Athletic Team Pages
Rugby

List of 2 items.

  • Lee Kelly, Director of Rugby/Head Coach

    A member of the coaching staff since 2000, Coach Kelly was rugby's first inductee to the Gonzaga Athletic Hall of Fame in recognition of his efforts to bring rugby in to the mainstream of Gonzaga sports. Many milestones have been accomplished during his tenure, including the introduction of international tours, JV and freshman rugby teams, the booster organization, the Jesuit Rugby Classic tournament, the Purple Eagle Rugby Camp, and 11 appearances in the national championship tournament.

    Coach Kelly has also coached the Maryland Exiles, Maryland Old Boys, the University of Maryland, and countless local and regional select teams. A former player himself, he played Number 8 at the University of Maryland and with the Maryland Old Boys for 27 years. Both his sons, Brendan ('02) and Connor ('06) attended Gonzaga and excelled at rugby. 

  • Peter Baggetta, Head Coach

    Coach Baggetta has been coaching Rugby for 18 years and has been the head coach at Gonzaga since 2009. He led Gonzaga to National Championship titles in 2014, 2015, and 2016—marking the first time that any high school won three straight National Championships.

    Coach Baggetta has worked with teams at all levels both in the United States and around the world. He was the assistant coach for the US Women’s National team at the 2017 and 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cups and was the former National Team Coach and Rugby Development Officer for Guam, where he was instrumental in creating the national team program and establishing Rugby as a varsity interscholastic sport for middle and high schools. He also worked as the defense specialist coach for USA Rugby from 2008 to 2010, and as an IRB coach educator for the USA Rugby Coach Development Program from 2007 to 2011. In 2009, Coach Baggetta was the Assistant Director of Rugby at Penn State University. A member of Gonzaga’s faculty, Coach Baggetta is the school’s Director of the Center for Academic Excellence and also teaches AP Psychology.

Assistant Coaches

  • Pat Murphy, Assistant Coach

    Coach Murphy has been coaching Rugby at Gonzaga since 2011, and has been working with the forwards on the Varsity Purple team since 2016. Murphy played flanker at Walt Whitman High School, then went on to play both back row and scrum at Catholic University.  After college, he joined the Marine Corps and played rugby at both Camp Lejeune and New River, NC.  A lawyer, Murphy works for GE Healthcare.
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