Kevin Ryan of Bellingham makes NFHS list of 2025 national coaches of the year
A Bellingham educator has been selected as one of the top 24 high school coaches in the country by the National Federation of High School Coaches Associations (NFHS), who announced the winners of its national coaching awards Jan. 20.
Kevin Ryan, a social studies teacher at Sehome High School, has coached the Sehome girls track and field team since 1995, and he’s been head coach since 2010. Ryan was recently named the 2025 Washington State Coach of the year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. He currently serves as president of the Washington State chapter of the association.
“I think it is amazingly well deserved. … It shows the care and devotion he has put into the program, and how successful he has been at doing this, for such a long time,” said Sehome High School assistant coach Conner Johnsen.
Since Ryan took over as head coach, the team has a record of 106-20 in dual meets. Including his time since before becoming head coach, the record extends to 180-25. His athletes have 103 podium finishes in events he specifically coaches, including the 800-, 1600- and 3200-meter races.
The 2025 Sehome girls team went 12-0 during the regular season before bringing home the district 1 championship and the class 2A state title.
Ryan also coaches boys track and field, as well as cross-country for both boys and girls. Last fall the girls cross country team was ranked 10th in the nation.
This is the third time NFHS has honored Ryan at the national level. Previously, he was awarded the 2016-17 NFHS National Coach of the Year for Girls Track & Field and the 2019-20 NFHS National Coach of the Year for Boys Cross Country.
While Ryan is happy to have won another award, he said the only downside is that he is the only one being recognized when it was an effort put forward by the entire school.
“One thing that I would like to stress is, it’s a program. This (award) is recognizing the whole coaching staff, the athletes, the parents and the school, ‘cause you do need all those,” Ryan said. “It’s true, it’s not just talking points to sound like a good guy, if you don’t have a dedicated coaching staff you are not going to be successful. If you don’t have dedicated kids, it doesn’t matter how good the coaching is. If you don’t have parents supporting kids the right way and doing things to make this a fun environment. … the kids don’t get the same experience. If you don’t get that support from the athletic director, the principal, the teachers in the school, if you don’t have all of that, you will not be able to be a constantly successful program.”
Before becoming a coach in 1995, Ryan competed as a student on the track and field team. He graduated from Sehome High in 1990.
“His thing is, when people join the staff to be assistant coaches, it’s not like he is the boss,” Johnsen said. “He wants to hear everyone’s opinions, because we all see practices and races through a different lens and have their own perspective on things, so he wants to gather as much information as he can from every coach around him. We’re trying to make the best decisions we can as a group, it’s not like ‘I’m the head coach, I make the rules’. He collaborates with his assistants, and that has been an amazing way for me to grow as a coach.”
Johnsen was a student on the Sehome cross country team under Ryan in 2013. When he moved back to Bellingham in 2019, Ryan suggested he join the coaching staff.
The NFHS is based in Indianapolis. Since 1920 the organization has been the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing arts activity, according to the NFHS website.
The NFHS reaches nearly 20,000 high schools and 12 million participants in high school activity programs, including over 8.2 million in high school sports, according to the organization’s website.
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