Tolkin, New U.S. Rugby Coach, Is a Teacher First And the audience is a class of seniors at a Jesuit school in Manhattan, where Tolkin has spent more than 20 years as an English teacher. When USA Rugby began looking for a coach after the World Cup last fall, it had hundreds of applicants but opted last month for Tolkin, 44, who along with lecturing on sonnets has built a remarkably successful rugby program at Xavier High School in Chelsea. In countries that are rugby powers, the position of head coach is a plum job, with vigorous debate and screaming headlines over whom to choose. England Manager Martin Johnson was all over the London tabloids after resigning last year, following his failure to control bad behavior by players, including binge drinking sessions at a bar with a dwarf theme. By contrast, Tolkin's disciplinary actions at a recent class extended mostly to urging his students to start learning a list of vocabulary words "beginning at "sacrosanct." " The team's chief local rivals include Fordham Prep in the Bronx and Greenwich High School in Connecticut, but to find top competition it travels all over the country. Graham Henry, who coached New Zealand to the World Cup title last year, is a former boys" school principal. The United States placed fourth in its group of five there, but many were impressed with the team's defense, which gave up only 22 points to Ireland and 27 to Italy. Several of Tolkin's colleagues on the United States staff applied for the job, he said, but "Mike stood out." A European coach may well understand the game, Melville said, but only an American will understand the rugby culture in the United States, which includes juggling part-time players with outside work commitments and a few pros who must fly back from Europe for practices and games. Melville also noted that rugby's growth in the United States was occurring at the high school and college levels, and he cited Tolkin's 25 years of experience coaching young players. That task is daunting. American players can get together for training only for a few weeks at a time. The part-timers might play only about eight high-level games in a year, while English and French players are on the field every week. The team has turned to foreign-born players who qualify for the United States because they have an American parent. It has also brought in athletes from other sports: tight ends and running backs make good back row players, Tolkin said, and wrestlers are strong on the front line. But more and more American homegrown rugby talent is coming through: players who might have started in flag rugby, then played at a high school program like Xavier and a top rugby college like Cal, Utah or Brigham Young. Closing the gap with the Irelands and Australias will have to be gradual, Tolkin said. For the near future, the United States will continue to face some games as a big underdog. But for a former defensive coach, playing defensively to keep the score close is not an option. "You can never go out there with the idea of conceding anything," Tolkin said. The next World Cup is not until 2015, but there will be three games in June against Canada, Georgia and Italy, who are ranked 13th, 15th and 11th in the world. With the United States in 17th place, Tolkin sees these as good tests. "If we win, we start moving up," he said. Mike Petri, a former Xavier player who went on to play for the national team at the last two World Cups as a scrum half, said players respected Tolkin and called him "passionate and very smart." Tolkin's colleagues and players often refer to him as being low-key, and it shows in his dry sense of humor in class. He tells his seniors that the number of Shakespearean sonnets is the same as the number of games in the baseball schedule until 1961. "That was the reason for the 154-game baseball schedule," he said. "Why did they do that?" a surprised student asked. "They loved Shakespeare," he said in a convincing deadpan. Tolkin will finish teaching at Xavier this week before taking over the national team full time. Two assistants, Joe Sweeney and Greg Norris, will take over the Xavier program. "I'm looking forward to the summer," Tolkin said. But I'll miss the kids and my colleagues.