Grand Rapids, Mich. — The Aquinas College women's rugby team will bid farewell to their founding coach, Laura Miller, as she moves on to pursue an exciting new opportunity as the head coach at NCAA Division III Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
Joining the Saints as the team's first coach for their inaugural 2021-2022 season, Miller played a crucial role in establishing the women's rugby program and guiding them through their competitive debut season in 2022-23. During her two years as head coach, the team demonstrated significant progress under her guidance, including their participation in the Collegiate Rugby Championship in 2023.
Miller's coaching tenure witnessed other notable accomplishments, such as an undefeated Fall Developmental season with wins over Grand Valley State, Adrian and Michigan. And, in addition, the selection of three AQ student-athletes, Liberty Cawthorn, Aseel Jadallah and Jenesis Dotson, for the esteemed Michigan U23 All-Star Program further attested to Miller's ability to develop talented players.
"It has been an honor to serve as the inaugural head coach for the women's rugby team at Aquinas College," Miller said. "The work and dedication that the players have put in during our inaugural competition was a pleasure to watch. I'm truly sorry to be leaving AQ so soon and I know that the team has a bright future."
The Saints strung together seven straight wins to start the 2022-23 season, winning by a combined score of 254-17. At the Great Lakes 7s Tournament, Aquinas beat Bowling Green by a score of 55-0 and then GVSU by a score of 60-0. At the Collegiate Rugby Championship in Washington D.C. in April, the Saints placed 14th overall with a victory over in-state foe Michigan State, 17-10.
"Laura did a wonderful job of starting the women's rugby program here at Aquinas and recruiting great student-athletes to form our inaugural team," said Claudette Charney, the Interim Director of Athletics at Aquinas. "She led the program to impressive early success and laid the foundation for the future of Aquinas women's rugby. Laura will definitely be missed, but we wish her nothing but the best as she takes on this new, exciting coaching opportunity."
Miller has held a handful of different positions in the rugby community. She served as the USA Rugby interim Midwest education administrator and coach educator from 2021-22. Prior to that, she worked as the director of rugby/head men's & women's rugby coach for Alderson Broaddus University (Philippi, W.V.) from 2018-21 and as an assistant coach at Life University (Marietta, Ga.) from 2016-18.
As a player, Miller was a collegiate All-American in 2010 and 2011 while playing for St. Mary's College of Maryland (2010) and the Washington D.C. Furies (2011) in the Women's Premier League. She also competed for the WPL's Glendale Raptors from 2013-16. Internationally, Miller earned a place in the US Women's National 15's Team for two World Cup cycles, where she accumulated five caps over three international tours.
Miller will be replacing long-time head coach MaryBeth Mathews at Bowdoin. Matthews has retired after a 29-year tenure with the program, leading them from club to varsity status during her distinguished career. As a varsity program, Mathews led the Polar Bears to a 146-48-1 record, winning over 75% of its matches. The team won the 2007 New England Rugby Football Union championship, four consecutive New England Small College Rugby Conference championships from 2012-15 and, most recently, won the inaugural National Intercollegiate Rugby Association varsity women's rugby championship in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
With Miller's departure, Aquinas has named current assistant coach Kayla Dustin as the interim head coach.
