Coaching Change at Davenport
Coaching Change at Davenport
Dustin Steedman is stepping down at Head Coach of Davenport University's men's rugby program.
Steedman is moving to Texas to take up a new business opportunity outside of rugby, and while he said he hopes to be involved in the game in the Houston area, he will be working full-time in commercial real estate.
Former Davenport and Major League Rugby player Dom Bailey, who has been Steedman's assistant coach, will be taking over as Head Coach.
"Dom Has brought a lot to the team in the past three years in terms of on the field play and team culture," said Steedman. "I can only see his contributions as the head of Davenport Universities Rugby program getting better both on and off the field."
Steedman has been Head Coach at Davenport since the 2020-21 season, when he took over for Lance Hohaia. Before that he was an assistant coach with the Panthers from the fall of 2015 through the spring of 2020. During three of those years he coached Bailey.
Davenport has competed in the Mid-South D1A conference and now the Midwest D1A conference. They have a reputation as one of the most resilience and tough-minded programs simply because winning games in those conferences is very difficult, and yet the Panthers keep coming back to compete.This fall, Davenport is 6-3 overall and 2-2 in conference play. Wins over Ohio State, Wheeling, Aquinas, Marian, Adrian, and McKendree are augmented by close losses to Arkansas State and Penn State.
Over his five seasons at the helm, Steedman's Davenport teams have gone 28-20-1 overall in 15s. All but two of those losses came against Lindenwood, Life, or Arkansas State, and Davenport did manage to log four victories against those opponents plus five more games that were within a try. Over the last two season the Panthers made the D1A playoffs, losing to Arkansas State and also to Army in the first round in games that were within a try.
