Wurst comes to Warren Wilson Athletics with nearly 20 years of administrative and athletic coaching experience spanning across youth, college, and professional programs. She most recently held the head coach position of the NCAA women’s rugby program at Queens University of Charlotte. She started the program in 2017, which grew to feature a roster of over 50 student-athletes. She also spent time at the University of Colorado, the University of Minnesota, Elon University, and the University of South Carolina as a club rugby coach prior to taking the position at Queens.
On the International scene, she served in various coaching and managerial roles for USA Rugby’s junior national teams, and with the senior national team coaching staff for the Lao Rugby Federation, in Vientiane, Laos. She was also a youth program manager for Shannon Rugby Football Club in Limerick, Ireland. Wurst has also held an array of administrative positions within USA Rugby, starting out as a Game Development Officer from 2005-2007. She would then take on the role of Youth Development Manager from 2007-2009. She currently serves as a World Rugby Trainer by leading coach education courses, and as broadcast talent for various national-level events.
She also held a visiting instructor position within the Kinesiology department at the University of Southern Mississippi, and adjunct teaching appointments at East Carolina University and Wingate University. Wurst also completed two summer appointments as a sport psychology consultant working with athletes from around the globe at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
Wurst earned her Bachelor of Science degree in sports management with a minor in sport coaching and strength and conditioning from the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse in 2003. She then continued her education at the University of Minnesota to obtain a Master of Arts degree in sport and exercise psychology with a minor in prevention science in 2011. She also served as an affiliated scholar with the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport while in Minneapolis. She then completed a Doctor of Education degree with emphasis in Sport Pedagogy and Cultural Competence at UNC-Greensboro in 2017 and earned the CMPC certification from the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. Katie Wurst is married to her wife Amy, and they have a daughter, Lila, and two dogs, Mabel and Petey.
