Ryan Evans | ASSISTANT COACH

A successful head coach of a NCAA Division II program and a USA swimming club team, Ryan Evans was hired as an assistant swim coach at the University of Kansas on June 30, 2023. With the hiring of Evans, Kansas became the first women’s swim and dive program in the country to take advantage of the new NCAA rule allowing the expansion of coaching staffs. Evans enters his second year at Kansas for the 2024-25 season.

In his first season at Kansas, Evans helped the Jayhawks to a 5-2 record, which included a seventh-place finish at the 2024 Big 12 Championship and a 32nd-place finish at the 2024 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championship. While at the conference championship, Evans guided the 200-yard freestyle relay team to a fourth-place finish in the event with a time of 1:31.43. Also, at the conference championship, swimmer Caroline Blake raced a 22.89 time in the 50-yard freestyle, which is the fourth-fastest time in the event in program history.

Prior to Kansas, Evans was the head coach of the University of Mary, a NCAA Division II program in Bismarck, North Dakota. As the head coach, Evans helped the Marauders move up in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championship, had a student-athlete named conference swimmer of the year, team Academic All American status and multiple UMary records were set.

While at UMary, Evans coached Victoria Murillo to the NCAA Division II National Championships. At the National Championships, Murillo earned a First Team All-America distinction with her eighth-place finish in the 500 freestyle, marking the first award in program history.

Before his time at the University of Mary, Evans was an assistant coach at the University of New Mexico. With the Lobos, Evans’ primary responsibility was the sprint group, where he saw a majority of his swimmers achieve personal bests throughout the 2021-22 campaign.

Prior to moving into the college coaching ranks, Evans was the head coach of Reno Aquatic Club from 2018-21. When he started with RENO, the team only had 80 swimmers and he doubled the size of enrollment in three years. During this time, Evans developed an Olympic Trials qualifier, several collegiate swimmers and multiple swimmers qualified for USA Swimming Junior National, Futures, and Sectionals. For the 2020-21 season, RENO earned Bronze Level recognition in USA Swimming’s Club Excellence Program, a program that recognizes the top teams in the country who produce elite 18 & under athletes.

Originally from, Reno, NV, Evans graduated from and 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.

Evans’ wife, Lauren (Tomory) Evans, played collegiate tennis and cross country at Furman University. They have four children, their daughter, Alta (8) and sons, Michael (5) and Andrew (2). They recently welcomed in their second daughter, Mary, in December 2023.