Ryan Pryor became the first water polo coach in Augustana history and is entering his fourth season leading the men's and women's programs. Pryor came to Augustana after a successful six-year run as the women’s head coach at Virginia Military Institute. Under Pryor’s guidance both the Men’s and Women’s teams have gotten off to impressive
starts.
The women’s team qualified for the USA Water Polo Division III National Championship in each of its first three seasons and captured back to back CWPA championship in 2023 and 2024. The team has been ranked in the top 10 in the country for 47 consecutive weeks (through the end of the 2024 season) and finished the 2024 season ranked
No. 6. The team also record 5 wins over Division 1 and 2 programs between 2023-24.
The men’s team has won the MPSF East Championship in both 2022 and 2023 and qualified for
the USA Water Polo Division III National Championship in 2023. The team has been ranked in the top 10 in the country for 14 consecutive weeks (through the end of the 2023 season) and finished the 2023 season ranked No. 6. The team also recorded six wins over Division 1 and 2 programs between 2022-23.
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.
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. He went to Connecticut College as an assistant coach for both genders from 2011 through 2014 and actually served as acting head coach for three months.
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, which is located in Lexington, Virginia.
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 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 (M.A.A.C.) 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.
Year-by-Year Record
| 2014 Connecticut College |
3-4 (3-0) |
1st Place – CWPA D3 |
| 2015 VMI |
11-15 (5-7) |
5th Place – MAAC |
| 2016 VMI |
8-19 (3-9) |
6th Place – MAAC |
| 2017 VMI |
22-8 (11-3) |
4th Place – MAAC |
| 2018 VMI |
20-12 (8-6) |
4th Place – MAAC |
| 2019 VMI |
16-14 (6-8) |
4th Place – MAAC |
| 2020 VMI |
12-1 (0-0) |
COVID |
| 2021 (Men’s) Augustana |
4-12 (4-5) |
5th Place – CWPA D3 |
| 2022 (Women’s) Augustana |
9-14 (8-3) |
2nd Place – CWPA D3 |
| 2022 (Men’s) Augustana |
14-6 (7-0) |
1st Place – MPSF East |
| 2023 (Women’s) Augustana |
17-6 (10-1) |
1st Place – CWPA D3 |
| 2023 (Men’s) Augustana |
15-8 (8-0) |
1st Place – MPSF East |
| 2024 (Women’s) Augustana |
20-4 (11-0) |
1st Place – CWPA D3 |
Totals
Augustana Men 33-26 (.559)
Augustana Women 46-24 (.657)
Overall Career 171-123 (.582)
Coaching Awards
2022 Sandy Nitta Midwest Zone Elite Coach of the Year (Women’s)
2023 CWPA Women’s Coach of the Year
2023 Monte Nitzkowski Midwest Zone Elite Coach of the Year (Men’s)
2024 CWPA Women’s Coach of the Year
