Chico State Men’s put SFSU to the sword today, running in 12 tries, winning 74-0. Danny Lalor scored a hat-trick while Drew Parson and Jack Fondale each scored a double. The B side beat the Mighty Oaks B side 20-12 in a very long, and very tight game. UCD at Davis next week from 1pm. Come and watch us take on the National Champs.
Save the date for the annual Chico Rugby Alumni weekend. This years date will be October 9 – 11 2015 and is less than 30 days away! Please take a moment to Signup for the 2015 Alumni weekend. Preregistration of $100.00 is good through September 30, 2015. After that registration will be $125.00.
Congratulations to Charlie Brennan from Chico State being named 2nd Team All American!!! Well Done.
Save the date for the annual Chico Rugby Alumni weekend. This years date will be October 4 – 6 2013 and is less than 30 days away! Please take a moment to Signup for the 2013 Alumni weekend. Preregistration of $90.00 is good through September 30, 2013. After that registration will be $100.00.
If you are unable to attend in person this year, show your support by donating to the Chico Rugby Foundation and by forwarding this newsletter on to friends and family of Chico Rugby.
Questions and feedback are always welcome. Feel free to email us atinfo@chicorugby.org.
Cheers
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
The 2011-2012 Chico State Men’s Rugby Team came together in mid-September like every year, but this year was different. This year’s team had more than its fair share of 5th year seniors with high hopes for this season. Also, this year, we accepted the best rookie class we have had in my tenure as coach.
This year’s team came together quicker than usual. They worked harder, played harder and supported each other both on and off the field and that is something we haven’t had in the past. Although our record doesn’t show this, it was a year full of stepping stones in which we are in the process of building a strong foundation for the future of the program.
As mentioned before, we had an unusually strong rookie class. There were 4 brand new rookies that all saw significant time in first XV matches. Jimmy Burrows, Charlie Brennan, JW Davis and Brandon Johnson all played a significant role this season and expect big things from them in the future.
Also this year we were the fortunate benefactors of the Mighty Oaks efforts in a local talent by the name of Owen Bentz. As you all know, it’s easy to get the college guys who run out of eligibility to start playing for the Oaks, not so easy to get them coming back the other way. Owen played two years (I think) under Buck, John and Robbie and transferred to CSU to play for the Wildcats. As with the first year rookies mentioned above, Owen as a rookie to CSU got quite a bit of first XV time and made the most of it. We look forward to continue the player sharing as we build not just one program but Chico Rugby as a whole!!!
This year we say good bye to 9 players from our team. They are Jake Wulf, Andre Leal, Bobbie Peterson, Zack Trap, Allen Stahler and Michael Deel. Our 5TH YEAR SENIORS were Mickey Canterbury, Robert Kjome, William Kendrick and Ben Fisher.
This was the second year in a row with the same coaching staff which was made up of Beau McSwain, Dan Lacko, Jeff McCready and Mitch Jagoe. These guys deserve a great deal of credit as our program has evolved in to a 5-6 day a week commitment and for the most part, they were always there and very committed to the players and the team as a whole!
Moving toward 2012-2013 we are looking at another strong freshman recruiting class which includes 4-5 kids coming to us from both SFGG as well as Piedmont High Schools. Also, there are 5-6 kids that we will be welcoming from the Sacramento area.
With the addition of these kids and the returners from this past season’s teams we are looking forward to an even better season next year.
Until then, see you all at the Chico Rugby Golf Tournament, which kicks off Alumni Weekend, Friday October 5th, 2012!!!
Try scorers for us were Karl Schmeigel, Scott Luis, Jim Beahm, Mike Morello, Tyler Poland, Michael Deel and the final and what turned out to be the winning score, was rookie forward Jimmy Burrows. Michael Keane was 4 of 7 on conversions and that was the difference on the day!
A Side – In a game that saw 6 lead changes and 2 ties, it was a break down in the Wildcat interior defense that gave the Hornets of Sac the final try and the victory. Our boys lost a touch hard fought game 32-27! One of the most fun college rugby games I’ve been a part of. The ref let the boys play, “I could’ve gave them 3 or 4 yellow cards and your boys one or two” but either way, the improvement that we saw yesterday on the field was tremendous! Leading the way on the day for the Wildcats was Captain, and prop, Karl Schmeigel’s hard work not only in the set pieces, but loose play as well. Karl has a motor that doesn’t stop! Also, Mickey Canterbury got his first League A side start and played a solid 40 minutes! Great job to you both! The forwards in general were out sized, but after playing AFA last week, that made Sac’s big forwards look human…!?!
Our backs where under constant pressure with the Sac team not committing anyone to the ruck that allowed the Hornet defense to get a step closer to our backs and pressured all day! RJ Kjome started his second game ever at flyhalf and did a great job filling in for our regular Mike Keane. Tough way to go, I know RJ would have preferred to had stayed at the outside center position he was scheduled to start at, but the Wildcats have implemented their own policy as to how they want to see their program run, and when there were 2 or 3 car loads of team mates that showed up more than 30 minutes late to the field the decision was made to sit the starters and move some boys around. The on field play was fantastic. I think we averaged 25 + turnovers last season and yesterday our count was +/- 15. Coming from a back (me, NOT A PROP like some of you think I should play) We scored 5 tries on the day ALL by the backs. Lead by injured OC Michael Deel’s (who had to step in on the wing to fill a gap created by moving Tyler Poland to OC for RJ) two tries and scrum half Ben Fisher’s solid play, it was a shame the day ended on the down side of the score! Other Wildcat try scorers included, OC Tyler Poland (1), Ben Fisher (1) and ROOKIE inside center (you all know what that means?;0) JW Davis (1)
B Side game – you thought I wrote a lot above…!? WOW! I know there have been a lot of “killer B’s” in the past, but I think this group has made a NEW NAME for the “KILLER B’S”!!!!! One of the best team wins have had in a long time! Scoring was constant and fun to watch. Sac jumped out with some big kids and some FAST kids scoring first going up 5-0. Something clicked! FINAL SCORE 53-5 WILDCATS! Tries scored on the day rookie, flanker/8 man, Jimmy Burrows (2), OC Ryan Marples (2), rookie lock Brandon Johnson (1), a great 85 meter try by Marcus (Ming Ming) De Jesus (1), another rookie and cousin of the A side IC, Zack Davis (1), Captain and prop playing double duty in the B side, Mickey Canterbury (1) and finishing up the scoring is Flyhalf/IC Max Mills (1).
Thanks to all the alumni that came out to support the boys, it is always great seeing you guys. Much love!!!
The boys have a long way to go, but where they have come, says it all. Even with a split on the day, one win and one loss, we were still able to hold our heads high and break down with a loud and proud, “GREAT DAY TO BE A WILDCAT!!”
