Beloved rugby coach steps down

“Shaggs” to leave St. Joe’s after seven years as head coach

After leading the St. Joe’s rugby team to two National Championship appearances and eight conference championships, Daniel Yarusso will be stepping down as head coach.

Yarusso, known by his players as “Shaggs,” has coached the team since 2013 and brought a relatively unknown program to the national stage. But after fighting to get better pay for the past two years, he made the decision that he needed to leave the team to get a full-time job to support his family.

“It just came to the financial side of it,” Yarusso said. “Over the course of the past few years here, I’ve been trying to convince the university that this needs to be a full-time position for the amount of work that’s going into it.”

Yarusso has been paid as a part-time employee as head coach of the rugby team, which falls under Student Life because of its club status. But Yarusso said he has put in tremendous time with the team: three practices a week, weekend games, high school scouting, meeting recruits and analyzing video.

“It’s not like I have a team of video analysts to break it down for me and I can look at it,” Yarusso added.

Yarusso hates the term “club” because it gives the connotation that it’s not a high performance sport, even though it is one, he said.

In his presentation to Student Life, in an effort to get a full-time position, Yarusso said he highlighted the amount of players who are coming to St. Joe’s because of the rugby team—with no athletic scholarship. He said about 10 players are “coming just for the rugby team each year paying tuition.”

One of those players is freshman Will Woods. Yarusso took Woods and his father on a tour of the entire university and then brought them to Larry’s Steaks, where he answered any of Woods’ questions.

“He was so welcoming,” Woods said. “He put a great impression on me and probably a lot of the other guys who came here.”

Despite continued success, the team has struggled to get funding for much of their programming. When they reached the National Championship in 2017, the team relied on donations from alumni, parents and personal funds to pay for travel. They even shared a page on social media to raise money to bus to Ohio for nationals.

Cary Anderson, Ed.D., associate provost and vice president for Student Life, who Yarusso said has been very supportive of the rugby program, noted the budgetary challenges facing private higher education particularly in the northeast regions of the U.S.

“Any request for increased staffing must be put into the broader context of the overall needs of the University and at this point, a full-time club sport coach isn’t feasible,” Anderson said in an email to The Hawk.

Anderson added that Student Life is in the process of “seriously exploring programmatic enhancements.”

Despite a lack of resources from St. Joe’s, the rugby team hasn’t just survived, they have thrived and built “a little dynasty.”

Freshman Danny Martini was looking to play rugby at Clemson University, University of Delaware and Pennsylvania State University, but ultimately decided on St. Joe’s.

“It seemed like Shaggs cared more for me not just as a player, but me and my life, me as a person,” Martini said.

Over the course of his time at St. Joe’s, Yarusso said he has experienced ups and downs with the team: the tragic death of freshman Mark Dombroski, the elation of winning a conference championship and the struggle of fighting for more funding.

Senior center Matt Lydon said a big part of the reason he chose St. Joe’s was because his conversations with Yarusso felt “real.” During his playing time, Lydon suffered from setbacks: struggling to secure a spot on the A team and dealing with injuries and subsequent surgeries. Lydon said each of these setbacks prompted personal calls from Yarusso.

“He cares,” Lydon said. “That’s the biggest thing I can say. He just cares.”

Anderson wrote his gratitude for Yarusso’s tenure at St. Joe’s.

“Coach Yarusso has been an outstanding leader and educator,” Anderson said in an email to The Hawk. “Saint Joseph’s University and the team has been blessed by his dedication and contributions to student success both on and off the pitch.”

For Yarusso, the part he’ll miss most is being able to help the players reach their goals—athletically, academically and in life.

“This may sound weird, but the rugby doesn’t mean much to me,” Yarusso said. “What meant a lot to me was the guys, the team and just seeing them and being part of that family.”