Rhys Douglas enters his fourth season as Denison University's assistant women's fencing coach in 2023-24 and is also in his second season as the and the head club fencing coach.
In 2022-23, Coach Douglas and his sabre squad helped Denison women's fencing earn an historic third-place finish as a team at the Central Collegiate Fencing Conference (CCFC) Championships by taking the third-place squad award in sabre. Along the way, the sabre squad beat out Lawrence (7-2), Detroit Mercy (9-0), Wayne State (9-0) and Cleveland State (8-1). Senior Tessy Udoh was named second-team all-conference with a 60-47 record and a ninth-place finish at the championships. Freshman Natalie Isberg was also named second-team all-conference with a 49-25 record and a 14th-place finish at the championships. Finally, freshman Delaney Brown as named honorable mention all-conference with a 53-36 record and an 11th-place finish at the championships. At the Eastern Women's Fencing Conference (EWFC) Championships, the Denison sabre squad went undefeated on the day with impressive wins against Wellesley (5-4), Johns Hopkins (5-4), Stevens Tech (7-2), Haverford (7-2), Yeshiva (9-0), and Vassar (9-0) while Isberg took second place earning her first-team all-conference and Brown took eighth place and was second-team all-conference. Lastly, facing a tough field that included world team members from the U.S. and other countries, Isberg became the first Denison fencer in history to break through into the top-12 at NCAA Regionals where she fenced off against the best from No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Northwestern and No. 5 Ohio State and ultimately placed 12th in sabre. Brown was close behind her teammate, placing 13th and narrowly missing making it into the final pool of 12 where fencers compete for the right to represent their university at NCAA Nationals. Following the end of the season, Isberg was ultimately named to the Midwest All-Region Team and was an Honorable Mention All-American for Division III while Coach Douglas was nominated for the United States Fencing Coaches Association (USFCA) Women's Team Division III Assistant Coach of the Year for the second year in a row.
In 2021-22, Coach Douglas was selected as the Central Collegiate Fencing Conference Women's Team Assistant Coach of the Year. Coach Douglas, serving as the primary saber team coach with Denison, helped lead the sabre squad to a third-place finish at Central Collegiate Conference Championships, a strong showing considering that none of the competing athletes on the squad had fenced before college. Individually, Douglas coached sabrist Tessy Udoh to a 64-49 record as well as All-Conference and All-Region recognition. All four Denison women's sabrists qualified for NCAA Regionals. In addition, the Denison women's sabre squad finished the season with a 29-21 record and took fourth at the Eastern Women's Fencing Conference Championships. Douglas was also nominated for the USFCA Division III Women's Team Assistant Coach of the Year Award for the first time.
Douglas brings 20 years of fencing experience to the Big Red programs. In that time, he has competed on the international stage in all three weapons.
Douglas competed at the highest level in sabre, representing Team USA at the Junior World Championships in 2011. As a student of Vladimir Nazlymov and a member of The Ohio State University men's fencing varsity team, he won the 2012 NCAA Team Championship, was a three-time Midwest Conference team champion, and a three-time individual Midwest Conference champion.
