Michael Geibel Enters his fifth season as Wheeling's Head Rugby Coach in 2023-24. During his first season at the helm of the team, he led them to a 17-2 record, and helped them qualify for the National Collegiate Rugby Nationals at the end of May. Over his first three seasons, Geibel has led the Rugby program to a 51-10-1 record between 15's and 7's play.
The Cardinals continued their string of success in 2022-23, making two more national tounrament runs in both the NCR 15's and CRC 7's. In their first season in the Big Rivers Rugby Conference (BRRC), the Cardinals played in the first ever BRRC Wild Card game and defeated Adrian to move to the national tournament. They then earned their first-ever NCR 15's tournament win over Belmont Abbey, before falling in the Quarterfinal round to #1 seeded Brown.
In the spring, the Cardinals won four of their five 7's tournamnet, and won the D1 portion of all five of those tournaments. They headed into the CRC 7's tournament as the #1 seed in the East region for the first time in program history and rolled through their first two matchups against Howard and Thomas More before falling in the Quarterfinals to the eventual National Champions in Mount St. Mary. The program crowned its second NCR D1 All-American in two seasons when Aaron Juma earned the distinction for the first time in his career.
In 2022, Geibel accomplished his goal of helping reestablish Wheeling as a top collegiate Rugby Program with two national championship appearances. At the end of 15's season, his team captured the innaugural NCR Rhino Rugby Bowl Championship in a 29-24 win over Iowa Central Community College and followed that by ending the season as the #6 team in the country at the NCR May Madness during 7's season. Aside from the National Championship, Geibel also helped Wheeling establish their single-season win record, going 34-8-1.
Under his watch, freshman Chief Chipfumbu became the program's first NCR Division I All-American and he ahd five players land on the Goff Report Top 150 list. the team was also ranked in the NCR National Rankings for most of the season.
When Geibel was hired in October of 2019, his job was to reestablish the Rugby program as a top collegiatge program in the country. He has taken that roll and ran with it, helping the Cardinals to reach the national stage again. their only loss at the 2021 NCR Nationals came to Air Force 19-17, and they totaled their entire win total from the previous three seasons of play.
Geibel is also currently working on beginning the Wheeling Women's Rugby Program, which is set to have its first season of competition during the Fall 2022 season.
Geibel arrived in the northern panhandle after serving as the women's rugby head coach at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida for the past six years. During that time, Geibel also served as the Program Director for the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO) South All Stars and the Communications Director for the Florida Rugby Union.
"I would like to thank Athletic Director Rudy Yovich and the search committee for the opportunity to join the Wheeling University rugby program," said Geibel. "I would also like to thank the members of the Wheeling community and alumni who have reached out with their support. I am excited to get started recruiting and putting a strong product on the field to help this team reach its previous levels of success and beyond."
"We are excited to welcome Michael to Wheeling," said Yovich. "What stood out during the interview process was his passion for the game and desire to bring the best out in our student-athletes on the field and in the classroom. That passion shined through to everyone he met when he was on campus and it will truly show to future recruits. That desire and the success he's helped achieve at Eckerd will help him and the Wheeling University rugby program thrive."
During his tenure at Eckerd, Geibel led the team to four-straight Florida Rugby Union Division II Championships and four-straight appearances in the round of 16 at the USA Rugby Championships from 2016-19.
The 2019 team finished in third place at the USA Rugby Spring Championships and featured a trio of USA Rugby All-Tournament selections. Two of those selections were invited to an All-American assembly after the season. In 7s competition, Geibel led the team to a fifth place finish at the NSCRO National Championships, with three players earning nods as All-Americans.
Geibel holds a USA Rugby Level 300/World Rugby Level II coaching certification. He played collegiately at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia, before concluding his career as a tight head prop at Eckerd. Geibel earned a Bachelor Of Arts in International Relations and Global Affairs from Eckerd.