When it comes to building a Staff, USA Military Rugby’s General Manager Mark Drown has accomplished that mission.
A team of accomplished coaches and rugby leaders are volunteering to lead the US All-Miliarty team for their tour of England in November.
Getting all of those people together and on the same page was Drown's job. Brown had the unique experience of working for three National Rugby Unions; he was the first non-Fijian Team Manager for the Fiji Rugby 7s, a job he held in the 2017-2018 HSBC World Series, World Cup, and Commonwealth Games under Gareth Baber; he managed the USA-U23s Uruguay Tour under Mike Tolkin; he was the Assistant 7s Coach with Zambia Rugby Union at the Commonwealth Games under Andrew Kaminsa.
His experience and his friendship and collaborative efforts with Seattle Seawolves Team Manager Kevin Flynn put the exclamation point on the network.
‘Mike Tolkin for me was a must-have," said Drown. "And Mike graciously accepted the role of Head Coach/Technical Director for us. It was later that we realized he would be limited to travel due to his liver transplant and would need to sit this tour out, but he is very much involved."
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Flynn had asked Alan Clarke, Seattle Seawolves Head Coach, and Irish International to come onboard and Clarke immediate jumped at it. He in turn brought in Ian Watson, an experienced Rugby League coach and former Welsh international, as the assistant coach, "and we were off and running," said Drown.
