Bill Dickinson was a Scottish rugby union player and coach. He was appointed the first official national coach of in 1971. Richard Bath points out that Dickinson's appointment made an "immediate impact" in performance, leading to a one-point loss to a "rampant side" and wins against and others. Allan Massie describes his contribution to Scottish rugby as "immense".
Many of the SRU committee were not in favour of a national coach, so he was named "adviser to the captain" rather than "coach". "Bill had to operate in somewhat difficult circumstances. But he got on with it and earned the players' respect by his craft, wide tactical knowledge, unfettered enthusiasm and far-sightedness. Scotland gained a new respect under his guidance. In fact, his tactical astuteness helped engineer one of the most successful periods in Scottish rugby history, 1971–77... Bill was a genuine hard man who certainlyput fire into Scottish bellies. He created one of the most formidable Scottish packs of all time comprising Ian McLauchlan, Quintin Dunlop or Bobby Clark, Sandy Carmichael, Alastair McHarg, Gordon Brown, Nairn McEwan, Peter Brown and Rodger Arneil. He was a scrummaging expert who brought a new meaning to that phase of play and influenced the thinking in other countries.''" Being the amateur era, Dickinson was also unpaid for his work. He was also coach of Jordanhill, where he worked with Ian McLauchlan, and Bill McLaren considered that McLauchlan's success was partly down to Dickinson: His teams were less successful in away games, and they did not win any games at Twickenham between 1971 and 1983, or any away games against. McLaren p180 McLaren says that he considered Bill Dickinson "another of rugby's unusual characters for whom I have a very high respect.", and was horrified to learn that his boast of scoring a try for Hillhead High School FP against Hawick was real. He was fired by the SRU in 1977, and succeeded by Nairn McEwan, a surprise choice and not a statistically successful one.
