Ryan Wagner begins his first full season as the head coach of the cross country team at Kennesaw State. Wagner joined the Owls in 2011 and served one season as an assistant after coaching cross country at the University of Maine-Farmington and track and field at Colby College in Maine.
Wagner served as the Head Men’s & Women’s Cross Country Coach at UMF for three seasons. During his tenure there, the women’s team earned three consecutive North Atlantic Conference championships from 2008-10. He was named NAC Coach of the Year in 2009 for his efforts. While spending the 2011 season at Colby, Wagner worked as an assistant track and field coach, focusing on sprints, hurdles and horizontal jumps. His student-athletes exceled under his tutelage as he helped lead sprinters to conference titles in three different events. He also worked with Dom Kone, whose 6.34 second time in the 55 Meters earned him Division III All-American honors. In total, three of his student-athletes at Colby met provisional NCAA qualifying marks in their respective outdoor events.
Prior to his time at the collegiate level, Wagner was a physical education instructor from 2002-2008 and Head Boys Cross Country and Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Coach from 2005-2008 at Marshfield High School in Marshfield, Mass. Under his guidance, he oversaw the shattering of 37 boys school records, nine girls school records and five Invitational meet records, and helped his student-athletes earn 14 national championship track & field bids.?Wagner remained in the classroom upon his move to collegiate track and field, teaching Athletic Conditioning and Personal Training while at UMF. Wagner is a Level II certified USA Track and Field coach for combined events, endurance, jumps, sprints, hurdles and relays.
He received his bachelor’s degree in health and exercise science with a minor in physical education from Syracuse University in 2000, where he competed in track and field and cross country for the Orangemen. He earned his masters degree in Health & Physical Education, with a concentration in Sport Management, from East Stroudsburg University in 2002.
Wagner, his wife Nancy, and their three children currently reside in Acworth.
