Warriors add Ian Gibbons as High Performance Director

HERRIMAN, UTAH – The Utah Warriors have hired Ian Gibbons as the team’s 1st High Performance Director.

“Having been in and around rugby all my life, and having experience across a number of different roles within elite sport, I know how vital it is to be surrounded by good people producing very good work,” said Gibbons. “What was clear from the moment I started to talk to Brandon [Sparks] and the ownership is that there are good people here and I bought into the shared vision of this project.

“Professional sport is about winning, and we’re expecting players and staff to work really hard and to have very high standards. Doing the simple things very well and better than the rest.”

“We are thrilled to have Ian joining our staff as we prepare for the upcoming season,” said Brandon Sparks, Warriors General Manager. “Ian brings with him an immense understanding of performance training and has helped athletes reach the highest levels of their sport. Adding him to our Coaching Staff of Greg [Cooper], Shaun [Davies] and Robbie [Abel] will help our roster get to where we need it to be.”

Gibbons joins the Warriors with 16 year’s experience in high performance. A native of England, Gibbons has previously held roles at Saracens and Scarlets in the UK, as well as Kenya Men’s 7s and USA Women’s 7s and more recently with Japan Women’s 7s at the Tokyo Olympic Games. In addition to his work overseas, Gibbons comes to Utah with multiple years of experience in Major League Rugby, helping the Seattle Seawolves to an MLR Championship in 2019 in addition to time with the San Diego Legion in 2021.

“I’m here to make a real difference,” said Gibbons. “It will be about being smart and strategic when it comes to creating the right environment where everyone can get better each day, enjoy what we do together and be part of something special. The exciting thing is we have a defined player pathway for local and domestic U.S talent and I am looking forward to influencing that side of the organization, as well as building and developing an interdisciplinary high-performance department alongside our partners at Intermountain Health to ensure we have a fit, powerful and resilient MLR squad capable of challenging for championships.”

Gibbons will work closely with new Warriors’ Head Coach Greg Cooper along with Assistant Coaches Shaun Davies and Robbie Abel.