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Richard Ruggieri enters his second season as head coach of the Clemson rowing team after a remarkably successful opening campaign with the Tigers. In just his first season at Clemson, Ruggieri led the varsity 8+ crew to the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history. The Tigers finished the season 14th in the nation, which is the highest final ranking in the history of the program. At the conclusion of the season, Ruggieri was named the South Region Head Coach of the Year by the CRCA.
Ruggieri led the Tigers to a variety of both individual and team accolades in 2008. Clemson finished runner-up at the ACC Championships as a team, and the novice 8+ came in first in their race. Ruggieri led the Tigers to a second place finish in the South region, and a sixth place overall finish at the South/Central Sprints. The Tiger's varsity 8+ crew was ranked as high as 12th in the USRowing/CRCA Poll during the season, which tied the program record for highest ranking. He coached Suzanne Van Fleet and Jessica Leidecker to All-America honors, and five Tiger rowers were named to the CRCA All-South Region team. Under Ruggieri's guidance, Liz Robb became the first rower to be named the ACC's Freshman of the Year. In addition, Leidecker, Van Fleet and Robb were named to the All-ACC team. Eleven rowers earned CRCA National Scholar Athlete accolades, which marks the highest number of honorees in Ruggieri's career. Ruggieri's 2008 squad earned the ACC Sportsmanship Award for exhibiting a high degree of character and good sportsmanship.
Prior to his tenure at Clemson, Ruggieri was the head coach at Louisville for seven seasons. During his time at the school, the Cardinals steadily climbed the ranks in the South Region and on the national scene as well.
In 2007, Louisville's Varsity 8+ ranked 17th in the nation, fourth in the South Region and were runners-up at the Big East Championships. He coached Beth Daunhauer to second-team All-America honors and two rowers to All-Region honors. His program also produced 10 CRCA National Scholar Athletes, a school record Ruggieri's 2006 team concluded the season ranked 20th in the nation. Overall, the Cards finished third in the South region and second at the Big East Championships. Five rowers earned CRCA All-Region honors under Ruggieri, including three first-team selections.
In 2005, he coached Amelia Buhts to second-team All-America honors and two others to All-Region recognition. The Cardinals' Varsity 8+ was 22nd nationally in the final poll of the season, while Ruggieri's squad was fifth in the South Region. In 2004, he led the Cardinals to a sixth-place region finish and also coached five CRCA National Scholar Athletes. Ruggieri led the Cardinals to its first-ever national ranking in 2003.
The Cardinals enjoyed much success off the water, earning many team and invidual honors. The Cardinal rowers also recorded a 3.0+ GPA for all seven years under Ruggieri's leadership.
Prior to his time at Louisville, he was in charge of both the men's and women's varsity programs at Bates College in Lewiston, ME. In just one season, both squads finished seventh nationally among NCAA Division III crews, and the women's varsity 8+ crew placed 11th nationally among Division II and III boats.
Before taking on these collegiate duties, Ruggieri was the head coach for the elite women at Penn Athletic Club and lightweight men at Vesper Boat Club, which are two of the top club rowing programs in the country.
Ruggieri has worked extensively with USRowing and the United States National Team and has helped develop some of the top women's boats in the nation. In 1993, he was the women's sculling coach during the Olympic Festival in San Antonio Texas, and led his team to a bronze medal. From 1994-95, he served as the head coach of development with the U.S. National Team and worked at their training center in Chattanooga, TN. Five of the nine members of the 2000 United States Women's 8+ Olympic team were developed and coached by Ruggieri. Ruggieri also coached multiple scullers at the 1996 Olympic Trials, where all crews finished in the top three with Lisa Carey-Moore being named a spare for the Olympic games.
The 42-year old Ruggieri is also no stranger to international competition. In 1995 he served as the head coach of the U.S. Nation's Cup team and led the Women's 2- squad to a bronze medal finish at the Under-23 World Championships. In 1998, he led the women's crew to a seventh-place finish at the World University Games in Zagreb, Croatia. In the summer of 2008, he led the Women's 4- crew to a fourth place finish at the Under 23 World Championships in Brandenburg, Germany.
A native of Cranston, R.I., Ruggieri earned a bachelor's degree in physical education at Rhode Island in 1992. He was a four-year rower with the Rams.
