Sooner Rugby is ALL IN! That is the message that the Oklahoma University Men's Rugby Club adopted under their new coach Jason Horowitz. This philosophy led Oklahoma's charge to a dominate 2013 ARC Fall 7s Series Championship and to Greensboro, NC to play in the USA Rugby College 7s National Championship Tournament.
Oklahoma also played a combination of 7s and XVs in the Fall. Every XVs match was played by the Sooners' Development Squad to provide the necessary depth that the Sooners will need in the Allied Rugby Conference 2014 Spring XVs season and the subsequent sophomore season of the Varsity Cup - which the Sooners have accepted an invitation to join.
So far this Spring, the Sooners have visited Ft. Worth, TX in the second of a home and away series against the TCU Horned Frogs. The Sooners blanked the Frogs with 30 points, led by Captain Michael al-Jiboori at Outside Center. The Sooners also took a beleaguered and injury-ridden 7s squad to the Las Vegas Invitational (LVI). Oklahoma held the Collegiate Division champions UBC to under 30-points - a feat no other team that played UBC could boast - but the Sooners also met their match in two extremely close games against Josh Macy's American International College of the Empire Rugby Union.
The Sooners enter D1A Rugby's Allied Rugby Conference XVs season short many of the core players from their Fall season. "It's a young team dealing with the adversity of academics, injury, illness, and life, in general." Horowitz says, "This Spring will be very challenging, but very satisfying." The team has some great support that is "All In" for the Spring and an even better future lined up in recruiting for the Fall of 2014.
Oklahoma opens the ARC Spring 2014 XVs Series as hosts to Texas Tech at 2pm on February 8.
About Oklahoma University Rugby:
The University of Oklahoma Men’s Rugby story begins in 1974 with two law students and an English professor. Tim Wilson, who discovered rugby after serving as a Marine in Viet Nam and Jon Woods, who played rugby as an undergraduate at Dartmouth, quickly grew tired of flag football with their fellow law students and decided it was time to promote a more demanding style of competition.
The first OU Rugby Football Club game was played at the Girdlestone Tournament in Fort Sill, and ever since then the club has grown in size and popularity. After the first home game against the Albuquerque Aardvarks, students were anxious to become a part of the up-and-coming program. Far from being exclusionary, the team has always prided itself on including student athletes from all walks of life.
A base expectation is that these student-athletes are “All In” as athletes, students, and community members. As testament to the effectiveness of this balanced yet challenging program, Oklahoma Rugby has produced many All-Americans and National Team players. Most recently, Taylor Mokate was named All-American in a 2010 tour to England and was named to the US Eagle 15’s squad.
OU has also had a tradition of excellent coaching. The sixth and current Head Coach A. Jason Horowitz has been coaching successful rugby teams for fifteen years and continues to drive this program forward.
The University of Oklahoma Offices of Development, Admissions, and Athletics have also played an integral role in supporting the team. OU was selected to become a part of the Inaugural Collegiate Premier League in 2011, is a current member of the D1A Allied Rugby Conference; and in the Spring of 2014 will be competing in the 12 team Varsity Cup. They will celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the team’s founding in March of 2014.
Head Coach: Jason Horowitz
Coach: Michael Black (former OU player for 6 years)
Spring 2014 OU Rugby Roster
