The earliest Christmas present Mika Ryan remembers receiving is a basketball. It was love at first dribble.
The new girls’ basketball coach at High School South said her mother, Ruth, played the sport in high school and was always there to lend a hand when Ryan herself decided to play.
“My mother was one of my biggest fans,” said Ryan, who grew up in North Carolina. “No matter when I wanted to play or shoot, she would go with me, rebound, do whatever needed to be done. She was a tremendous influence on my interest and ability.”
Ryan said the same of her father, Bill. When her mother played basketball in high school, Bill couldn’t afford the five-cent admission price.
“He was a poor farm boy,” Ryan said.
So he did the next best thing: he became a cheerleader so he could watch his girl for free.
That support carried over to their daughter. “They were always supportive of my athletic endeavors,” she said. “They believed I could make a living coaching. They were very supportive throughout my early career.”
After graduating from Piedmont High School in North Carolina, she played basketball at the University of North Carolina. Ryan grew up following ACC basketball, so she said she was “very fortunate” to attend her hometown school.
Ryan graduated in 1977 and was hired right away as an assistant coach at the University of Virginia under head coach Debbie Ryan. Debbie’s brother, Pat, a UVA law student, was sitting in her office when Ryan went in to interview. It turns out Ryan got the job and met her future husband all in the same day.
After four years in Virginia, the Ryans moved to New Jersey whn Pat became the president of Hopewell Valley Community Bank. Ryan took an assistant coaching job at Rider and then became the head coach at the College of New Jersey, then Trenton State College in 1984. She left the Lions for after nine years to raise her three daughters, Kate, Molly, and Megan. She stuck with the sport, though, coaching boys’ and girls’ travel teams and serving as the director of the Hopewell Valley YMCA basketball program. She also took a job as a MAAC color analyst, which she calls the “hardest thing” she’s ever done.
“I call it ‘coaches’ retribution,’” she said. “You could say whatever you wanted and walk away. I’m not a multi-tasker, so this was difficult. You’re speaking to your play-by-play partner while a director or producer is in your ear and you’re looking at stats. Three or four things are going on while you’re still analyzing the game. I thought, if I can do that, I can probably do most anything.”
The experience also helped her coaching. Ryan said she watching elite coaches and teams provided her with a new view of the game. Soon after this, though, after all of her daughters had moved out, she took a head coaching job at Princeton Day School. She stayed there for three years and came to High School South after learning of the opening.
“I saw the opportunity to be competitive,” she said. “I’m a very competitive person by nature. We don’t even talk about winning, losing records. I just want us to compete and be the best we can be every time we step on the floor. I felt like I would have that opportunity at South.”
Coaching at the high school level, Ryan said, is a nice change from college.
“I wasn’t sure if I’d like coaching teenage girls,” she said. “I just raised three. I never had any desire to get back into college coaching. Actual coaching on the floor is just a small part of what you do. There is so much other stuff that eats up time. I enjoy this level because I enjoy this age group. It’s coaching really at its purest form. You get to teach and coach. It’s really a nice position.”
The Pirates open their season on Friday, December 20, against Nottingham. They face cross-town rival High School North twice during the regular season: on Tuesday, January 28, at home, and Friday, February 7, at North.
