A new era in BYU Rugby starts this fall as the Cougars men’s program welcomes a new head coach in Steve St. Pierre.

Former coach David Smyth left the program because he was dissatisfied with how the team was overseen within the school. Extramural Sports (non-varsity inter-collegiate sports such as rugby and lacrosse) was moved under the oversight of Student Life in 2011. Smyth released a statement this summer saying that conflict over goals and vision with Student Life is what led to him resigning.

Now, former BYU captain St. Pierre, who won a national D1 championship with the Cougars in 2009, is in charge.

“It was a big surprise,” said St. Pierre of Smyth’s decision. “I hadn’t been involved with the program for a couple of years. When I found out the coaches were leaving I was very surprised. much but I was very surprised. Now I have a great opportunity to be involved with BYU Rugby, which has meant so much to me, and to lead a program and work with the next generation of BYU rugby players was very appealing to me.”

Giving a nod to his former coach, St. Pierre said: “I want to give players the same sort of experience that I had when I went there.”

And win. That’s what the alumni expect. BYU has won in the Varsity Cup and D1A, but lost in the D1A quarterfinals this past year. St. Pierre will be looking at returning veterans such as center/flyhalf Calvin Whiting, flanker Tosh Wilcox, lock James Mocke, and back Zach Webber to lead a team that also has HS All American Cole Semu (Chuckanut U19s, Washington), and Isaiah Taliulu (St. Francis HS, Hawaii) coming in as freshmen.

“We’ve got a real solid core and a bunch of new guys coming in who are hungry to learn and some really good contributors,” said St. Pierre. “Obviously, the program has set a standard, and Coach Smyth did such a great job that there are always high expectations. But right now we’re tying to get our team together and build and play hard and put a good product out there. We’re not focused so much on the end result as we are the process and getting everybody where we need to be.”

BYU kicks off October 6 at Wyoming, and will then visit Utah State before the team’s home opener against those same USU Aggies and another road game at Air Force. By then the Cougars will hope to have done enough to make the Rocky Mountain Conference playoffs.

In the New Year, BYU will play February games at Central Washington and Saint Mary’s, before hosting those two teams in March. The regular season culminates with the annual Wasatch Cup match with Utah April 5, and then the D1A playoffs.