Texas A&M's Lowrey Moving On, Program Seeks Coaches
Texas A&M's Lowrey Moving On, Program Seeks Coaches
Texas A&M Men's Rugby is launching a search for a new Head Coach and additional coaches to start in the fall.
The search is prompted because current Head Coach James Lowrey will be leaving College Station for new professional challenges once the current season is over.
Lowrey is a hugely popular coach and has been very successful for the Aggies. But he has other non-rugby goals as well and it is time to move on.
"The next part of my journey is something different," Lowrey told Goff Rugby Report. "Coaching at A&M has been amazing. When you coach for the right reasons with the right people and the right culture, it can be really rewarding. Rugby for me is a conduit to you through other things in life."
Assistant coach Johnny Smith, who has been with the program for many years, is moving into a Director of Rugby role where he will take care of admin and alumni relations and other off-field aspects. Smith said everyone is sad to see Lowrey go.
"He’s won a lot of games and won conference championships, but the the two most important things is he has graduated a lot of guys, and guys with character, and he kept this program strong through COVID," said Smith. "He's really invested in the success of the guys, and he has really helped me with my relationship skills, which has been a big benefit to me. That influence means he will contribute to the program even after he's gone.
"But what he did during COVID, man I don’t know how he did it. When we came back in the fall of 2021 we had 35 players. We were under the same rules as everyone else; we couldn’t meet; we couldn’t practice, and a lot of other clubs are still struggling. It was a Herculean job and he did it all by himself. Plus he's just a good dude."
The New Coach Search
Smith is running the search for a new Head Coach. and in fact he is looking for a full coaching staff. The positions are all stipended, but are part-time. Successful applicants should be aware that they will need to have a day job.
The #1 job will be working with student-athletes. This is a club program and it is officially run by the students. The coach has influence, but will need to ba a relationship-builder.
The successful candidate will need to tick all the rugby coaching boxes.
The team can provide stipends but cannot help with visas and the successful candidate will need to be a full legal resident of the United States.
College Station, Texas is about an hour's drive from Houston and 90 minutes from Austin. Smith said the best situation is for the coaches to live and work in College Station, but it's possible to work elsewhere. The town of College Station is not just a college town, with a burgeoning bio-med industry and several other industries in town.
How to Apply
Questions can be directed to Johnny Smith at 979-530-5316 or cateandjack@gmail.com.
To apply, send a CV to recruiting@aggierugby.com.
Smooth Transition
"This will be a smooth transition," said Smith. "We are increasing the staff and looking forward and we will go from strength to strength. Anybody considering Texas A&M should be excited about what we're doing."
The plan is to have the staff in place in the spring in order to plan through the summer.