Bio

Ryan Cougill enters his 3rd season at the helm of the Reivers baseball program and 13^th overall as a head coach.  In his first two seasons at Iowa Western, Cougill led the Reivers to an overall record of 92-24 (.793).

Former D1 and Pro players through Cougill’s 12 year tenure

• Pitchers -        52 Division I        12 professional            3 MLB
• Infielders -      36 Division I        11 professional            1 MLB
• Outfielders -    22 Division I         3 professional             1 MLB
• Catchers -       10 Division I         3 professional

Highlighted by a return trip to the JUCO World Series, the 2024 season was a success by many measurable standards.

• 54-10 Overall Record
• 31-2 ICCAC Record
• #1 National Ranking
• ICCAC Champions
• Region 11 Champions
• Midwest District Champions
• Gold Glove Award (Nate Voss)
• 3 All-Americans (Kyle Hvidsten, AJ Singer, Noah Scott)
• Conference Player of the Year (Kyle Hvidsten)
• Conference Pitcher of the Year (Logan Olson)
• Conference Defensive Player of the Year (AJ Singer)
• Conference Coach of the year
• Midwest District coach of the year
• School offensive records for Walks (313), SB’s (216), HBP (156)
• School defensive records for Fielding % (.981), Double Plays, Assists and Putouts
• Individual school records for AB’s (AJ Singer), Runs (Brayden Smith), Fielding % (Nate Voss and Reese Harmon) and Assists (Brayden Smith)
• National leader in runs scored, doubles, triples, RBI and fielding percentage.

Off the field, the Reivers were just as impressive.  31 of Cougill’s student-athletes garnered a 3.5 GPA or higher. 19 of Cougill’s sophomores from the ’24 season have committed to play at the 4-year level, including 16 to the Division 1 level. (Creighton, Grand Canyon, Eastern Michigan, Hawaii, Liberty, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Omaha, Oregon State, Penn State, Seattle, Western Illinois, Western Kentucky). 

In Cougill’s first season at Iowa Western, the Reivers had the greatest start in program history, rattling off 19 straight wins.  19 total Reivers moved onto the 4-year level, including 16 division 1 transfers (Tennessee, Louisville, Oregon, Arizona, Oregon State, Nebraska, Wichita State, Charlotte, Florida International, New Mexico, Stephen F. Austin, Western Michigan, Southern Indiana, Tennessee-Martin, Boston College).  Tyler Stone, Brandon Rogers, and Brayden Smith earned NJCAA All-American accolades. Singer was named ICCAC defensive player of the year and Smith was voted the ICCAC most valuable player.  28 of Cougill’s players garnered Region 11 Academic All-Region Honors. 

Before Iowa Western, Cougill spent 10 seasons as the head baseball coach at Yavapai College.  Cougill led the Roughriders to a record of 354-189-1 and back-to-back JUCO World Series appearances in 2015 and 2016; his team reached the pinnacle of Division 1 junior college baseball in 2016, by winning the JUCO World Series 5-2 over San Jacinto College. 

While at Yavapai, Cougill garnered west district coach of the year honors on two occasions as well as National coach of the year accolades.  While at Yavapai, Cougill saw more than 120 players move onto Division 1 or professional baseball, including 5 alumni making it to the Major League level. (Chance Adams, Willie Calhoun, JoJo Romero, Darius Vines, Christian Encarnacion-Strand).

Prior to being a head coach at Yavapai, Cougill spent four years as the recruiting coordinator with the Roughriders under Sky Smeltzer.  Future MLB players during this span included Parker Markel, Kirby Yates, Merrill Kelly, and Ken Giles.

Cougill spent the 2008 season as the infield coach at New Mexico Junior College, where they earned a WJCAC title and finished 2^nd in the nation in fielding percentage.  Before NMJC, he served under his father and Hall of Fame coach at Reed-Custer HS in Braidwood, IL in 2007, Joliet Junior College in 2006, and Western Illinois University in 2005.

Cougill played for hall-of-fame coach Wayne King at Joliet Junior College from 2001-02, where he earned All-Conference honors in his freshman and sophomore campaigns. He then transferred to Western Illinois University.  Cougill was named to the All-Mid-Continent Conference team in 2003 and 2004. Cougill left his mark at WIU finishing his career amongst the top of the record books in single-season hits, runs scored, and career batting average.

Cougill earned his B.S. in Kinesiology from Western Illinois University.  He and his wife, Jennifer, reside in Council Bluffs. Together they have two sons, Colter and Wyatt.