Ryan Kucera

Biography

Entering his first year at EMU in 2023-24 is Ryan Kucera. An up-and-coming head coach in the women's collegiate scene, Kucera comes to Ypsilanti after one successful season at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Kucera takes over as the 11th head coach in program history, a program begun in time for the 1976-77 season by Lucy Parker. Kucera recently guided the Panthers to a 9-14 record in dual matches while guiding his team to the semifinals of the 2023 Horizon League Tournament where Milwaukee fell to eventual champion, Youngstown State University. His team's nine victories ranked as the third-most for a first-year coach in UWM's program history. Individually, he helped Nadiia Konieva to 20 victories on the year while earning All-Horizon League First Team and Horizon League Freshman of the Year honors. Off the courts, his Panthers earned the Horizon League's "Raise Your Sights" Award, which is given annually for the highest GPA earned by a women's team in the department. The squad was also recognized nationally as an All-Academic Team by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) with all eight of his student-athletes earning ITA Scholar Athlete awards. Prior to his time in Milwaukee, Kucera served as the head coach for the women's program at MSU-Mankato, where he earned Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Coach of the Year honors his last season following a very successful campaign on the courts in which he led the Mavericks to 16-10 record, which included an 8-3 l