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Kansas Expands Swimming Coaching Staff With Ryan Evans Hiring

The University of Kansas women’s swimming & diving program has expanded its coaching staff, bringing Ryan Evans in as a new swimming assistant coach.

The program is led by Clark Campbell, and Evans joins a staff that includes associate head coach Jen Bentz and diving coach Allen Feng. This means that Kansas will have a bigger coaching staff than last season, taking advantage of new NCAA rules that eliminate the volunteer assistant position but allows schools to expand the number of full-privileges coaches.

“First, we want to thank Travis Goff and Maya Ozery for the opportunity to add to our staff,” said Campbell. “It’s been a blessing to our program. We are truly excited about it and I know that this is going to help, most importantly, the student-athlete experience. We are excited to welcome Ryan Evans and his family to KU. Ryan has a tremendous background. We looked for a specific skill set for this position and he checked all the boxes. He has a really good vision on where he wants to take his particular areas and make our program better. With his background as a coach in college and club, he will open up a lot of doors and we’re really excited to see what he brings to our program.”

Evans comes from the Division II University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. As the head coach, Evans led the Marauders to a 6th-place finish at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championship. Evans helped cultivate a winning culture, leading swimmer Victoria Murillo to the NCAA Division II National Championships. Murillo also earned a First Team All-America distinction, the first in program history by finishing 8th in the 500 free with a prelims time of 4:54.00.

That time in the 500 free is faster than Kansas’ leader last season, Hailey Farrell, who swam 4:55.20 at Big 12s.

Before his work at the University of Mary, Evans was a part of the coaching staff at the University of New Mexico as an assistant. With the Lobos, Evans’ primary responsibility was the sprint group, where he saw a majority of the sprinters achieve personal bests throughout the 2021-22 campaign. Evans also has prior experience at the club level, as he was the head coach of the Reno Aquatic Club from 2017-21 in Reno, Nevada.

“I am very excited to be joining the University of Kansas swimming and diving program,” said Evans. “Coach Campbell has built an amazing program. I really appreciate how he genuinely cares about the student-athletes and wants to see them succeed beyond the pool. I am very excited to be working with him, Coach Betz and Coach Feng. I look forward to working with the current student-athletes and can’t wait to get on the recruiting trail to find future Jayhawks.”

Athletically, Evans swam at the University of Iowa, where he was named the team captain for the 2008-09 season, as voted on by his teammates. He also received the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award and the Iowa Swimming Leadership Award in 2009.

“I want to thank Coach Campbell and the entire KU Athletic Department for this amazing opportunity,” Evans said. “My family and I are excited to be Jayhawks and to be a part of the Lawrence community. Rock Chalk!”

A University of Kansas press release contributed biographical information to this report.

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anonymous
1 year ago

Awesome!!! Now add a Men’s Team

Canaan Campbell
1 year ago

Congrats Ryan!! Can’t wait to see what you do!

HawkeyeSwim
1 year ago

Great coach! Jayhawks are lucky to have Ryan!

RealSlimThomas
1 year ago

Another former professional swimmer with no coaching experience stealing a position from someone more qualified…oh wait

Former Big10
Reply to  RealSlimThomas
1 year ago

He learned from an AMAZING head coach at Iowa, though….. on what not to do with a women’s program.

DCC Parent
Reply to  RealSlimThomas
1 year ago

Let’s see…a quick google search shows he’s former D2 head coach, former assistant at D1 program, former club head coach, former high school head coach…how is that “no coaching experience”?

Seriously…

Also, he’s moving into an assistant role at a D1 program. Its not like just replaced Eddie Reese or Todd DeSorbo.

Observing
Reply to  DCC Parent
1 year ago

just how high over your head did that one go?

L0E
1 year ago

Great coach and man of character!!!

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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