GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Guilford College athletics department announced the hiring of Christine Newcomb as the new women's rugby head coach on Monday.

"I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to lead the Guilford College Women's Rugby program," Newcomb said. "I believe the program has a solid foundation and great deal of potential. I am thrilled to once again be coaching in the NIRA (NCAA) realm; the opportunities the association creates for student-athletes is unmatched. Many thanks to Director of Athletics, Bill Foti and the rest of the Guilford community for trusting me with the continued growth of this program."

Newcomb comes to Guilford after serving as the women's rugby interim head coach at Brown University this past year. Prior to being named the interim head coach, Newcomb was the assistant coach from October 2018 through January of 2022

"I'm very pleased to welcome Christine Newcomb to Guilford Athletics," Director of Athletics Bill Foti said. "Coach Newcomb has a wealth of experience coaching at Brown University, Appalachian State and UNC-Wilmington. This experience recruiting at both NIRA and North Carolina institutions should resonate with potential recruits. This is imperative as we continue to build our Women's Rugby team after our inaugural season this past fall." 

During her time at Brown, the team achieved championships in the Spring 2022 Rugby 7s Collegiate Championship Bowl, the Spring 2022 Sorensen Rugby 7s and the Spring 2019 Polar Bear 7s. 

Prior to her time at Brown, Newcomb was the head coach at Appalachian State from 2016 until 2018. Newcomb also spent time at UNC-Wilmington as the head coach and was there from the inception of the program in 2010 through the 2016 season.