Steubenville, OH

In what was Head Coach Jason Adams' last dance with the Franciscan Barons Rugby program this Spring, Coach Adams, who announced his retirement in early March, wrapped up his stellar Barons coaching career after the 2026 7's season. The Barons season ended in mid-April with a 4th place finish at the MARC automatic qualifier tournament, falling short of an at-large bid to Nationals. The 7's team finished 10-4 in three tournaments, but the lack of wins against top ranked teams wasn't enough to entice a bid. Once the 7's season ended, Franciscan was able to open the head coach position. The head coaching position has since been filled, and an article will be out later with details.

Coach Adams sent his resignation late in February and formally retired after the completion of the 2026 Sevens season. Coach Jason retired so he can focus his time and energy on where he is needed the most, his family. Coach Jason will now become a fan and cheer on his kids and coach youth sports. While he will no longer be the head coach, Coach Adams will stick around in an advisory role, and work behind the scenes logistically from home, to ensure continuity and support for the new Head Coach coming in.

Coach Adams leaves behind an impressive 7-year reign as Head Coach of Franciscan, bookending a final four appearance in 2019 and winning a National Championship this past 2025 fall season. In six seasons, he went 54-17 (.760) in 15's, making five National Sweet 16 appearances and two final fours. Coach Adams is 9-5 in NCR National Playoffs culminating with the program's first National Championship in their 25-year history. He coached 9 different All-American players during his tenure as well as having 29 Scholastic All-Americans named, with several more being named this summer. Coach Adams also earned his one and only Coach of the Year award from the ARU in 2025. In 7's play, Coach Adams finished with a 48-30 record and made three National trips since NCR rebooted the CRC 7's back up in 2021. All told, he finished with a combined 102 wins and 47 losses for a winning percentage of .680. He is most proud of all the players that committed and sacrificed.

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