Record at UAA: 281-62 (.819), 12 seasons
Career Head Coaching Record: 295-75 (.797), 13 seasons
One of the brightest coaching talents in the NCAA ranks, Ryan McCarthy has taken the Alaska Anchorage program to unprecedented heights in his 12 seasons, producing a 281-62 record and making the Seawolves annual title contenders.
An Anchorage native, McCarthy enters 2024-25 with a top-10 career winning percentage (.797) among active NCAA Div. II women's basketball coaches, having led UAA to the best winning percentage in program history (.939) with a 31-2 record in 2019-20.
The five-time GNAC Coach of the Year has led his hometown program to the third-best winning percentage and fourth-most total victories in NCAA Div. II over the past 10 years with a 245-43 (.851) record, reaching the NCAA National Title Game in 2016. From Dec. 2014 through the 2019-20 season, UAA was ranked no lower than No. 16 in the WBCA Top 25 poll -- a streak of 95 polls in a row -- while ascending to No. 1 for a total of eight weeks.
Despite not featuring a single player among the NCAA top-50 stats leaders, the 2019-20 Seawolves also swept the Great Northwest Athletic Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles, finishing No. 4 in both national polls and landing McCarthy both the GNAC and NCAA West Region coach-of-the-year awards.
In 2018-19, he became the all-time victories leader in Seawolf history as UAA earned a 30-3 record, won the fifth of its six straight GNAC regular-season titles, and finished No. 7 in the WBCA Top 25 coaches’ poll.
Following a 29-2 campaign in 2014-15, UAA recorded a 38-3 mark in 2015-16 to set a new NCAA Div. II standard for victories in a season – among five NCAA records broken by that year’s club. In 2016-17, McCarthy repeated as the NCAA Div. II West Region Coach of the Year and was the GNAC Coach of the Year, piloting UAA to a 30-2 overall record and the first 20-0 GNAC campaign in league history.
In 2017-18, McCarthy took a Seawolf team that had lost four starters and earned a 27-5 record and repeat GNAC Coach of the Year honors.
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.
After taking the reins in 2012, McCarthy’s teams improved their overall victory total (17, 19, 29, 38) for four straight seasons and their GNAC victory total (11, 12, 17, 18, 20) for five straight years – figures that don’t even include an exhibition road win over Pacific-12 Conference foe Utah and a home exhibition win over D-I Tulsa.
In 2013-14, McCarthy’s Seawolves finished 19-9 overall and made the NCAA playoffs for the first time under his leadership. UAA led the nation with 14.3 steals per game and was the highest-scoring team in the GNAC at nearly 80 points per contest.
Despite a shortened roster, McCarthy’s first Seawolf squad rallied for a seven-game win streak to close the 2012-13 regular season at 17-10 overall and a 3rd-place tie in the final GNAC standings at 11-7.
In 12 seasons under McCarthy, the Seawolves have produced five All-Americans, two GNAC Players of the Year, 21 1st- or 2nd-team All-GNAC honorees, 45 Academic All-GNAC performers, and seen seven players ascend to the professional ranks. Team-wise, UAA has posted victories over eight NCAA Div. I teams, 16 wins over NCAA Div. II nationally ranked teams, and a 10-7 NCAA Tournament record.
Prior to UAA, McCarthy spent five seasons at GNAC rival Northwest Nazarene from 2007-12. At NNU, he served as an assistant, interim head coach and associate head coach, helping the Crusaders to two NCAA Tournament berths and a .633 winning percentage.
In 2010-11, McCarthy stepped up as acting head coach and led the Crusaders to a 14-13 record and a bid to the inaugural GNAC Tournament. In 2011-12, McCarthy was named associate head coach and helped pilot NNU to an 18-10 season.
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.
Ryan McCarthy Head Coaching Record Year by Year
Season School Rec. Pct. Conf. Pct. Place Postseason
2010-11 NW Nazarene 14-13 .519 9- 9 .500 T-6th GNAC Qtrs
2012-13 UAA 17-10 .607 11- 7 .611 T-3rd GNAC Qtrs
2013-14 UAA 19- 9 .679 12- 6 .667 T-3rd GNAC Qrtrs/NCAA 1st Rd
2014-15 UAA 29- 2 .935 17- 1 .944 1st GNAC Champs/NCAA 1st Rd
2015-16 UAA 38- 3 .927 18- 2 .900 1st GNAC Champs/NCAA Runner-Up
2016-17 UAA 30- 2 .938 20- 0 1.000 1st GNAC Champs/NCAA 2nd Rd
2017-18 UAA 27- 5 .844 18- 2 .900 T-1st GNAC Semis/NCAA Sweet 16
2018-19 UAA 30- 3 .909 19- 1 .950 1st GNAC Finals/NCAA Sweet 16
2019-20 UAA 31- 2 .939 19- 1 .950 1st GNAC Champs/NCAA qualifier [canceled-COVID]
2020-21 UAA 3- 0 1.000 0- 0 --- n/a n/a
2021-22 UAA 20- 7 .741 12- 4 .750 2nd GNAC Semis/NCAA 1st Rd
2022-23 UAA 18-10 .643 10- 8 .556 4th GNAC Quarterfinals
2023-24 UAA 19- 9 .679 12- 5 .706 3rd GNAC Semifinals
13-year overall 295-75 .797 177-46 .794
12-year UAA totals 281-62 .819 168-37 .820
UAA Women's Basketball All-Time Coaching Records
