Chris Ryan Ready for 'Refreshing' Challenge at Mount St. Mary's

EMMITSBURG, Md. — Truth be told, Chris Ryan didn’t have to make a move. 

In nearly a quarter-century at Mercyhurst, the Lakers won 268 games, reached four national title games and celebrated a Division II title on a sweltering Baltimore afternoon in 2011. There wasn’t much reason to believe things would change anytime soon if he stayed. 

Instead, he opted to take a Division I shot at Mount St. Mary’s, following Mercyhurst athletic director Brad Davis to a school located just a few miles south of the Mason-Dixon line and just a bit more than an hour from Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

“I just saw a long way to the ceiling when looking at a number of different facets with the program and the school,” Ryan said last week. “I just thought we could make a difference. The vision I have is for the Mount to be consistently a top-30 program. I think with our location and our education, and the Mount’s had lacrosse for [55] years, it’s a staple.”

Not that it’s easy. Ryan’s family remains back in Erie, Pa., as his son Caleb finishes his senior year of high school. Ryan jokingly compares his current setup to that of Matt Foley, the classic Chris Farley motivational speaker character who frequently mentioned he lived in a van down by the river. Ryan’s faring better than that; he’s living in his brother’s basement in Ellicott City and commuting 45 minutes each way.

But he’s had plenty of time to work with his staff, including Ryan O’Hagan (who was with him at Mercyhurst since 2018) and former Dartmouth assistant Matthew Dugan, as he sets about applying the Mercyhurst template to the Mount.

There are some commonalities, notably moving from one small Catholic university to another. He had a decent idea of the advantages and limitations inherent to a job at a school with a listed enrollment of 2,166. 

And there are definite advantages.

“I’ve heard the heard them use the word ‘refreshing’ a lot,” Davis said. “For them to learn some of the things we can provide administratively that you just don’t get in a Division II athletic department. They don’t have to worry about booking their buses or checking on their players’ grades. We have people who do that. That being said, men’s lacrosse had our best GPA in the fall of any men’s team. They have a new lease on life, and sometimes you just need a new challenge.”

The interest in one was arguably seeded over the last two summers, when Ryan assisted with the Premier Lacrosse League’s Waterdogs. He learned plenty working with pros, and as he felt he was improving as a coach, he wondered about how he might fare a level up.

Those thoughts came to mind in the early morning hours as he worked his way through his decision to take the Mount job in July.

“I really felt in some way it might also be a great move in Mercyhurst, that maybe it was time for them to get new ideas, for them to get a new personality, for someone else to come in and say, ‘This is great what you’re doing, but look what I can add,’” Ryan said. “That was absolutely part of it. I thought it was a good time for everybody.”

OF COURSE, RYAN WOULD PROBABLY BE GETTING READY for his 24th season at Mercyhurst if it weren’t for Davis’ career. 

The athletic director admits you wouldn’t immediately think he and Ryan would be simpatico. Davis grew up in California, came east for school and stayed as he delved into college athletics, working at Bryant and Merrimack before landing his first AD job at Mercyhurst. Ryan is a Rochester, N.Y., native who peppers his comments with 1990s pop culture references to the likes of Groundhog Day and NYPD Blue.

But Davis also embraced lacrosse, as his career stops might suggest. His first day at Bryant was the day the school hired Mike Pressler. He was at Merrimack as it grew into a Division II power, and he spent time on the D-II men’s lacrosse committee.

He and Ryan formed a tight working relationship, and when Ryan got a call from his boss on a Friday in June and was immediately asked, “Do you have a minute?” he knew it could mean trouble. It turned out Davis had accepted the AD gig at Mount St. Mary’s.

“I was at Mercyhurst 23 years, and I’m not bashful about saying that I received more support in five years with Brad than all the other years combined,” Ryan said. “I was happy for him, but it also opened up some doors of worry for me. Then you’re starting to ask — and it might have been my first question for him — who do you think is going to be next?”

What Ryan didn’t know then — but Davis did — was the Mount had already decided to replace Tom Gravante after 28 seasons. Davis wasn’t responsible for the choice, but given his background, he wanted to conduct the search for the new coach.

He spoke with Division I head coaches, some Division I assistants and head coaches from the D-II and D-III levels. But Ryan was an instant contender when he acknowledged he might be interested in taking over at a school he took a recruiting visit to in 1991 and drove past frequently on his way to and from Randolph-Macon during his playing career.

“Any time a job has been filled like the Mount’s for so long and they’ve had success and there’s history and our location, it’s a pretty overwhelming process,” Davis said. “But it kept leading me back to Chris.”

He takes over a team coming off an 8-8 season that included a trip to the Metro Atlantic tournament. It was the Mount’s first year back in the league since 2010, when it made its last NCAA tournament appearance. (The Northeast Conference, the Mount’s all-sports home from 1989-22, sponsored its first men’s lacrosse tournament in 2011.)

There is a solid nucleus of talent, including senior defenseman Mitchell Dunham, the MAAC’s defensive player of the year last season. It’s a group facing new demands, including a heavier dose of conditioning and a more intense approach.

“That’s one of his main messages: If there’s a problem, you run right toward it to fix it,” fifth-year defenseman Ben Ward said. “The blunt directness is appreciated by the players because in the end, that’s what’s going to make us better.”

A QUICK SCAN OF MERCYHURST’S HISTORY suggests Ryan’s greatest strength might be his adaptability.

Before the shot clock was introduced, the Lakers were a slow-down team that smothered opponents, so much so that Ryan would say — only somewhat jokingly — a fan could go grab a soda and a hot dog in the middle of play and come back and not have missed much. But after the rule change, Mercyhurst transformed itself and eventually led Division II in scoring in 2021 and 2022.

Ryan wants to establish a quick pace at the Mount over the long term, and it certainly would give the program an identity. But Davis sees more intangible roots to Ryan’s success.

“The way he treats his players, that’s first and foremost,” Davis said. “I don’t know if there was a better coach at Mercyhurst in terms of the feedback we’d get from the student-athletes about their coach, so their experience is top-notch. He genuinely cares about them on and off the field. He wants them to succeed. There were bigger things than lacrosse at stake, and he was clear about that.”

It’s already made an impression on the Mountaineers’ players.

“It’s really him being a motivator behind us believing in ourselves, believing the attitude we have toward working harder in practice, doing these brutal conditioning exercises,” Ward said. “That’s what’s bringing the confidence. I don’t think he’s coming in [saying], ‘I’ve been in the national championship’ and stuff like that. He’s motivating players to have more confidence themselves.”

Davis’ aim is to be relevant in the MAAC every year. It’s a league that’s defied the emergence of a juggernaut, producing only one back-to-back champion (2006-07 Providence) since its first men’s lacrosse tournament in 2000. (Siena did land four consecutive No. 1 seeds from 2009-12.)

It’s a challenge Ryan eagerly embraces as he heads into the second act of his head coaching career.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in contact with the alums organizing, because when you’re at a small Catholic university, you’re not going to have the resources that a large public university does,” Ryan said. “It’s not going to happen. It’s not in your DNA. What I’ve been telling everyone is it takes a family to raise a child. It’s going to take all of us on board to push this thing forward and push us toward that ceiling.”