Now hiring · Men's D2 · Santa Barbara

HeadCoach

Pre-season November–December. Season January–April, 13+ matches. Tuesday and Thursday nights at Elings Park, Saturdays on the road or at home. Looking for someone to grow with our transforming club and help us take advantage of the biggest decade in American rugby history that's about to land on our doorstep w/the World Cup.

Per match$200–$400
Away fixturesMileage paid
PostseasonPlayoff & Nationals bonuses

Compensation

What the job pays

Match fee $200–$400 per match · league & friendlies

Paid per fixture, set by competition and travel. Not a season stipend that arrives in June if the budget survived the year. You coach a match, you get paid for that match.

Travel Mileage
paid
every away fixture, reimbursed

D2 in Southern California means road trips. You are not going to fund the club's season out of your own gas tank. Submit the miles, get them back.

Postseason Playoff &
Nationals
bonuses on top of match fees

Take this team deeper into the bracket and you are paid more for it. Playoffs carry a bonus. Nationals carries a bigger one. Your ceiling is the team's ceiling.

We are hiring for the long term, not for one season. If you want a program you can actually build, the same players, the same standards, compounding, that is the job we are advertising.

Why this decade

The sport is coming to us

For thirty years, American rugby's pitch to a coach was "believe in it anyway." That argument is over. The next seven years put the two biggest events in the sport inside this country, one of them ninety miles down the 101.

2028

Olympic Sevens, Los Angeles

The Games come to LA, and rugby sevens comes with them, an hour and a half from Elings Park. The largest rugby audience this region has ever had, in our own backyard.

2031

Men's Rugby World Cup, USA

The tournament is hosted in the United States for the first time. Cities across the country are already bidding to host matches. We are hoping to have Santa Barbara be a training center for at least one national team.

2033

Women's Rugby World Cup, USA

Two years later it happens again. We share a home ground and a governing club with the Mermaids, this one lifts the whole SBRFC family, not just the men's side.

Every person those tournaments convert has to land at a club. In this county, there is one senior men's club.

The support behind you

You coach. We run the club.

Most clubs quietly expect their coach to also be the fundraiser, the recruiter and the registrar. We have a treasurer, a donor program, a sponsorship pipeline and an advertising budget. Your job is the rugby.

The job itself

What the week
actually looks like

Tue & Thu7–9pm at Elings Park. You own the session, the plan, the standard, and the tone. Two nights, four hours, every week of the season.
SaturdaysMatch day, January through April. 13+ matches per season, home at Elings or on the road across Southern California. Selection and the matchday plan are yours.
Pre-seasonNovember through December. This is when recruiting peaks and the ad budget is spending hardest, new bodies will be arriving at your session.
You ownSeason plan, training, selection, and the standard the club holds itself to. If you want to bring an assistant, we'll talk about it.
You don't ownFundraising, dues collection, registration, kit orders, fixtures admin, or the social calendar. That is the board's problem and it stays the board's problem.
Who we're after

Requirements

Must have
  • Free Tuesday and Thursday evenings November–April, plus Saturdays January–April
  • Based in or able to get to Santa Barbara
  • Able to run a session where a 22-year-old who has never held a ball stands next to a 38-year-old with two hundred caps, and both leave better
  • A multi-season commitment. We want to hire once.
Nice to have
  • USA Rugby coaching certification, or willingness to get it. We'll pay for the course.
  • Playing or coaching background at club, collegiate or representative level
  • Experience turning walk-ons into starters. That is most of our intake.
  • Set-piece expertise, or an honest plan for who provides it
Apply

Take the job

Ten minutes of your evening. We read every application and we answer every one, including the no's.

Or apply by email grunionrugby@gmail.com

Subject line: Head Coach. Attach a résumé and tell us how you'd run a session.

Want to see us first? Email us and come watch a training night.

Head Coach application

Tell us who you are

Your application goes to the SBRFC board. We don't share it outside the club.

SBRFC is an equal opportunity organization. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or veteran status.

Apply · Head Coach