Matyas Takes Over as San Diego State Rugby Head Coach

The former USA Eagle brings experience and connections to the role

Matyas has earned 13 caps representing the USA in 15s, primarily as a center and wing, and has participated in seven World Series tournaments /

By priscilla Jepchumba

Ryan Matyas, a former player for the USA Eagles in both 15s and 7s, has accepted the position of Head Coach at San Diego State University.

Matyas, who began his rugby career in Tempe, Arizona's youth and U19 system, and went on to become an All American at the University of Arizona, has been involved as either Director of Rugby or coach with various teams in recent years.

He has earned 13 caps representing the USA in 15s, primarily as a center and wing, and has participated in seven World Series tournaments. Furthermore, he played for the San Diego Legion before transitioning to oversee their youth and community programs.

During his time with the Legion, Matyas played alongside Nick Lupian, an All American at San Diego State University, and the two have a strong friendship.

This connection led to Matyas being invited to participate in SDSU training sessions. “The players seemed to like what I did and I met with the [student] Board and Club President and VP and it looked like a good fit,” said Matyas.

Matyas previously held the position of Director of Rugby at the Eagle Rock Athletic Club in Southern California and worked with the OMBAC Wallabies youth team.

Additionally, he served as Director of Rugby for the Casanovas select team, which achieved 4th place at the recent RugbyTown 7s in Glendale, Colorado

“I really wanted to challenge myself,” said Matyas. “I needed to grow into some of the more administrative roles, and being a Head Coach brings with it a lot of administrative work.”

This Monday will be the first full-squad session with Matyas as Head Coach. He hopes to start a time of progress as well as off the field.

“I am here to help elevate the standard,” he said. “But at the same time these are student-athletes and we need a schedule that is conducive to that. We’re going to be changing practice times to make it easier on the players and while that may mean we need to get creative; the line is: after 7:59 it’s your time.”

This implies that a morning session ends at 8 a.m., and an evening session ends at 8 p.m.

“The players are here to get a degree and as a coach my job is to help them—yes succeed in rugby, but also succeed as students.”

Matyas will also boost up recruitment, saying all he needs to do is look at the abundance of rugby talent emerging from Southern California to determine that he's in excellent hands.

“Look at the Raptors, Mustangs, Thunder, and other clubs around Southern California,” said Matyas. “There are some really great players, and my goal is for the kids to say ‘I want to go here at San Diego State.’”

San Diego State competes in the California Conference at the Division 1A level. This is the second-most competitive league in the USA, with Saint Mary's, Cal Poly, Sacramento State, Santa Clara, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, and Cal State Long Beach competing with the Aztecs.

“It’s very competitive,” said Matyas, “and that’s what makes it exciting.”