Episode 110: Coach Ryan McCarthy (Head Womens Basketball Coach University Alaska Anchorage)

One of the brightest coaching talents in the NCAA ranks, Ryan McCarthy has taken the Alaska Anchorage program to unprecedented heights in his seven seasons, producing a 190-34 record and making the Seawolves annual title contenders. An Anchorage native, McCarthy last season became the winningest active coach in NCAA Div. II, improving to an .813 percentage (204-47) in eight combined seasons. He also became the all-time victories leader in Seawolf history as UAA earned a 30-3 record, won its fifth straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season title, and finished No. 7 in the WBCA Top 25 coaches’ poll. The four-time GNAC Coach of the Year has led his hometown program to the second-most wins and second-best winning percentage in NCAA Div. II over the past five campaigns with a 154-15 record, reaching the NCAA National Title Game in 2016. Since Dec. 2014, UAA has been no lower than No. 14 in the WBCA Top 25 poll -- a streak of 80 polls in a row -- while ascended to No. 1 for a total of eight weeks. Playing his program’s signature up-tempo ‘Mayhem’ style, the Seawolves led NCAA Div. II in steals per game for four straight seasons from 2013-14 to 2016-17, while regularly producing top-5 ranks in scoring margin, scoring offense, scoring defense, assists, turnovers forced and turnover margin. McCarthy played professionally for Tus Bramsche in Bramsche, Germany, in 2006-07, where he led the league in three-pointers and free throw percentage. He spent 2006 with the Central Oregon Hotshots of the International Basketball League, averaging 16 points, four assists and four rebounds per game. A 4-year starter and 3-year captain for the Crusaders from 2002-06, McCarthy was NNU’s Orrin Hills Male Athlete of the Year for 2005-06. He ranks third in program history with 256 treys over his career, setting the then-GNAC single-season record with 102 three pointers in 2005-06. Overall he posted 1,161 career points for the Crusaders. McCarthy graduated from NNU in 2006 with a B.S. in social science education and is the proud father of two children, Donovan and Aurora. He and his wife Jenna, a former collegiate star at Florida Gulf Coast University, were married in 2019. @CoachRMcCar https://goseawolves.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/ryan-mccarthy/310