Ryan Hand - Assistant Men's Golf Coach - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Ryan Hand

Title:
Assistant Men's Golf Coach
Email:
Phone:
852-2519

Ryan Hand was hired in August 2022 as an assistant men's golf coach at the University of Louisville.

During his tenure with the Cards, Hand has been instrumental in building a strong tradition on the course, helping guide the program to a three regional appearances, three tournament championships and an appearance in the top 25 rankings in 2024-25.

As a recruiter, Hand has kept the best players in the state of Kentucky in landing Brady Smith and Warren Thomis, the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the state. He also lured NAIA national champion Easton Johnson to transfer to the University of Louisville.

Hand joins the UofL program after one season as the head coach at Texas A&M-Commerce, where his team qualified for NCAA Regional play and developed an All-American and three Academic All-Americans during the 2021-22 season. Three golfers earned all-conference honors under his watch, including Kittiphong Phaithuncharoensuk, who was named the Lone Star Conference Newcomer of the Year. The Lions set the new program record for the lowest score through three rounds in its win at the DBU Patriot Classic, the Lions' lone tournament win of the season.

Under Hand's watch, all nine players improved their scoring average from the fall to the spring and his team was named the school's Athletic Academic Team and Athletic Team of the Year.

Prior to his stint at Commerce, Hand spent three seasons as assistant men's and women's golf coach at Barry University, an NCAA Division II institution in Miami Shores, Fla.

The 2020-21 season saw the men 's team finish the year ranked ninth in Division II in the Golfstat rankings, while the women were ranked 11^th. During that shortened season, both the men's and the women's teams qualified for the NCAA Regionals. Individually, the Buc men had a second team All-American and two honorable mention All-Americans, while the women had one first team All-American. In a truncated season, both teams qualified for their respective NCAA regional tournaments.

In 2019-20, the Bucs were among the top teams in NCAA Division II in both men and women. The men posted a 289.05 stroke average and won five of seven tournaments. All five wins came in a row, setting the school record. A.J. Ewart was named third-team All-American and to the GCAA All-Freshman Team as one of the top-five rookies in Division II. Tyler Bakich was an honorable mention All-American. Ewart, Bakich and Nicolas Quintero were all named to the All-Region team. The women posted a 297.25 stroke average, good for second place in school history, and won once. Noemie Paré and Alice Götbring were both named second team All-Americans. Pare was also an Academic All-American, along with Josefina Foa Torres.

In his first season, both the men's and women's teams finished tied for fifth at their respective national championships. Both teams finished first in the final Golfstat national rankings. The men produced four GCAA/PING All-Americans, including the Nicklaus National Player of the Year Jorge Garcia. Niclas Weiland was also named to the First-Team, making Barry the only school with teammates on the First-Team, while Bakich and Daniel Faccini were named honorable mentions. For the women, Tilda Larsson was a First-Team All-American and Foa Torres was named honorable mention. Larsson was the only NCAA Division II player selected to compete at the inaugural Augusta Women's Amateur.

The men set the school record in 2018-19 with a 283.67 stroke average (-2.67 versus par), becoming the first Buccaneer squad to break par for the season. They tied the school record with eight tournament wins (set in 2013-14). The women also set the school record for stroke average in 2018-19 at 297.13 and tied the record with five tournament wins (set in 2016-17).

Hand came to the Bucs from Missouri Western State where he was the graduate assistant for both the men's and women's programs for the 2017-18 season. He helped lead the Griffons from a 170 national ranking for the men to 53 and a 74 ranking for the women to 62. The men posted a school-record 294 scoring average and their first NCAA Regional appearance in 10 years. The Griffons posted two tournament wins on the season, their first in eight years. The women also reached the NCAA Regional and junior Shi Qing Ong qualified for the national tournament as an individual.

He was a two-year member of the Griffons' men's golf team. As a senior, he carded one top-5, three top-10 and four top-20 performances in 10 events. As a junior, in 10 events, he had two top-5, two top-10 and two top-20 finishes. He tied for first at the Holiday Inn Classic as a junior for his only win.

A native of Savannah, Mo., Hand graduated with a bachelor's of science in sports management (2016) and a master's of applied science in sport and fitness management (2018), both from MWSU.