Provo, UT–On the heels of the Cougars second national championship the BYU Rugby program has been selected by university administrators to serve as the 2012 Homecoming Marshals.

In the 60-plus years of BYU's Homecoming Week the honor of Homecoming Marshal has never been awarded to a team sport.

“We’re humbled beyond belief,” said BYU assistant coach Wayne Tarawhiti, “We just love this game and we want to give these players a good experience representing the university. And having the school respect what this program has done and what these players have been able to build is nothing but humbling.”

Being Homecoming Marshalls will mean the players and coaches are busy during the upcoming week which officially starts on Tuesday, October 9th and runs until the evening of Saturday, the 13th.

Festivities begin on campus at the Homecoming Opening Ceremonies on Tuesday at 11am where the team will be recognized for their recent national championship achievements.

Later in the week on Thursday and Friday two Homecoming Spectacular performances will again feature the BYU Rugby team amidst an artistic celebration of BYU students and alumni.

The Homecoming week festivities and honors continue Friday and Saturday with a variety of Alumni & University Administrator dinners and luncheons where the BYU Rugby coaches and players will be officially honored for their championship efforts.

The week-long program of events concludes Saturday morning with a VIP breakfast and Homecoming Parade where the BYU Rugby team will feature as the parade Marshals. The Homecoming parade will precede the traditional Homecoming football game as the Cougars #10 Oregon State at 1:30pm MT at Lavell Edwards Stadium.

BYU head coach David Smyth is looking forward to a week long series of opportunities to expose the community and alumni to the rugby program.

“We’re very grateful for the BYU administration and their support of our program,” Smyth said, “It means a lot to have our players recognized for their efforts. It’s this kind of support that hopefully raises the profile of the sport and our program locally and within our BYU alumni circles.”