In a momentous event for the entire Dartmouth Rugby community, USA Rugby announced current head coach Alexander Magleby ’00 will be the new head coach of the national Men’s Eagle Sevens team, effective immediately. The position became open after former head coach Al Caravelli, who had been leading the team since 2006, stepped down Wednesday citing personal reasons. Magleby will continue as the coach The Big Green, although he will have to miss some of the team’s matches due to national team commitments, including the upcoming spring tour and perhaps some matches in the National Men’s Division I-AA playoffs, supposing the team advances that far. While he is absent, current assistant coach Matt Long will handle head coaching duties.

While the challenge of leading two teams, one of which plays in major tournaments all over the map, will make things pretty hectic for Magleby, he certainly isn’t viewing it as any kind of burden. Instead, he talked about what an honor it is to have such an important position in American rugby, and what all this means for Dartmouth Rugby. He will be joining the Eagles Sevens in the middle of their campaign through the 2011-12 IRB Sevens World Series, a group of nine competitions featuring the best national sides from all over the globe. His first such competition as head coach will be at the Hong Kong Sevens March 23-25th, one of the oldest and most prestigious sevens tournaments.

Magleby is certainly no stranger to Eagles rugby. After a successful collegiate career with The Big Green, he made numerous national team appearances between the sevens and XVs sides, including captaining the US through to the Rugby World Cup 7s. In recent years, he has also coached both the sevens and XVs Collegiate All-American sides. His performance in those positions, along with the job he did coaching Dartmouth to its victory in last year’s USA Sevens College Rugby Championship, helped make him an easy choice for USA Rugby.

Upon hearing the news, players and administrators for the club alike were quick to praise “Mags” for his coaching skills and to congratulate him on the new job. Captain Paul Jarvis ‘12 said, “The current squad is extremely proud of Mags and wishes him all the best. Playing for Mags and learning from him has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my time at Dartmouth, and it is fantastic to see him reach the pinnacle of his profession.” Current Board of Governors Chair Dan Kenslea ’75 echoed those thoughts. “All of us involved with Dartmouth Rugby who have worked with Alex over the last 11 years are very proud at this moment, both for Alex and for Dartmouth Rugby,” he said, “Those of us familiar with Alex’s work ethic and coaching are confident that Alex is a great choice to lead the USA 7’s program for the near future, and into the critical run-up to the 2013 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.”