Ryan Evans, who has developed qualifiers for Olympic Trials and Junior Nationals as a club coach and competed and coached in NCAA Division I, is the next head coach of the University of Mary swimming & diving team.
A former University of New Mexico and University of Nevada-Reno assistant coach and a team captain at the University of Iowa, Evans also served as the head coach of the Reno Aquatic Club in Reno, NV. He is expected to join the Marauders the end of October.
“We are excited to welcome Ryan, his wife Lauren and their children to the University of Mary,” said Marauders interim Director of Athletics Dan Huntley. “I am not sure that we could find a better match for our program’s next head coach, especially midseason. Ryan understands our university mission and has a great grasp of our “Greatness Through Virtue” athletics strategic plan. He and his wife are strong in their faith, and he is a person who needs this opportunity to shine as a head coach. We look forward to working with Ryan to continue to develop our swimming and diving program and help more scholar-athletes reach their potential and national championship competitions.”
“Ryan Evans has a deep understanding of how athletics and faith can interconnect allowing our scholar-athletes to strive for the greatness we know is God-given to all of us,” said University of Mary President Monsignor James Shea. “He has demonstrated the ability to develop and improve the abilities of his athletes in the pool. We believe Ryan can also grow and develop our athlete’s virtue and character for their lifetime.”
“My family and I are very excited to be joining the University of Mary community,” said Evans. “I want to thank President Monsignor James Shea, Executive Vice President Jerome Richter, and Interim Athletic Director Dan Huntley for their trust in me to lead the Swimming and Diving Program at the University of Mary. I can’t wait to get started!
“Throughout the interview process, I was impressed with University of Mary’s support of their athletic programs and the Greatness Through Virtue Strategic Plan is unprecedented in college athletics. College sports is special because it develops skills in scholars-athletes that will help them be successful beyond graduation. I am honored to be a part of a university that places an emphasis on virtuous leadership and whole-person development while also understanding the objective of sports is to win.”
Evans comes to UMary after spending the 2021-22 season as an assistant coach at the University of New Mexico. Primarily coaching the sprint group, many of the Lobos swimmers achieved lifetime personal best times.
The head coach of the Reno Aquatic Club in Reno, NV, from 2018-21, Evans ran a program that included over 180 athletes, more than double the club’s enrollment from when he started. During his three years as head coach, the Reno Aquatic Club developed an Olympic Trials - Wave 2 qualifier, two Summer Junior National qualifiers, three Winter Junior Nationals qualifiers, nine Futures qualifiers, 21 Sectional qualifiers and 39 Senior Zone qualifiers. The club also included high school All-Americans, future champions, sectional champions, several top-3 team sectional finishes and a 100% success rate in finding collegiate swimming opportunities for graduating high school seniors.
As head coach at Bishop Manogue High School in Reno from 2017-2019, he led both the boys and girls’ teams to the best regular season, regional, and Nevada State Championship finishes in two decades. His swimmers set five school records and claimed one individual event state title.
Evans also spent a pair of stints as a volunteer coach at the University of Nevada-Reno (2005-07, 2018-19).
A native of Reno, NV, Evans was a two-year letterwinner in swimming at the University of Iowa. The Hawkeyes team captain as a senior in 2008-09, he earned the 2009 Big Ten Sportsmanship Award and the 2009 Iowa Swimming Leadership Award. Evans graduated from Iowa in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in Interdepartmental Studies. In 2019, he earned a master’s in Management and Leadership from Western Governors University.
"I was fortunate to coach Ryan in college, and I’ve followed his coaching career closely since then,” said University of Iowa Head Swimming and Diving Coach Nathan Mundt. “Ryan is a thoughtful, knowledgeable, and well-respected coach, and he’s an even better person. I’m so very excited for him to be granted this opportunity at the University of Mary, and I’m confident he will lead the program to success."
A US Master’s Swimming National Championship competitor and an Ironman World Championship and Ironman Lake Tahoe finisher who has run in marathons (including a 50K race), Ryan and his wife Lauren are parents to Alta, Michael and Andrew.
“My wife, Lauren, and I wanted to find a strong Catholic university for our family to be a part of,” said Evans. “With the University of Mary’s Mission and Identity of being Faithfully Christian, Joyfully Catholic, and Gratefully Benedictine, we have found the ideal university for us. We are excited to be joining the University of Mary and the greater Bismarck communities.”
Evans joins the Marauders after the start of the 2022-23 UMary season. Under the direction of assistant coach Taylor Stark, the Marauders will have already competed three times, including a pair of victories over the University of Jamestown and a head-to-head meeting at Northern State University on October 29.
“Stepping into this role during the middle of the season is unique, but I am confident that my past success of developing swimmers and my professional skillset outside of coaching will help us have a successful season and beyond,” said Evans. “I am looking forward to working with the current swimmers, and I am excited to start recruiting future Marauders. As a program, my goal is to move us up in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings and to build a presence nationally.”
Evans becomes the third Marauders swimming & diving head coach. In their seventh year as a program since first taking to the pool in the 2016-17 season, the Marauders have produced 11 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) individual event champions and 30 All-Conference and five NCAA All-American performances.
