When the Colgate rugby club teams return to action in the fall, the program will operate under the guidance of Elaine Vassie, who will use her years of leadership experience to propel the Raiders as their new director.
Following a national search, Colgate hired Vassie to take over for David Chapman, who held the post for a decade before stepping down last year.
Vassie, who hails from Paisley, Scotland, comes to Hamilton, N.Y., with a wealth of national and international rugby experience. Her most recent stint was with the Texas Rugby Union All Stars, where she served as defense coach while running coach-education workshops.
She spent three seasons as the general manager of Major League Rugby side Dallas Jackals, a pro rugby team based in Arlington, Texas.
In addition, she’s a former head coach and director of the Dallas Harlequins — a division 1 men’s team — and has served in various leadership roles for rugby programs in Scotland, England, and Italy.
“Elaine has program leadership and coaching experience at all levels of play, including professional, national team, and Division 1 level men’s and women’s rugby,” said C.J. Molina, Colgate’s director of recreation who’s tasked with overseeing the University’s club programs.
“She is among the most experienced, credentialed, and elite rugby professionals in the country,” Molina said. “And of even greater significance, she’s a wonderful human being who cares deeply about the personal and life path development of her players, of player safety/training/knowledge, and building a program upon which player experience is optimized and institutionalized — offering Colgate’s club-athletes the opportunity to join the world rugby community for a lifetime.”
Vassie said she’s thrilled with the opportunity.
"I'm delighted to be joining Colgate for the 2024-25 season,” she said. “Having met with the current players and alumni over the last couple of months, their enthusiasm to build on Colgate's history and develop a truly sustainable program that supports both on-field performance and growth and development off-field felt naturally aligned to where my passion in the true value of rugby lies.”
Vassie has a post-grad certificate in elite performance from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, England. In 2009, she became the first female head coach and director of rugby for Manchester in the Men’s National League One in England.
