Bio

University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis welcomes Peter Lang as the head coach for the inaugural men's rugby program beginning in 2022-23.

Lang is a World Rugby Level 3 coach with a wealth of experience coaching all over the world. He comes to UHSP from Dunfermline, U.K., where has been the Director of Rugby and Scottish Rugby Development Officer since January 2021 at Dunfermline Rugby Football Club. For the two years prior to Dunfermline, Lang acted as the Senior Team Head Coach and Director of Coach at Royal Kituro Rugby Club, a semi-professional club in Brussels, Belgium.

Lang has worked at the high school, collegiate, and semi-professional levels throughout his 10+ years of coaching. His knowledge of and passion for the sport of rugby has afforded him coaching opportunities around the world, including positions in the United Kingdom (Edinburgh Rugby, Scottish Rugby Academy), Belgium, Japan (Sapporo Yamanote Senior High School), Uganda (Uganda Rugby Union), New Zealand (Crusaders Super Rugby), and the United States (American International College, The College of William and Mary).

Lang began his rugby coaching career at the club level at The College of William and Mary (Va.). He balanced his full-time IT career with part-time positions at W&M, including Director of Rugby, Men's Head Coach, Women's Assistant Coach 15s, and Women's Head Coach 7s for six years before making the decision to turn to coaching rugby as a full-time career.

Since his early coaching days, Lang has viewed rugby as a tool to help individuals develop characteristics to be successful in life.

"Rugby can teach teamwork, resilience, pushing yourself, control of your emotions, going beyond what you think you are capable of," said Lang. "Other sports are games of skill. Rugby is a game of will. It's a character-building sport."

At UHSP, Lang hopes to build a program that emphasizes the three principles of Purpose, Passion, and Pride to help student-athletes develop a stronger moral fiber through the sport of rugby. In addition to heading up the rugby program at UHSP, Lang is also the Director of Rugby at the Saint Louis Bombers – one of the top men's rugby D1 program in the USA. He is also a U18 coach with USA Rugby South's Panthers Academy, a high-performance/ elite rugby program and one of 7 USA Rugby National Development Programs and approved pathways to USA Rugby National side selections. During the summer months he heads back to his native Scotland to head up with Scottish Rugby U21 Edinburgh Academy program – one of four pathway programs to the Scottish National team.

Lang grew up in a family with strong ties to soccer - both playing and coaching. He attended University of London to compete in rugby, soccer, and track and field until a career-ending injury changed his career trajectory.

Now living in the U.S., Lang is currently studying for his masters in Sports Performance Coaching at Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence. When not studying he enjoys playing classical guitar, watching sports, renovating houses, and traveling.