BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Former Connecticut College head coach Ken Ralph has moved upstairs from the pool deck as he currently holds the position as Director of Athletics at the University of Maine.
The head coach of the Camels’ men’s and women’s programs from their founding during the 2000-01 academic year until his departure in May 2002 to become the Director of Athletics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Ralph has experienced a lengthy career in aquatics and athletics administration.
He assumed the AD position at Division I Maine on September 1, 2018, and has a reputation as a leader in the areas of concept, design and fundraising for athletic facilities. Among his projects are the newly announced $39 million Robson Arena project, and the $27 million refurbishment and expansion of the El Pomar Sports Center, both at Colorado College, and the initial design, planning and fundraising for the $92 million East Campus Athletic Village at RPI.
The Salem, New Hampshire, native came to Maine following an 11-year tenure at Division III Colorado College. A member of the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation Board of Directors, he has served as president of the Board of Directors for the eight-team, Division I National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), which he was instrumental in forming from its conceptualization. He was also the tournament director for the 2008 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Ice Hockey West Regional at the World Arena after running two previous regionals – in 2004 and 2006, both in Albany, N.Y.
Before taking over at Colorado College in 2007, he spent five years as the athletic director at RPI. In 2004, he was involved as the NCAA voted in favor of amended legislation that permitted both schools and six other Division III institutions to continue granting financial aid to student-athletes who compete on their Division I teams. The result allowed Colorado to maintain men’s ice hockey and women’s soccer on the Division I level, while RPI was permitted to keep men’s and women’s hockey. Other schools affected were Clarkson University, Hartwick College, Johns Hopkins University, Rutgers-Newark, St. Lawrence University and the State University of New York (SUNY)-Oneonta.
Prior to his stint at Rensselaer, Ralph was senior assistant athletic director at Connecticut College in New London, Conn., where he oversaw Lott Natatorium while also serving as head of athletic development, compliance officer and supervised the coaching staff and the sports information office. At Connecticut College, he served as a member of the Athletic Director’s Advisory Committee and the Athletic Management Committee. Further, he secured a gift of $500,000 to renovate the college’s natatorium, then called The Gordon Center and now Lott Natatorium. The gift covered overall improvements to the facility and an endowment for future maintenance.
In addition, he served as head swim coach of both the men’s and women’s programs at Connecticut, compiling a 50-33 record (101-72-1 in his coaching career).
Ralph began his head coaching career in 1992 at Georgetown University, where his men’s and women’s swim teams broke 17 school records in two years. He became head coach at Kutztown University in 1994 and produced nine All-America selections in 1996. Both the men’s and women’s teams finished among the nation’s top 12, and broke a total of 32 records over two years. Ralph was chosen as the 1996 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. Later that year, he moved to Air Force Academy where he earned the Moyer-Nike Award for Excellence in Coaching Women in 1996 and the Air Force Award for Organizational Excellence in 1997.
A graduate of the University of Alaska-Anchorage, with a degree in Political Science. He was a five-time NCAA Division II All-America honoree in swimming 1989 – 100- and 200-meter butterfly; 1990 – 100-meter butterfly, 100- and 200-meter backstroke) and went on to become a U.S. Senior National Qualifier in 1989 and 1990. He also holds a master’s degree in sports management studies from California University (Pa.).
In 2005, he was inducted into the Alaska-Anchorage Athletics Hall of Fame.
