Retired Eagles Star Nate Augspurger Takes College Coaching Position

01.20.2026College Women, College Men

Nate Augspurger directs traffic for the USA against Russia in 2016. David Barpal photo.

Author: Alex Goff

Recently-retired Eagle Nate Augspurger has a new job.

The 50-cap 15s national team player, who also played 7s for the USA, has returned to his home state of Minnesota to become Director of Rugby and Men’s Head Coach for St. John’s University Men’s Rugby and College of Saint Benedict Women’s Rugby.

Those teams are now two of the newest colleges on the Next Phase Rugby app (nextphaserugby.com)

Known collectively as CSBSJU, the two colleges are about five miles apart, with Saint Benedict being historically a women’s college and St. John’s a men’s college. Students have a curriculum which is shared between the campuses and have access to classes and resources at both locations.

50 For Nate Augspurger-No One Deserves it More

Augspurger will coach the men’s team and oversee and assist the women’s team. SJU Men play in the Northern Lights combined D2/D3 league, and are in NCR’s D3. The Bennies women’s team played in a series of jamborees in Minnesota, ultimately going 5-6-1.

Getting Augspurger to run the program is a nice coup for CSBSJU Rugby. The 5-7 scrumhalf and wing was known for getting the absolute maximum out of an excellent professional and international career. He captained the USA 15s team at various times and topped 50 caps last season.

“I hadn’t really planned on coaching,” Augspurger told GRR. “I remember talking to [Eagles Head Coach] Scott Lawrence about how I was going to play my last game and I didn’t really have a plan. But I had felt good about what I had achieved as a player. Three days later, I am back in Minnesota and my older brother tells me someone is asking about potential coaches at St. John’s.”

The opportunity was perfect. He is close to where he grew up, has a full-time coaching position, and can work with two programs with history. The women’s program will be 50 years old in 2028, while the men’s program will reach 60 years in 2027.

As a Director of Rugby and Men’s Head Coach, Augspurger will have quite a bit of freedom to help the team take steps forward. As an assistant coach with the women’s team, he can be sure he knows how that program is developing, as well.

The CSBSJU Administration is behind the move because they want to keep enrollment strong and provide a good experience for the student-athletes in the programs. Rugby will have an elevated club status on campuses, and they have robust alumni support.

On the field, Augspurger understands that the teams need to walk before they can run. Yes he has a long High Performance career, but he also coached youth rugby when he played in the MLR, and said “there’s not much difference in the fact that you have to work on the basic skills and the basic principals of the game. It’s mastering the fundamental skills of rugby that will make you successful. At the same time, there is still the social element of the sport that makes it special and that’s important, too.”

Augspurger said he will spend the spring season seeing what players he has and how they play together, and maybe what tweaks he can make.

At the same time, he is already hard at work recruiting, and one of his first acts was to get the teams on the Next Phase Rugby app (nextphaserugby.com)

“Both teams have a desire to compete at a higher level and while they might not know what that takes, they are excited to try.”

Augspurger told GRR that he hopes that the two teams will move up in divisions, but he doesn’t have a specific timeline for that.

“If we’re in D3, let’s be really good in D3. If we move up, let’s compete really well there,” he said. “Whatever we do, we’ll do it together.”