ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — Ryan Pryor was named the first water polo coach in Augustana College history. Pryor, who most recently has enjoyed a successful six-year run as the women’s head coach at Virginia Military Institute (VMI), will handle both the women and men’s programs for the Vikings. Game action for the 27th and 28th varsity programs on the school’s docket will begin in the 2021-22 school year.
“I would like to thank Mike Zapolski for giving me the opportunity to lead the new water polo programs at Augustana,” said Pryor, who had been at VMI since September of 2014. “I am honored to be joining an institution with such a strong set of values and academic reputation. Augustana student-athletes have the opportunity to have a well-rounded college experience and excel in all areas of their lives. I look forward to being a part of that experience and to building a roster that will make an impact in the pool, the classroom, and the community.”
Pryor will be starting from scratch with both Vikings’ programs. The impetus in starting the two new sports is the construction of the Peter J. Lindberg, M.D. Center for Health and Human Performance. Construction on the new facility, which will house all the aquatics events for Augustana, started in March of this year and is scheduled to finish before the 2021-22 school year begins.
“I am thrilled that Augustana was able to attract an experienced coach and mentor to launch our men’s and women’s water polo programs,” commented Director of Athletics Mike Zapolski. “Ryan’s past coaching experiences, myriad of contacts and the added benefit of a new, state-of-the-art facility will serve him well in the recruiting process as he builds a highly competitive program.”
Pryor, a native of Holland, Michigan, will have the opportunity to get a little closer to his Midwestern roots when he lands on campus this summer to begin recruiting. Pryor is a 2007 graduate from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor with Bachelor of Arts degrees in both English and communication studies. He also received his Juris Doctorate from Michigan’s Law School in 2010. He was a member of the club water polo team at the University of Michigan during both his undergraduate days and his time in law school.
An accomplished player, he was a four-time All-Big Ten selection with recognition in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009 with Collegiate Club All-America honors his final season (2009).
His coaching career actually started while in Ann Arbor, as he was the head coach for the women’s club team during the 2010-11 school year leading the team to a 27-1 record, the Big Ten Division Championship and a third place finish at the Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship hosted by the University of Notre Dame.
Following law school, he moved East to serve as an assistant coach for men’s and women’s water polo at Connecticut College from 2011 through 2014.
During his time in New London, he assumed interim head coaching duties for the Camels during the 2013-season leading the men to a 3-26 record with a Fourth Place finish at the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Championship hosted by Johns Hopkins University. In women’s competition, he guided Connecticut to a 15-10 record and the 2014 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Championship – the program’s second of four consecutive CWPA Division III titles.
After a brief stint at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island as the assistant men’s coach, Pryor took over as the head women’s coach at VMI in September, 2014.
In his six seasons with the Keydets, Pryor compiled an overall record of 89-69 but it should be noted that in the last four seasons that mark was an impressive 70-35. From 2017 through 2020 only seven National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I programs had a higher winning percentage than VMI. When the season was cut short this spring due to concerns over the Coronavirus, the Keydets were cruising along with a 12-1 record.
Three times during his tenure in Lexington, VMI set school records for single season winning percentage and in 2017 the Keydets achieved the school’s first ever NCAA Top 25 national ranking. He is one of only seven coaches in the 125-year history of VMI athletics to post a winning record with at least five years as the head coach (and the first since 1985).
He was the 2017 “Coach of the Year” in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and was the recipient of the Nathaniel Pendleton Distinguished Coaching Award.
His teams performed extremely well in the classroom as well, posting a cumulative grade point average above 3.00 in seven of the last eight semesters. The Keydets won the Jameson Award in 2016 and again in 2019 that is given annually to the top academic team in the VMI Athletics Department.
Men’s water polo is a fall sport with competition between September and December and in December of 2019 the College Water Polo Association (CWPA) hosted the first ever Division III national “championship” at Whittier College in Whittier, Calif. NCAA Division III institutions that sponsor men’s water polo include Austin College, California Lutheran University, California Institute of Technology, Chapman University, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, Connecticut College, Johns Hopkins University, University of LaVerne, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Monmouth College, Occidental College, Penn State Behrend, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, the University of Redlands, Washington & Jefferson College and Whittier.
Women’s water polo is a spring sport and its competitive season is January through April with Austin, Carthage College, Cal Lutheran, Cal Tech, Chapman, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Connecticut College, Grove City College, LaVerne, Macalester College, Monmouth, Occidental, Penn State Behrend, Pomona Pitzer, Redlands, Utica College, Washington & Jefferson, Whittier and Wittenberg University fielding teams on the Division III level.
The sport of water polo continues to grow in the number of teams on the high school level per the 2018-19 High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSHA). A total of 862 high schools in eight states sponsored boys’ water polo this year for a total of 22,475 participants, while 881 high schools in seven states field girls’ water polo with 21,735 athletes. Combined the sport of water polo has 44,210 players – an increase of 675 from the 2017-18 survey.
Information courtesy Augustana College Athletics Communications
