Tiffany Faaee was named the Monroe College head rugby coach in August 2018. She is the second full-time head coach of the men's and women's rugby programs.
Faaee takes the reigns from inaugural head coach James English, who led the men’s rugby team to back-to-back playoff appearances in its first two seasons. The women’s rugby team played its first season in 2017, going undefeated through the regular season before falling in the conference championship game.
Throughout her 19 years playing rugby, Faaee has competed at both the international and domestic level in the sport. She was a part of USA Rugby from 2015-17 while starting to break into the coaching realm. In 2017, she captained the US Eagles to the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland. The New Zealand native played for the New Zealand Rugby League Selection Squad in 2014, and the Samoan Women’s Rugby League Team in 2011.
A local star as well, Faaee was the team captain of the New York Rugby Club women’s team in 2014 and 2017. She previously served as the captain of the Takapuna Rugby Union Club in 2009, and the Northcote Rugby Union Club in 2005. Faaee also played domestically for the New Zealand Navy Rugby team from 2003-09, as well as the North Harbour Select Side team from 2000-09.
Faaee’s most recent coaching experience came with the USA Eagles as the team’s set piece apprentice coach this year. She also served as assistant coach for the New York Rugby Club’s women’s team. Monroe will not be Faaee’s first time coaching at the collegiate level, as she was an assistant coach at Columbia University in 2015. She has also coached for Play Rugby USA, New York Rugby Club High School and Atavus Academy.
Faaee graduated from Birkenhead College in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2000, where she obtained an EMA finance certificate, EMA in frontline management and an EMA business certificate. In addition to her playing and coaching career in rugby, Faaee also has experience in the world of finance, both in New Zealand and in the United States. Faaee currently resides in Brooklyn, N.Y.
