Ian McGeechan

Sir
Ian McGeechan
OBE

Date of birth	(1946-10-30) 30 October 1946 (age 77)
Place of birth	Headingley, Leeds, Yorkshire, England
University	Carnegie Physical Training College
Occupation(s)	Teacher Director of rugby, Head coach
Rugby union career
Position(s) Fly-half, Outside centre Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1964–1979 Headingley () International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1972–1979 Scotland 32 (21) 1974 & 1977 British & Irish Lions 8 (3) Coaching career Years Team 1986–1988 Scotland (assistant) 1988–1993 Scotland 1989– 1997 & 2009 Lions 1994–1999 Northampton Saints 2000–2003 Scotland 2005 Lions (midweek side) 2005–2009 London Wasps 2010–2012 Bath

Sir Ian Robert McGeechan, OBE (born 30 October 1946) is a retired Scottish rugby union player, coach and teacher. Born in Leeds, McGeechan represented Headingley as his only club during a 15-year club career, qualifying for Scotland through his father he played 32 times internationally for Scotland over 7 years and won 8 caps on two tours for the British & Irish Lions. During his playing career he worked as a teacher. Upon retiring from player McGeechan began coaching, in a career spanning 26 years he coached the most recent Scottish side to win a Grand Slam in the 1990 Five Nations Championship, and won Premiership Rugby & the European Cup with London Wasps in 2008 & 2007. He was head coach on four tours for the British & Irish Lions spanning 1989 to 2009 and was an assistant to the 2005 tour as well.

Early life

McGeechan was born in Leeds to a Glaswegian father who was in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He attended West Park County Secondary School and Moor Grange County Secondary School and became Head Boy and trained to be a PE teacher at Carnegie Physical Training College (now part of Leeds Metropolitan University). Although his family mostly played football, he took to rugby while in school.^[1]

Playing career

McGeechan played for Headingley and made his debut for Scotland in 1972. He won thirty-two caps, playing at fly-half and centre. He captained Scotland on nine occasions. He toured with the British & Irish Lions in both 1974 and 1977.

Coaching career

In 1986, McGeechan became the assistant Scotland coach to Derrick Grant and in 1988 he was promoted to coach. In 1990 his team won a Grand Slam victory in the Five Nations Championship. His forwards coach and partner was Jim Telfer.

McGeechan was the British & Irish Lions head coach in 1989, 1993, 1997 and 2009.^[2] In 2005, he coached the midweek side on the Lions' tour to New Zealand on the invitation of Sir Clive Woodward.^[2]

In 1994 McGeechan was appointed as Director of Rugby at Northampton and in 1999 replaced Jim Telfer as Scottish Director of Rugby.

McGeechan was appointed Director of Rugby at London Wasps in 2005^[3] after an unsuccessful and unhappy period as the Scottish Director of Rugby. In his first season of 2005/06 he led Wasps to the Anglo Welsh Cup title, beating Llanelli Scarlets in the final at Twickenham. In his second season, London Wasps claimed the Heineken Cup and in his third season, London Wasps won the Premiership

In February 2010, McGeechan joined the coaching staff at Gloucester as an advisor to Head Coach Bryan Redpath and his coaching team.^[4][5] but moved to local rivals Bath to take up the post of performance director in June 2010.^[6]

In 2011 McGeechan took over as the director of rugby at Bath following Steve Meehan's departure.^[7]

In July 2012, McGeechan was appointed the executive chairman of Leeds Carnegie.^[8]

Coaching statistics

Scotland (1988-1993)

International matches as head coach

Record by country

Opponent	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	Win ratio (%)	For	Against
Argentina	1	1	0	0	100	49	3
Australia	3	0	0	3	000	38	96
England	6	1	1	4	017	62	100
Fiji	1	1	0	0	100	38	17
France	5	2	0	3	040	46	51
Ireland	6	6	0	0	100	135	84
Japan	1	1	0	0	100	47	9
New Zealand	3	0	0	3	000	40	65
Romania	2	1	0	1	050	44	18
Samoa	1	1	0	0	100	28	6
Wales	5	4	0	1	080	100	43
Zimbabwe	1	1	0	0	100	51	12
TOTAL	35	19	1	15	054	640	504

Scotland (2000-2003)

International matches as head coach

Note: World Rankings Column shows the World Ranking Scotland was placed at on the following Monday after each of their matches

Record by country

Opponent	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	Win ratio (%)	For	Against
Argentina	1	0	0	1	000	16	25
Australia	2	0	0	2	000	25	63
Canada	1	0	0	1	000	23	26
England	4	1	0	3	025	34	125
Fiji	2	2	0	0	100	58	42
France	5	0	0	5	000	44	155
Ireland	5	1	0	4	020	92	162
Italy	5	4	0	1	080	152	105
Japan	1	1	0	0	100	32	11
New Zealand	3	0	0	3	000	40	154
Romania	1	1	0	0	100	37	10
Samoa	1	1	0	0	100	31	8
South Africa	3	1	0	2	033	65	63
Tonga	1	1	0	0	100	43	20
United States	3	3	0	0	100	157	44
Wales	5	2	1	2	040	112	121
TOTAL	43	18	1	24	042	961	1134

Teaching career

During his coaching career, McGeechan was also a PE teacher for over two decades.

McGeechan taught sport and geography at Fir Tree Middle School and Moor Grange County Secondary School in Leeds.

Honours

McGeechan was knighted in the 2010 New Year Honours for his services to rugby,^[9] having previously received an OBE in the 1990 Birthday Honours.^[10]

As a player

• Scotland
  • Five Nations Championship
    • Winner: 1973 (Five-way tie as all teams finished equal on points)
    • Runner-up: 1974, 1975
  • Calcutta Cup
    • Winner: 1974, 1976

As head coach

Views

In August 2014, McGeechan was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's independence referendum.^[11]

References

Bibliography

• Bath, Richard (editor) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks, 1997 ISBN 1-86200-013-1)
• McGeechan, Ian Lion Man: The Autobiography (Simon and Schuster, ISBN 1-84737-602-9)

External links

• Sir Ian McGeechan official website
• Ian McGeechan at ESPNscrum
• Ian McGeechan at the World Rugby Hall of Fame
• Ian McGeechan at the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame

This page was last edited on 27 March 2024, at 10:06