Ryan Cole

Biography

1 National Champion; 32 All-America Honors 8 Teams in the NCAA Cross Country Championships; 8 Individual NCAA Qualifiers 10 Appearances at the NCAA Indoor Championships 96 Bids to the NCAA Outdoor Championships; 18 Appearances at Final Site 43 Mountain West Champions 210 All-Conference Performances 8 Mountain West Team Titles 9 Mountain West Coach of the Year Awards 17 Air Force Distance Records; 98 Air Force Top 10 Distance Marks 9 Selections to the Air Force World Class Athlete Program Ryan Cole, a nine-time conference coach of the year, is in his third season as the Director of Air Force Track & Field and Cross Country. After spending the first eight years of his Academy tenure overseeing the Falcons’ highly successful distance program as the head cross country coach, Cole was promoted to Director in August 2022. In addition to overseeing the Falcons’ full program, Cole continues to coach the men’s distance and middle distance runners during the cross country and track seasons. Cole has led Air Force to eight-straight team appearances at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, including the women’s first-ever Division I team appearance at the start of the streak in 2016. The men have raced in six of the last seven national meets – headlined by a seventh-place finish in 2022, while the women finished within the top 10 (eighth) in 2019. He has coached nine All-Americans – Kyle Eller (2015), Hannah Everson (2015), Mickey Davey (2017), Jaci Smith (2018), Maria Mettler (2019), Ma