Ryan Nourse

Sport: Football
Year: 1st Year
Position: Defensive Coordinator

Ryan Nourse joined the Bulldog coaching staff just before spring practice this past April. Nourse was the 2007 American Football Coaches Association NAIA Assistant Coach of the Year. Nourse had been with Morningside (Iowa) for the past seven years and the defensive coordinator since 2003. The Mustangs were among the leaders in the NAIA in defense, allowing just 13.2 points per game and 249.9 yards of total offense. The Mustangs had made four straight trips to the NAIA playoffs. In 2007, the Mustangs intercepted a school record 31 passes and held the opposition to just 2.3 yards rushing per attempt. Morningside held five opponents to single-digits in scoring while posting a 9-3 record and a finishing with a trip to the NAIA quarterfinals. Since 2004, Nourse has coached five All-Americas with three of those players earning first-team status. While also at Morningside, Nourse was an active volunteer for Read Across America, mentored at-risk students, tutored students in History and Political Science and helped with the Sloan School Early Childhood Education Program. He also set up numerous volunteer opportunities for his players and set up the Junior Leadership Program, where he helped juniors build skills necessary to be leaders on the field, in the classroom, as professionals, husbands and fathers. Before Morningside, Nourse was a defensive backs coach at Western State College and has also coached three state playoff teams as a high school coach in Idaho. He is a graduate of Western Montana and was a two-year starter on a pair of conference championship teams. Nourse played his first two years at Dickinson State University, where he participated in the NAIA national semifinals. Nourse and his wife Tracy have two children, Olivia and Eli