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Where Are They Now? CHAD RYAN
Hoover High School: 1990
February 3, 2010
Since 1989 every Des Moines school has been impacted by Chad Ryan in some way, shape, or form.
The current North High head coach played for Hoover during his freshman and sophomore years of high school in the late-1980’s, and played his junior season at North. He returned to Hoover for his senior season to play ball and graduated in 1990.
He later spent three seasons as a freshman and sophomore coach with Lincoln. And that was followed by a four year stint at Roosevelt before landing his first high school head coaching job at North.
And as far as East is concerned, well, they’ve had to put up with this guy in one way or another for the last 20 years, but have never had their mitts on him.
Even though his heart has been with all these schools at some point, there is no doubt that he is 110 percent Polar Bear right now.
“My favorite color used to be blue growing up. Now it’s green,” Ryan said. “My wife is a [19] 98 Hoover graduate and I don’t let her have any Hoover stuff in the house. The only thing she has is a coffee cup that was given to the seniors when she was there. And I guess there are some pictures of me in a Hoover uniform from when I played there, but that photo album is packed away in the basement.”
He has not completely shunned his past lives though. He admits to having some nostalgia when walking into opposing Des Moines School’s gymnasiums.
“Every once in a while when you walk in the old gym some emotions come up,” Ryan said. “But I’m a Polar Bear all the way. It’s not even close. I don’t have any Hoover stuff, I don’t have any Lincoln stuff, I don’t have any Roosevelt stuff.”
Ryan attributes current Johnston head coach and former Hoover head coach Bobby Sandquist for his start in coaching. He played for coach Sandquist his senior year at Hoover, which also happened to be Sandquist’s first season there. So far as a head coach, Ryan is 0-3 against Sandquist.
“It’s kind of weird playing against your former coach. I kind of feel like a player, when I see him and when I’m talking to him I catch myself calling him ‘coach’ and calling him ‘sir’ and stuff like that,” Ryan said. “Coach Sandquist has been very supportive. He helped me transition into coaching back in the day, I really look up to that guy.”
Ryan played basketball at Central his junior and senior seasons at Central College in Pella. It was during those summers off where he caught his first coaching break. He had a chance to coach a very good group of players.
“Sandquist, when I was in college, gave me the opportunity to coach Hoover’s AAU team. So I had a chance to coach David Newman and Greg Danielson and all those guys. So those were really good times for me.”
Those guys that Ryan helped mold would end up being the runner-up in the 1998 State Championship against Glen Worley and Iowa City West, and will be remembered as perhaps the best team in Iowa not to win a championship.
From that point, Ryan went on a coaching adventure.
He graduated from Central College in 1996 with a degree in human services and an emphasis in education. Immediately following that he moved out to Boise, ID and coached seventh and eight grade basketball for one season. That was followed by him landing an assistant coach job at Central College. He got tired of driving to Pella everyday from Des Moines, so he decided to move on after one season.
After the 1997-98 season, Ryan put his resume in every Des Moines School’s box, except for Hoover’s.
“I just kind of wanted to break away from that, I wanted to do my own thing,” Ryan said. “Sandquist probably would have given me a job, but I didn’t just want it given to me,”
That next season he ended up at Lincoln coaching sophomores. After three seasons at Lincoln he took a random head coaching job in Fort Dodge. However, it wasn’t the Dodgers he was coaching; it was the XBA’s Frontier City River Dogs. They were a professional team that lasted for 22 games, an experience for Ryan, yes, but not a very lasting one.
After that league tanked, Ryan moved back to Des Moines and found himself at Roosevelt, where he would remain for four years.
“I really loved my time at Roosevelt, but I just felt it was time and I really had a desire to be a head coach at the high school level,” Ryan said. “North came open and I threw my hat in the ring I guess you could say, and I was fortunate enough to get this job here at North.”
This season is Ryan’s third at North, and he’s doing some really good things there. Prior to him getting there, they had won five games in four years.
“My first goal at North was to make them competitive,” Ryan said.
In his first season there, North won five games, and the next season they won seven. This season the Polar Bears are legitimately considered a tough opponent and have already won eight games.
“You don’t come into North High School anymore and automatically think it’s a win,” Ryan said. “When they see us coming, they know they’re in for a battle.”
TJ Rushing, High School Playbook
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P.S.
Even through all his coaching travels Ryan has found time to squeeze in a family. He is married to Sarah Ryan, who is a 1998 Hoover graduate, and they have three kids; Maya, who is four, Tess, who is 21 months, and Leah, who is four months.
Ryan on North star-point guard Creon Reed, whom he said is gaining interest from junior colleges such as Iowa Western and Southeastern:
“If he handles his business academically in junior college, he’ll end up being a division-1 player. He needs to clean up his turnovers and other aspects of his game, and I really think he’ll be able to do that.”
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