To have a conversation with KSU men’s rugby coach David Conyers is to be the audience of a man in constant transition.
Coaching on campus, working with select teams, volunteering or working as a handyman—Conyers extends himself as often as possible. Not even two months removed from winning a major international championship, Conyers is already searching for the next challenge.
The 55-year-old Australian led the USA South rugby squad to the North American Caribbean Rugby Association title, defeating Trinidad and Tobago 28-16 in June to claim the United States’ first International Rugby Board trophy as a provincial team.
Winning a tournament against full international sides while only using a regional team is a difficult enough task, even with a full practice slate. Conyers’ USA South team, however, did not have that luxury.
“People don’t have the time to go to a camp the week before that or take time off work,” said the coach. “It’s just hard to do.”
The irregular nature of the time commitment allowed Conyers to continue coaching KSU’s club team, while also volunteering his time in various administrative roles—and even teaching children—throughout the rugby community. He further augmented the difficulty with an extra responsibility he had been tending to since Spring Semester 2010—he was a full-time student at KSU.
The unexpected journey began in 2007 while Conyers was still living in his native Australia. Attempting to set up a tour of Georgia and Florida for a rugby team that he coached, Conyers ended up in touch with the coaching staff at KSU. A friendship developed between Conyers and the head coach, one that eventually had a major payoff.
“A few years later, he asked me if I ever want to come back to help him coach,” Conyers said.
That 2009 invitation to come to America came at the ideal time for Conyers. His business had taken a hit in worrisome economic times; his health had diminished under extensive pressure, causing two heart attacks.
Physical trouble is what the veteran coach cites as the main reason for the move. Conyers said the doctor warned him that, unless he changed, a fatal incident would be coming soon. Conyers’ response was swift: Fridgiplex, his company, was sold, and he made the move of more than 9,000 miles to Georgia.
Kennesaw was a temporary destination to begin with, but Conyers soon found that his goal of advancing the culture of rugby was even more important in the U.S. He even enrolled at KSU in 2010 as a 51-year-old, picking sports management as a major.
“Australians are pretty nice,” he explained,” but I just fell in love with Georgia.”
Success came immediately for the Owls, as KSU won a state title in 2010. The club also reached the Division I playoffs only two years after reaching that distinction.
On-field results seem secondary to the globetrotting Conyers, though.
“We’re not just about teaching them sport,” he explained. “It’s like a code of conduct for the students.” Conyers departs in August from his post for the Owls in order to finish up his degree with a four-month internship in his homeland. He will be working with Lloyd McDermott’s foundation to foster the rugby development of indigenous Australians through scouting, training and education.
A post-graduate mission— which he gave himself—of helping another group develop through the sport of rugby awaits.
“I would really like to do something here in America with Native Americans,” Conyers said.
Conyers’ study abroad in Uganda with disabled children—“I took Kennesaw T-shirts down and gave them all shirts and a ball”—and his other travels have given him a wealth of experience. A non-traditional student to the highest degree, Conyers will be the first to show gratitude, even in the face of all the gifts and knowledge he has given others.
“It’s been the best four years of my life,” he said. While listening to the excitement in his voice, there doesn’t seem to be much room for disagreement.
