Coaches and Staff
Head Coach & Founder
2002--Present
Darrin Barner
Club Founder and Head Coach Darrin Barner, took on the rugby challenge after his playing days as a defensive back for the Wayne State Wildcat football team from 1985-1988. Barner played rugby for 14 years before stepping away from the game when he was Captain for the Fort Worth Old Boys when they played the Kenyan Exiles in Dallas in 2002. Barner played for the Storm Lake Iowa Albatross from 1989-1994 when he was employed by Wayne State College as the Intramural Sports Coordinator.
Barner then played for the Fort Worth, Texas RFC from 1994-2002 after taking a position with Northwest Airlines and moving down to Fort Worth, TX. Along with a National Championship with the Fort Worth RFC in 2000, Barner and the rest of the players from Fort Worth had a very strong program and was a top 20 team in the USA from 1996-2001, winning several Western USA Territorial Championships and Sweet 16 seeds.
Barner has been to 17 countries and is always game for a tour overseas to rugby countries. He has taken in a few International games in both the Southern and Northern hemisphere, along with some World Cup games in Wales and England when they hosted the World Cup in 1999.
Barner was able to get the Official Steinlager Goal Post Pads from the New Zealand All Blacks VS Argentina game when Barner, with other players were under the stadium at a VIP after game social, just after the New Zealand All Blacks victory. Barner also had a brief rugby tour, and had 2 weeks with Kim Erikson the President of the Norwegian International Side in Norway, during some rugby time in Oslo, Norway. Barner was offered a small rugby contract, and after some thought Barner returned home and with hair staring to turn gray and getting a bit slower, it was time to bring college rugby to Northeast Nebraska and his alma-mater, Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska.
Barner has a USA Coaching endorsements in Level 1, Level 2, Introduction to USA Rugby, USA Coaching Development (CDP) Intro, USA Coaching Development (CDP) Skills, University of Queensland Australia Coaching Course, USA Rugby Lineout Course, USA Rugby NCAA Intuitive Workshop, and a Registered Referee. Barner has also been an officer with the Great Plains Rugby Union from 2003-present, Western Territory competition committee member 2003-present, and has been part on USA national competition discussions and groups with USA Director of College Rugby Todd Bell in 2010-2011.
