Full name | USC Rugby Football Club | |
---|---|---|
Union | USA Rugby | |
Nickname(s) | Trojans | |
Founded | 1886 | |
Location | Los Angeles | |
Region | Southern California | |
Ground(s) | Allyson Felix (Capacity: 1,000) | |
President | Giorgio Grandi | |
Director of Rugby | Joseph Krassenstein | |
Coach(es) | Riaz Fredericks, Sean Cooper | |
Captain(s) | Giorgio Grandi, Cooper Swan | |
League(s) | PAC Rugby Conference, GCCIR [1] | |
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Official website | ||
www |
The USC Trojans Rugby Football Club is the official rugby team of the University of Southern California. The club competes in the PAC Rugby Conference, the Southern California Rugby Football Union, and the Gold Coast Conference of Intercollegiate Rugby, [2] and Nationals [3] annually.
The Trojans' home field is Allyson Felix Field, located in the heart of USC's University Park Campus in Los Angeles, California. The team’s alumni, including notable former players Joseph Krassenstein and Sean Cooper, remain involved as assistant coaches, contributing to the rich tradition and ongoing success of the program.
Rugby is USC's oldest club sport. The team was founded in 1886. It was briefly replaced by American Football at USC before a British professor on tenure brought the game back to the university in 1910.
The first issue of the student newspaper The Daily Trojan, then called The Daily Southern Californian, was published on 16 September 1912, and the first edition of the paper included announcements of tryouts for the USC rugby team. [4]
USC Rugby Hall of Fame member Dave Lytle retired in 2015 after 28 years of coaching. In addition to his many victories, he holds the team record for the longest keg stand at 2 minutes, 23 seconds.
In 2009, USC beat UCLA 17–14, their first victory over the Bruins in many years and the last time they did in that decade. That team was undefeated in league play, beating California State University, Fullerton 51–12 in the championship. They went on to beat University of San Diego in the promotion match to earn a spot in Division I the following season.
In 2018, Coach Steve "Staggy" Stagg became head coach and led USC Rugby to beat the Bruins in the Coliseum in 2022. The team won the D1 Blue Division Nationals in Atlanta that same season. The season after, the team continued its glorious winning spell, conquering the GCCIR tournament and winning the finals against USD. In the Spring season of 2023, USC Rugby went to Maryland to compete in the top division for rugby in the US; due to extreme weather conditions, the tournament was suspended halfway through. In the fall season of 2023, USC Rugby clashed once more with USD in the GCCIR finals, this time a lack of depth in the squad due to multiple injuries caused the Trojans to fall short to USD losing 24–21.
USC Rugby is now coached by Riaz Fredericks. Coach Riaz took over the program in January 2024 after a 5 year spell as the head coach of the Tsunami Barbarians.
The USC Trojans football program represents the University of Southern California in the sport of American football. The Trojans compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Big Ten Conference.
The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a collegiate athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members in the Pac-12 for many years, the older league had a completely different charter and was disbanded in 1959 due to a major crisis and scandal.
The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I. UCLA is second to only Stanford University as the school with the most NCAA team championships at 124 NCAA team championships. UCLA offers 11 varsity sports programs for men and 14 for women.
The USC Trojans men's basketball program is a college basketball team that competes in the Big Ten Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, representing the University of Southern California. Following the end of the 2023-2024 academic calendar, Pac-12 schools Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington will be joining the Big Ten conference.
The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the Trojans, the women's athletic teams are referred to as either the Trojans or Women of Troy. The program participates in the Big Ten Conference and has won 136 team national championships, 112 of which are National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships. USC's official colors are cardinal and gold. The Trojans have a cross-town rivalry in several sports with UCLA. However, USC's football rivalry with Notre Dame predates the UCLA rivalry by three years. The Notre Dame rivalry stems mainly from the annual football game played between these two universities and is considered the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football. The Trojans also enjoy a rivalry with the Stanford Cardinal. The USC Trojans are considered one of the most successful college athletic programs of all time.
The UCLA Bruins football program represents the University of California, Los Angeles, in college football as members of the Big Ten Conference at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. The Bruins play their home games off campus at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
The UCLA–USC rivalry is the American collegiate athletics rivalry between the UCLA Bruins sports teams of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and USC Trojans teams of the University of Southern California (USC).
The 2007 UCLA Bruins football team represented the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They played their home games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California and were coached by Karl Dorrell for the regular season. It was Dorrell's fifth, and final season as the UCLA head coach. UCLA's season was marked by numerous injuries, particularly at quarterback. Original starting quarterback Ben Olson injured his knee early in the season and missed over four games. Backup quarterback Patrick Cowan also suffered a knee injury but returned for two more games before suffering a collapsed lung against Arizona. Coach Karl Dorrell was fired following the loss in the 77th UCLA–USC rivalry football game, the final regular season game for the Bruins. Defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker became the interim coach for the 2007 Las Vegas Bowl, in which the Bruins lost to BYU, 17–16. The Bruins finished 6–7 overall, 5–4 in the Pacific-10 Conference, where they were tied for fourth place.
The 1928 football season had both the USC Trojans and the Georgia Tech Golden Tornado claim national championships. USC was recognized as champions under the Dickinson System, but the Rose Bowl was contested between the No. 2 and No. 3 Dickinson-rated teams, California and Georgia Tech. The game was decided by a safety scored after Roy "Wrong Way" Riegels ran 65 yards in the wrong direction. Vance Maree blocked the ensuing punt which gave Georgia Tech a safety deciding the 8–7 win.
The 1929 college football season saw a number of unbeaten and untied teams. Purdue, Tulane, Notre Dame, McDaniel and Pittsburgh all finished the regular season with wins over all their opponents. Notre Dame was recognized as national champion by all three of the contemporary major selectors. Houlgate would later name USC (10–2) on the basis of post-season play. Eight of nine retrospective selectors later also named Notre Dame and USC as No. 1 teams.
The 1923 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1923, was an American Football bowl game. It was the 9th Rose Bowl Game. The USC Trojans defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions 14–3. Leo Calland, a USC guard, was named the Rose Bowl Player of the Game when the award was created in 1953 and selections were made retroactively. It was the first bowl game appearance for both the University of Southern California and Pennsylvania State University football teams. It was also the first Tournament of Roses football game held in the newly constructed Rose Bowl Stadium, although other games had been played in it prior to this one.
The 1967 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1967 NCAA University Division football season. In their eighth year under head coach John McKay, the Trojans compiled a 10–1 record, won the Athletic Association of Western Universities championship, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 258 to 87. The team was ranked #1 in the final AP and Coaches Polls.
The 2009 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California during the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and was coached by Pete Carroll, who was in his ninth and final season at USC. They finished the season 9–4, 5–4 in Pac-10 play and won the Emerald Bowl over Boston College 24–13.
The 1982 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1982 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their seventh year under head coach John Robinson, the Trojans compiled an 8–3 record, finished in a tie for third place in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10), and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 302 to 143. Due to probation, the Trojans were not eligible for postseason play.
The 1984 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1984 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their second year under head coach Ted Tollner, the Trojans compiled a 9–3 record, won the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) championship, and outscored their opponents 220 to 173.
The 1990 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their fourth year under head coach Larry Smith, the Trojans compiled an 8–4–1 record, finished in second place in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10), and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 348 to 274.
The 1963 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1963 NCAA University Division football season. In their fourth year under head coach John McKay, the Trojans compiled a 7–3 record, finished second in the Athletic Association of Western Universities, and outscored their opponents 207 to 114.
The 1929 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1929 college football season. In their fifth year under head coach Howard Jones, the Trojans compiled a 10–2 record, were Pacific Coast Conference co-champions, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 492 to 69. The team defeated Pittsburgh 47–14 in the 1930 Rose Bowl and was retroactively selected as the 1929 national champion under the Houlgate System and also retroactively selected as the national champion under the Berryman QPRS system and as a co-national champion by Jeff Sagarin.
The 1924 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1924 college football season. In their sixth and final year under head coach Gus Henderson, the Trojans compiled a 9–2 record, tied for fourth place in the Pacific Coast Conference, and out-scored their opponents by a combined total of 269 to 44.
The Stanford–USC football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Stanford Cardinal and the USC Trojans. The two teams will no longer be in the same conference in 2024 and played the last scheduled game of the series on September 9, 2023, with the Trojans winning 56–10. The two teams first played in 1905 and began playing regularly in 1918. Between 1911 and 1913, there were rugby games played between the two schools. In some places, these games are counted as football games. The only six years in which the rivalry was not played since that year were in 1921, 1924, the three years of World War II (1943–1945), and the Covid season in 2020. The teams have frequently vied for the conference championship and a berth in the Rose Bowl. Stanford is USC's oldest current rival.