Brian G. McDermott (born 16 March 1970) is an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

coach who was the head coach of

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship (rugby league), Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rover ...

in the

RFL Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the Rugby Football League Championship Second Division, second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football Lea ...

, resigning on 26 Sep 2022, after the loss to

Batley Bulldogs Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of th ...

. He is a former professional rugby league player. He was previously the head coach of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in the Super League and of the USA national team. Nicknamed 'Big Mac', McDermott was a

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

international forward who played his entire career at club level for

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, winning

Super League Grand Final The Super League Grand Final is the championship-deciding game of rugby league's Super League competition. It is played between two teams who have qualified via the Super League Play-Off series. The winning team receives the Super League Trop ...

s and

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

s with them. He began his coaching career in 2003 as an assistant at

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

, taking his first senior coaching role with

Harlequins RL The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

in 2006, before joining Leeds as head coach in 2010. McDermott coached Leeds to several major trophies including the

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Super League titles, the 2012 World Club Challenge, and the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

2015 Challenge Cup The 2015 Challenge Cup, (also known as the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 114th staging of the rugby league tournament for teams in the Super League, the British National Leagues and a number of invited amateur clubs. T ...

Background

McDermott was born in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, England. He played amateur rugby league as a junior for Eastmoor RLFC and was a

Royal Marine The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

for five years before becoming a professional player.

Playing career

1990s

McDermott joined

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predomi ...

(later Bradford Bulls) in 1994, where he stayed for 10 years. He played for Bradford at prop forward in their

1996 Challenge Cup The 1996 Challenge Cup was the 95th staging of the Challenge Cup tournament. Known as the Silk Cut Challenge Cup due to sponsorship from Silk Cut, it was the first Challenge Cup of the summer era. The tournament featured 40 teams playing 42 games ...

final loss to St. Helens. He played for

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is predom ...

from the interchange bench in the

1999 Super League Grand Final The 1999 Super League Grand Final was the Second official Grand Final conclusive and championship-deciding game of the Super League IV season. The match was played between St. Helens and Bradford Bulls on Saturday 9 October 1999, at Old Traffo ...

which was lost to St Helens. McDermott won a

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for England in 2001 against Wales, and won caps for Great Britain in 1996 against Fiji, and 3 in 1997 against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

(

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

2000s

McDermott played for the Bradford Bulls at in their

2001 Super League Grand Final The 2001 Super League Grand Final was the Fourth official Grand Final and the conclusive and championship-deciding match of Super League VI. The match was held on Saturday 13 October 2001 at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by Bradf ...

victory against the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

. As

Super League VI Tetley's Super League VI was the official name for the year 2001's Super League championship season, the 107th season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the sixth championship run by the Super League. The season began ...

champions, the Bradford Bulls played against 2001 NRL Premiers, the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

in the

2002 World Club Challenge The 2002 World Club Challenge was held on Friday, 1 February 2002, at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield, England. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and Newcastle Knights. Background Bradford Bulls The 2001 Super League Grand Final ...

. McDermott played as a prop forward in Bradford's victory. He also played for Bradford from the interchange bench in their

2002 Super League Grand Final The 2002 Super League Grand Final was the Fifth official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding game of Super League VII. Held on Saturday 19 October 2002 at Old Trafford, Manchester, the game was played between St. Helens and Brad ...

loss against St Helens. After ending his playing career in 2003, McDermott moved into coaching.

Coaching career

Harlequins RL

McDermott had spells on the coaching staff at

clubs

and

before accepting his first top-flight head coaching role at Harlequins in July 2006, replacing

Tony Rea Tony Rea (born 25 July 1966) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and a former head coach for Super League club, London Broncos. A former , he played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League for Brothers, in the New Sout ...

. McDermott won his first match as a head coach against

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins the ...

. He went on to claim five wins and four losses in the remainder of 2006. McDermott remained at Harlequins for a further four seasons but the team decreased in performance. The team which had been in the top 5 in the year before McDermott's arrival finished 7th, then 9th then 9th again. Harlequins RL went on three long streaks of very poor form in the last season and a half of McDermott's tenure. The 2009 saw a second half of the season collapse with the team winning only 1 of its last 12 games and finishing 11th. The 2010 season saw an early win against

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons ( French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from ...

, but again only one win in the first 11 games. Brian Mac

There were quite a few big losses by scores such as 62-4, 58-0 and 52-12. After a midseason streak of four wins in five games, the team again returned to losing form, losing 7 out of the last 9. McDermott had not secured the team's better players to new contracts, such as

Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook (born 14 January 1986) is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for St Helens R.F.C., St Helens in the Super League, Betfred Super League. He has played for both England national rugby league team, ...

, Will Sharp, Danny Orr, Oliver Wilkes and Luke Williamson and the team had finished 11th and 13th in successive seasons.

Leeds Rhinos

McDermott left Harlequins and returned to Leeds as Assistant Manager at the end of the 2010 season. On 25 October 2010, following the resignation of incumbent coach

Brian McClennan Brian "Bluey" McClennan (born 16 February 1962) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer and coach. He was previously the head coach of the New Zealand national team (with whom he won the 2005 Tri-nations) and then England's ...

, it was announced that McDermott would take over as head coach at Headingley on a three-year contract. McDermott coached Leeds to the 2011 Challenge Cup Final defeat by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. However, McDermott guided Leeds to

2011 Super League Grand Final The 2011 Super League Grand Final was the 14th official Grand Final and the championship-deciding game of the Super League XVI season. It was held on Saturday, 8 October at Manchester, England's Old Trafford stadium. The match was contested by ...

victory over St. Helens at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

, after finishing in 5th place in the league. McDermott replicated the same feat in 2012, where Leeds won the World Club Challenge against Manly. He coached

to their

2012 Challenge Cup Final The 2012 Challenge Cup Final was the 111th cup-deciding game of the rugby league 2012 Challenge Cup Season. It was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 25 August 2012, kick off 14:30. The final was contested by Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves ...

defeat by

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

. Two months later, the two sides met again in the

2012 Super League Grand Final The 2012 Super League Grand Final was the 15th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XVII season. The match was held on Saturday 6 October 2012, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by ...

which Leeds won for the sixth time in nine years with the victory over Warrington at

and making it two out of two for McDermott in his first two years as head coach. By coincidence, on 12 April 2013

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

announced their new manager as Brian McDermott, meaning that both the

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

teams in the city of Leeds had managers with the same name. Both sides also had players by the name of Ryan Hall at the same time, one a 25-year-old winger for the rugby league side, the other a 25-year-old winger for Leeds United. In 2014 McDermott coached Leeds in the 2014 Challenge Cup Final victory over

, their first

win since 1999. They were knocked out of the playoffs against

after finishing 6th in the league, their worst position since 1996. In 2015 McDermott coached Leeds to a historic treble, winning the

50–0, scoring a last second try against

to win the

League Leaders' Shield The League Leaders' Shield is a shield awarded to the team finishing the season top of Super League in the sport of rugby league football. Currently, and for most of Super League's history, the championship is decided on the basis of a play-off se ...

, and beating

in a major final for the first time by 22–20 in the 2015 Super League Grand Final victory at

. McDermott was a nominee for the

BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award is an award given annually as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony each December. The award is given to the coach who was considered to have made the most substantive contribut ...

at the end of the season. Leeds endured a difficult season in 2016 as they were flooded out of their training ground for the first half of the season and suffered a run of injuries that left them having to fight against relegation in the Qualifiers. At the start of 2017, with only the addition of

Matt Parcell Matt Steven Parcell (born 30 October 1992) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for Hull Kingston Rovers in the Betfred Super League. He previously played for the Brisbane Broncos and Manly Warringah Sea Eagle ...

to the Leeds squad from the previous year, they finished runners up to

in the table. They then beat Castleford in the 2017 Grand Final at

, with long-serving players

Rob Burrow Robert Geoffrey Burrow (born 26 September 1982) is an English former professional rugby league player. An England and Great Britain representative, he spent his entire 16-year professional career with Leeds Rhinos in the Super League, making o ...

and

Danny McGuire Daniel Phillip McGuire (born 6 December 1982) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a or , and is currently the interim head-coach of Hull Kingston Rovers. He spent the majority of his professional career play ...

leaving the club as champions. After a run of seven losses in a row, the club sacked McDermott as head coach in July 2018.

United States

In 2015, McDermott was named head coach of the United States national team, combining the job with his role at Leeds. His first outing as coach of the USA Hawks was in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifiers, in which he guided the United States to victories over

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and subsequently qualified for the 2017 World Cup. After qualifying for the tournament he announced he was to stay on as the US coach until at least the end of the 2017 World Cup.

Toronto Wolfpack

McDermott took over at the

Toronto Wolfpack The Toronto Wolfpack are a Canadian professional rugby league club based in Toronto, Ontario, who compete in the North American Rugby League. The club originally competed in the British rugby league system but withdrew in the 2020 Super Leagu ...

ahead of the 2019 RFL Championship season. Brian McDermott Toronto Wolfpack

Oldham RLFC

On 5 July 2021 it was reported that he had joined

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

as a coaching consultant to Brendan Sheridan, following the departure of former head coach

Matt Diskin Matt Diskin (27 January 1982) an English professional rugby league coach was the head coach of Oldham in the Betfred Championship, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at represen ...

in June.

Featherstone Rovers

It was reported on 22 October 2021 that he had taken over as head-coach from James Webster

Newcastle Knights

McDermott became assistant coach at the

in November 2022 ahead of the NRL season in Australia.

Honours

Player

(3): 1997, 2001, 2003 *

(3): 1999, 2001, 2003 *

(2): 2000, 2003 *

World Club Challenge The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australasian National Rugby League (NRL) and the European Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. The first such match was pl ...

: 2002

Coach

(4): 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 *

(1): 2015 *

(2): 2014, 2015 *

: 2012

References

External links

Toronto Wolfpack profileLeeds Rhinos profileLeeds profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
Quins RL profile
*(archived by web.archive.org
Harlequins 2008 guide
- Profile on page 27 *(archived by web.archive.org
Bull Masters - Brian McDermott
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDermott, Brian 1970 births Living people Bradford Bulls players England national rugby league team players English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Featherstone Rovers coaches Great Britain national rugby league team players Harlequins Rugby League coaches Leeds Rhinos coaches London Broncos coaches Oldham R.L.F.C. coaches Royal Marines ranks Rugby league players from Wakefield Rugby league props Toronto Wolfpack coaches United States national rugby league team coaches Yorkshire rugby league team players