As the Harvard women’s rugby team transitions to varsity status next year, the Crimson will have an experienced leader at the helm of the emerging program. The Harvard Athletic Department announced the hiring of Sue Parker last Wednesday. Parker will take over as head coach of the varsity team starting in the fall of 2013.

“We’re all very excited to start working with her,” team president Brandy Machado said. “We met with her in the interview process, and we were all very impressed. She has an impressive resume, [and] she’s coached at the national level. We’re confident she’ll be a good coach for us.”

Parker will bring a wealth of experience to Cambridge this coming fall. Parker most recently served as the head coach of Navy women’s rugby from 2002-2008 and 2011-2013, where the club team was a top national contender, recently advancing to the Final Four of the 2013 National Championships.

Prior to her coaching days, Parker represented the United States on the women’s national team from 1997-2000. From 2007-08, she served as the assistant coach for the USA Women’s 7s Rugby National Team, before being tabbed head coach the following year.

As a part of the nation-wide coaching search, current team members were involved in the process of selecting the varsity program’s first head coach.

“It was a really big job search, so the Athletic Department did a lot of it,” junior co-captain Xanni Brown said. “But we got to interview four candidates. We met with Sue in March [and] we’re all really impressed with her. Coming from Navy, she has a ton of experience and a really great record there, so we’re super excited for her to be integrated into this program.”

Parker also serves as the Chair of the USA Women’s Rugby Women’s Strategic Committee, and helped draft a vision statement promoting women’s rugby to NCAA varsity status. She also serves as a member of the USA Rugby Women’s NCAA Committee. Parker will be at the helm of the Crimson’s transition from club to varsity.

“We have been gearing up for this [transition to varsity] since my freshman year when we won the Division II national championship,” Brown said. “The next thing we set our sights on was going varsity. We think we’re ready to represent this school at that level.”

Women’s rugby will become Harvard’s 42nd varsity sport and 21st for women, the highest totals of any university in either category.

“We’re looking forward to some changes next year when we go varsity,” Brown said. “We’ll be in the actual varsity weight room for season conditioning. We’ll have access to trainers, and field time for practice. And we’ll be asking more of our athletes, too.”

—Brenna R. Nelsen can be reached at brennanelsen@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @CrimsonBRN.