Back in the Scrum: UCLA rugby coach leads team back to prominence

As a teenage boy in Vancouver in the mid-1980s, Scott Stewart stared intently at his television screen.

The future UCLA club rugby coach watched as blue and gold streaks – UCLA football players in a game at the Rose Bowl – flashed in and out of the picture.

Stewart’s dad, a former professional rugby player who had once played against UCLA in Westwood during his college career, watched the action alongside his son.

At one point in his life, his dad had entertained thoughts of becoming the rugby coach for the Bruins. Although it never came to pass, he instilled his love for UCLA in his son.

“He said, ‘The greatest place on the planet was UCLA and the best job on the planet was being the rugby coach there,’” Stewart said.

It was a thought the youngster would store in the back of his mind for decades.

Shortly after Stewart finished his own professional rugby career – one that saw him play more than 10 years of professional rugby and appear in five Rugby World Cups – he became the rugby coach at Western Ontario University.

But it just wasn’t his dream job.

“At the same time, the following spring, I drove my car down to California because I always wanted to live down here and I always wanted to do the UCLA job. My dad told me that,” Stewart said.

While in Southern California, he held rugby coaching clinics, including a few at UCLA. But after not receiving a job offer from UCLA, he returned home to Canada.

Only months later did several Bruin alumni and athletic administrators, who had taken notice of Stewart’s work, come together to offer him the position, which he accepted.

But this was not the UCLA rugby program his dad had once played against and gushed about – the team that had staked claim as the best rugby program in America in the late ’60s and early ’70s by winning multiple national championships.

No, this was a program Stewart referred to as “recreational.”

“It was just a group of guys, I would almost call it a social side, where guys would come in and it was about the friendship and camaraderie,” said senior fullback Tyler Pritchard. “(That’s) a lot of what this team is about too, but this is more about getting trophies in the case, and about getting W’s on the field.”

It was a mentality change Stewart began to instill soon after arriving at UCLA. It’s helped him turn the program from a team that couldn’t crack the top 25 nationally in the mid-2000s into the No. 6-ranked team by the end of the 2013 season.

But it was not an easy turnaround. Before Stewart arrived, the team practiced just twice a week and lifted weights occasionally. Now, the team practices four times a week, lifts weights almost every day and watches its diet constantly.

“Everything is catered around rugby and a winning structure, and Scott instilled that when he showed up,” Pritchard said.

Stewart’s players, though, didn’t buy into his philosophy right away.

“Well I think when he first came, he kind of got what the players were all about and it was much more casual, so he kind of let it continue and did a lot of background work on trying to build it up,” sophomore fly-half Ben Francis said.

But slowly, the players bought more and more into their coach’s vision for the program, a vision that saw UCLA rugby returning to the top of American rugby.

Stewart’s rich past rugby experience earned him the respect and attention of the players, Pritchard said.

His technical knowledge of the game has helped transform the once “recreational” rugby team into one rooted in fundamental skills.

But it is his easygoing coaching style that has created the identity of the team – and the resurgent UCLA rugby program.

“He’s much more about letting guys express themselves than making guys feel like they’re too scared to make a mistake,” Francis said. “You can see that in the way our team plays, it’s a lot more expansive, a lot more exciting to watch than a couple of other teams out there.”

Stewart’s relaxed, hands-off approach on his team is clearly evident on the practice field.

He isn’t one for too many words during drills, instead rounding his players up into a group after the drill to deliver tips and tidbits of advice. And when he does speak, he rarely raises his voice above conversation-level volume – eliminating the need to yell like many rugby coaches typically do.

Sometimes, Stewart even holds pre-practice group meetings with players – a situation in which they can express themselves freely on certain team-related issues.

“If a guy comes to him with an idea, he’ll listen to you,” Francis said. “He won’t shut you up ’cause he’s the coach. So that’s a good way to earn respect is to make guys feel like you also respect them. He gives the players their respect, so they give it back.”

The program’s journey to return to the top of American rugby has come a long way, but it isn’t quite finished. Going forward, though, his players have little doubt that he can bring UCLA back to the top.

“You can see every year, the competition’s getting better, the coaching level is getting better, and Scott’s not only kept up with that improvement, he’s overtaken it,” Francis said.

“He’s taken this program to higher levels than anyone ever thought … (and) I think the future, there’s no limit on what we can achieve if we keep this rate of improvement up.”