it and didn’t read the questions accurately, we will never know), there was one comment over the years that I will never forget. One of the players wrote “Coach Jagoe cares as much about making us better MEN, as he does about making us good rugby players.” This is a statement that I am very proud of because it really is true. Life is MUCH bigger than the game.

I have met with the current player board members and they are aware of this situation and are making plans to move forward. They have taken some guidance from some “outsiders” to create a counseling board made up of 3 “community members” and 3 current players to seek out a coach to move the program forward. We have held off on my resignation to allow them time to get someone in place so hopefully there will be an announcement soon.

One thing we can ALL agree on is that rugby is a sport like no other!! The bond and trust that is created between players, coaches, alumni, fans etc. is one that does not come from any other sport that I am aware of. To be able to attain instant respect and honor for simply being associated with a sport is unheard of. To lose this respect or honor by breaking this bond or trust is truly sad!!

Always know that every choice you make either gives you power, or takes it away. So choose wisely!

I am looking forward to a new book on CSR rugby to begin! Also, I can’t wait to hear those words spoken in unison at the end of the day and what I hope to be MANY new victories,

“IT’S A GREAT DAY TO BE A WILDCAT!”

See you on the pitch!

Mitch Jagoe