Nottingham Rugby’s head coach Ian Costello will leave the club at the end of the season to join the coaching staff at Premiership club Wasps.
Costello signed a two year contract with the Green and Whites in the summer of 2016, joining from PRO14 side Munster.
He worked alongside Premiership clubs such as Leicester Tigers, Northampton Saints, Worcester Warriors and Wasps to establish links for dual-registered and loan players.
After a ninth-place finish in the 2016/17 campaign, Nottingham currently sit in fourth in this season’s Championship table after 11 games.
Speaking about his time with Nottingham and his decision to move to Wasps as first team coach, Costello said: “The last eighteen months at Nottingham Rugby have been an incredible experience and right up there as the most enjoyable period of my career to date.
“Nottingham is a special club made up of exceptional people and I couldn’t speak highly enough of the support me and my family have received on and off the pitch.
“I am extremely excited about moving to Wasps next season and the new set of challenges it brings but right now, my focus remains firmly on the second half of what has been a very positive season to date.
“We have developed into a squad that is now competitive at the top end of the Championship and I’ve no doubt that with such an excellent group of players, coaches and support staff the club will continue to be successful into the future.
“As my family have been made so welcome in Lady Bay, we have decided to remain living here next to the club so I’ll be looking forward to watching the boys play as often as possible next season.”
Chairman of Nottingham Rugby Alistair Bow thinks the club has become much stronger because of Ian Costello’s coaching.
He said: “Ian has done a great job in galvanizing a young squad and it is testament to him, the rest of the coaches, support staff and players, that we have had such a good first half of the season.
“While we are obviously really sorry to see him go, the playing and coaching squad, under his leadership has continued to thrive and develop and although we have half the season still to go, we feel the club is in a much stronger position than when he arrived.
“His passion for coaching and helping to develop others is also plain to see.
“He hosted a number of free coaching CPD clinics here at The Bay, as well as going out into the community to take sessions with local amateur and junior sides.”
Mr Bow said the club will be looking to announce a replacement as early as next week.
He said: “We’re very keen to maintain continuity among the playing, coaching and support areas of the team, making sure that we build on the magnificent groundwork that has been laid by Ian, both in terms of the culture of the club and the development of our player pathway, through our academy side and our strong ties with Nottingham Trent University.
“We’ll be having conversations internally over the next few days and hoping to make a further announcement sometime next week.”
