Blake Burdette

Blake Burdette (born January 19, 1980 in Minneapolis) is a rugby coach and former American rugby union hooker or prop. He was a member of the United States national rugby union team and made his international debut in 2006 against Uruguay.[1] Burdette played for the USA Eagles in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.[2] Currently, he is the head coach of the Pennsylvania State University Men's Rugby Team.

In 2002, Burdette played as a University of Utah football walk-on.[3] In his senior year, Burdette was nicknamed the 'Utah Man' on the campus' football team.[4] Burdette played every game in the 2004 season for the Utah Utes football team, and played for the Utes as an 4x All-American rugby player (2003-2006), before dedicating his time to playing professional rugby in England.[4][5] His England rugby career lasted only one season due to injury.[3]

Coaching

In 2007, Burdette joined the Utah Utes rugby team as assistant coach, taking over as head coach in 2009, but resigned after the team was suspended for misuse of branding.[6]

In 2015, Burdette was hired as head coach of The Pennsylvania State University's Men's Rugby Team.[7] Burdette is the first full-time, university employed head coach in the history of PSU Rugby.

References

  1. ↑ "USA PEN-PICS". PA Newswire: Sport News. August 20, 2007.
  2. ↑ "Rugby World Cup 2007". The Courier Mail. Australia. September 7, 2007. pp. Sport; 74.
  3. 1 2 Gardner, Pace (November 15, 2007). "Ex-Ute leaves football for rugby". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  4. 1 2 Brown, Hugh (May 1, 2013). "Burdette resigns as Utah rugby coach". Deseret News. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "Tight end leaving Utah to play rugby". The Associated Press State & Local Wire. August 2, 2005.
  6. ↑ Payson, Richard (April 3, 2013). "Utah rugby suspended over misuse of University of Utah brand". The Daily Utah Chronicle. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  7. ↑ "Penn State Names Burdette, Daley As Head Coaches". This Is American Rugby News. Retrieved 9/8/2015. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)


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