The Ohio State men’s rugby team embraces before a match. Credit: Courtesy of Ric Kruszynski.
Mud clings to the cleats of Ohio State’s men’s rugby players as they jog onto Lincoln Tower Field for another evening practice.
No scholarships are waiting, no NIL deals or packed stadiums, just athletes driven by the chance to compete for a program that has built one of the most respected club rugby traditions in the country.
Men’s rugby has existed at Ohio State for more than 60 years, but it operates outside the NCAA as a club sport. The program relies heavily on fundraising, alumni support and player commitment to sustain a competitive team that continues to chase national success without the financial backing of varsity athletics.
“We play the highest level of competition in the country even though we are a club sport,” forwards coach Jake Friedman said. “We’re playing varsity programs with scholarship athletes and top-tier facilities, while we are largely alumni-funded.”
The Ohio State men’s rugby club was founded in 1966 by two physicians and students who wanted to introduce the sport to campus. In the decades since, the program has grown into one of the strongest club rugby teams in the country.
Ohio State has captured USA Collegiate Championships, along with Midwest and Big Ten titles, most recently in 2024. The club was also one of the founding members of the Big Ten Rugby Conference in 2012.
Individual players have found success beyond Columbus as well. More than 20 Buckeyes have been named Collegiate All-Americans, while seven former players have gone on to represent the USA Eagles national team. One of those players, Nate Ebner, later competed as an Olympian in the 2016 Rio Games for Team USA.
Many current players are recruited from high school rugby programs across Ohio and nationwide, continuing a pipeline that has helped sustain the program’s competitiveness.
“Being a part of this team gave me an immediate brotherhood to rely on, which shaped my experience at Ohio State thus far,” freshman second row Aidan McKee said. “The people in this program love to compete, and they love the brotherhood that a sport like rugby creates.”
While women’s rugby has been designated by the NCAA as an emerging sport, men’s rugby remains outside the NCAA structure and is governed instead by USA Rugby and other collegiate rugby organizations.
To become NCAA-sanctioned, a sport must meet several national requirements, including having at least 40 varsity programs across the country that sponsor it. For men’s rugby, those numbers have yet to materialize.
Because of those standards, many universities, including Ohio State, continue to operate rugby programs at the club level rather than within varsity athletics.
At Ohio State, the program relies heavily on alumni support for funding, receiving only limited financial assistance through the university’s Recreational Sports department. Instead of operating with large athletic budgets, the club focuses on securing access to facilities and practice time.
“Within this club, you have the business and the competition,” director of rugby operations Tom Rooney said. “If you don’t have the business, there is no way you can get to a high level of competition.”
Maintaining strong relationships with alumni helps drive the program’s business side, allowing the team to travel across the country and compete against some of the top collegiate rugby programs.
The coaching staff reflects that same sense of continuity. Many of the coaches are alumni or former professional players who returned to the program to help develop the next generation of Buckeyes.
Ohio State’s men’s rugby club is also one of the few club sports on campus with its own dedicated medical staff to support players through both physical and mental challenges. Members of the medical staff participate through a fellowship program that allows them to gain hands-on experience in athletic training, physical therapy and occupational therapy while working directly with the team.
For players, the structure of the program, balancing fundraising, travel and competition, is part of what defines the experience.
“Our group of guys pay our way through the season and fight to beat players who are paid to be there. We take a massive amount of pride in that,” McKee said. “To see a greater understanding of what it is we are doing here would be a huge motivator.”
