The Bowling Green State University Men's Rugby Football Club has now won 40 consecutive Mid-American Rugby Conference championships, beginning in 1982 with a team coached by New Zealand native Bill Cotton and captained by Roger Mazzarella.  

The Bowling Green State University Men's Rugby Football Club is celebrating its 53rd anniversary this year. Remarkably, the club has now won 40 consecutive Mid-American Rugby Conference championships. 

BGSU has posted one of the longest championship winning streaks in collegiate athletics at any level within the 48-year-old Mid-American Rugby Conference, which boasts the longest continuously running college conference rugby competition in the United States. According to Mazzarella, who coached the team from 1985 to 2008, this unprecedented success comes down to individual character and mental toughness guided by a team playbook known for its unrivaled complexity. 

"A lot of the championship games were not blow outs if you look back at the scores," Mazzarella observed. "The wins depended on one or two individual heroes who were at the right place at the right time." 

"Of course our goal every year is a national championship, but winning the MAC has taken on an aura of its own. I played in five of them and coached thirteen more and winning the last one is just as thrilling as winning the first," noted head coach Tony Mazzarella. 

Mike Harrington, former biology faculty member at BGSU as well as player at Miami, Ohio Univ. and? Ball State (faculty & grad students were allowed to play until 1985): "I was fortunate to have played at four MAC schools, winning the championship at all but Ball State. The most fullfilling was winning at BGSU in 1982, as it started the dynasty that continues today." 

The BGSU club team is rightfully considered one of the top ten rugby programs in the United States, competing successfully against some of the country's top varsity teams. With an average membership of 80+, the team fields five squads each season, with each squad typically posting nine wins for every loss. In addition to its 40-year conference championship run, the team has: 

·Posted 104 consecutive winning seasons, including fall 15s and spring 7s competition. 

·Has competed in the National Collegiate Championship 19 times, including 12 times in a row from 2008-19. 

·Carried the name of Bowling Green all over the world, with invitations to tour England, Wales, South Africa, Ireland and Italy. 

·Posted a 2,587-412-88 overall record for a .862 winning percentage. 

·Produced nine All-Americans.