On May 2nd, 2024, the Wheeling University Athletic Department announced the creation of the first-ever Intercollegiate Varsity Women's Rugby team in school history. On Wednesday, they announced Ken Pape as the inaugural Head Women's Rugby Coach to lead the program in their first season in 2024-2025. Pape comes to Wheeling after spending the last four years as the Head Women's Rugby coach at Lander University and is excited for the opportunity to build the program.
"Coming to Wheeling is a true blessing," said Pape. "During the interview process I smiled most of the day, hearing everything Wheeling is about and realizing that our values aligned. I want to first thank my Lander family and most importantly all the players I had the privilege to coach. I am excited to be the first coach in program history and I can build this thing exactly how I want it."
Pape was first hired by Lander in July of 2020 and was tasked with helping to build the Bearcat program from the ground up. Four years later, the Bearcats are having their best season in program history, going 24-3-1 including a 16-0-1 mark in Spring 7's play.
He also lead them to the Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) National 7's Tournament for the first time as they claimed a top 15 finish. During 15's season, Pape helped lead the Bearcats to the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) National Tournament, where his team made their first National Championship Game appearance.
Prior to the 2023-2024 season, Pape led Lander Women's Rugby to back-to-back South Carolina State Collegiate Rugby Tournament Championships in his first two seasons as head coach, producing a 31-14-1 mark. Under his watch, four Bearcats earned NIRA All-American awards following the 2022 15's season, and Bearcats Women's Rugby players Bailey and Jess Burt were named to the USA U23 Women's Rugby team.
Pape brings with him over 15 years of Rugby Coaching experience across High School and College rugby coaching experience. Prior to his time at Lander, Pape would spend three seasons at Division III Colby Sawyer, where he went 18-5 as Head Women's Rugby Coach and won conference titles during both 15's and 7's season. He also has spent time at Rutgers University as Head Women's Rugby Coach, as well as being brought in to work with the USA Rugby Girls High School All Americans and the Head Coach for the Empire GU All-Stars.
"Wheeling has a long-standing rich tradition of Rugby," said Wheeling Athletic Director Carrie Hanna. "Ken Pape brings with him a wealth of coaching experience and has helped build programs from the ground up. We are excited to expand opportunities by starting the Women's Rugby program, and with Ken's guidance we are looking forward to seeing the program grow."
Pape will once again be tasked with building a program from the ground up as he starts to build the Wheeling University Women's Rugby team. In the early 1990's Wheeling University did host a club Women's Rugby program for a brief time, but 2023-2024 will be the first intercollegiate varsity team in the school's history. They will play their home games at Bishop Schmitt Field and will begin competition in the Fall 2024 15's season.
The Wheeling University Women's Rugby program is excited to begin its growth through the off-season and be ready for competition in the fall.