Former Inverell and Central North star Cameron Wyper is making his mark on the coaching ranks in the US.
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The flying fullback, who was last year named in the Highlanders' team of the decade (2000-2009), has been appointed the new head coach for the rugby program at McKendree University.
Wyper is only the colleges' second-ever men's and women's head coach, and comes to the role after serving as the academy director and mental skills coach for Rugby ATL (Major League Rugby), where he was responsible for defining and coordinating the identification and development of age grade talent in the Southeast USA.
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Prior to that he spent three years as the director of rugby and the men's rugby head coach at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Ariz, where he helped guide the Lopes to the Division 1A playoffs two years in a row.
His step into the coaching ranks followed a playing career that saw him help the Highlanders break a 100-year premiership drought in 2006, pull on the gold of NSW Country, be involved in the ACT Brumbies program, play for the Scotland national 7s squad and get a taste of the Scottish Premiership with Dundee.
Speaking about the McKendree job, Wyper said he is "extremely excited" about the "platform that has been created", and "the long-term ambition" of Athletics Director Anthony Francis and the athletics department have "not only for the rugby program, but for athletics as a whole."
"My job now is to provide a facilitative learning environment for collegiate rugby players that encourages their individual development through high quality shared experiences and resources," he said.
The upcoming season will be McKendree's second of collegiate rugby. In their debut season the men posted 12 wins, including the Survivor Bracket of the season-ending Collegiate Rugby Championships, while the women went 5-0.
"We are very excited to add Cameron to the McKendree Athletics family. He brings a lot of experience in the sport of rugby at both the professional and collegiate level," Francis said.
"This hiring will do nothing but help us to continue build our rugby program into one to the top programs around."