A coaching veteran with 12 years of head coaching experience, former Nebraska running backs coach Ryan Held was announced as a member of the UNA coaching staff on December 21, 2021, taking the role as offensive coordinator and associate head coach.
Held spent the last four seasons as running backs coach at his alma mater, Nebraska, where he also held the title of recruiting coordinator on Scott Frost’s coaching staff. He was named to Rivals Top 25 Recruiter of the Year list in 2018 and 2019. Held has won four national championships in his career, including two as a player and two as a coach. He also benefited from coaching under three national coaches of the year in Frost, Phillip Fulmer and Tom Osborne.
As a position coach, Held developed an all-conference running back at Nebraska in three of the past four seasons and twice in the last four years, his starting running back ranked in the top 15 nationally in rushing yards per carry.
In his first year as recruiting coordinator at Nebraska, Held played a key role in Nebraska signing another top 25 national class.
Held’s running backs produced impressive results in his first season in 2018. The group helped Nebraska rush for more than 2,500 yards, as NU boasted the third-most improved rushing attack in the country, averaging 209.0 rushing yards per game.
Leading the way was All-Big Ten back Devine Ozigbo, who ran for 1,082 yards as a senior in 2018, becoming Nebraska’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Ameer Abdullah in 2014. Ozigbo, who was one of three Husker running backs to have a 100-yard rushing performance in 2018, had never even rushed for 500 yards in a season before Held’s arrival. Ozigbo ranked 11th nationally with an average of 7.0 yards per carry. Ozigbo also led Nebraska with 12 rushing touchdowns and 90.2 rushing yards per game.
In 2019, Held helped develop a young running back group, where three of NU’s top five running backs were in their first year in the program. Junior college transfer Dedrick Mills led Nebraska with 745 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns. He improved throughout the season and averaged 115.7 rushing yards per game and 6.5 yards per carry over the final three games. Mills ran for a season-high 188 yards against a Wisconsin defense that finished sixth nationally in rush defense. Both Mills and freshman Wan’Dale Robinson, a part-time running back, earned All-Big Ten recognition in their first season as Huskers.
Nebraska battled the injury bug at running back in 2020, as Mills’ senior campaign was limited. However, Mills finished his career on a high note by rushing for a career-high 191 yards at Rutgers and he totaled 418 yards and three touchdowns, despite only playing in six games. The Husker running game was again among the Big Ten’s best, averaging 201.4 yards per contest to rank second in the league.
While on Frost’s staff at UCF, Held coached the running backs for a program that was the nation’s most improved team in 2016, and posted the first perfect season in school and American Athletic Conference history in 2017, when the Knights were the only unbeaten team in the country. With help from Held’s running backs, the Knights’ offense showed dramatic improvement, increasing their scoring production by nearly 35 points per game from 2015 to 2017 and their total offense output by more than 260 yards per game.
Held’s running backs helped UCF rush for more than 2,500 yards during its perfect season and run to the American Athletic Conference title in 2017. Adrian Killins Jr. averaged 6.5 yards per carry en route to earning all-conference accolades as a sophomore. Killins added 10 rushing touchdowns, including a 96-yard score in the regular-season matchup with Memphis, the longest rush and longest play from scrimmage in both UCF and AAC history. As a unit, Held’s running backs combined for 24 rushing touchdowns in 2017 and turned the ball over only three times in 13 games. As a team, UCF ranked ninth nationally with 39 rushing touchdowns.
In Held’s first season at UCF in 2016, the Knights rushed for nearly 2,000 yards, including more than 800 yards from freshmen. Killins averaged 6.5 yards per carry, while senior Dontravious Wilson scored eight rushing touchdowns after scoring only three times in his first three seasons combined.
Held’s running backs helped UCF rush for more than 2,500 yards during its perfect season and run to the American Athletic Conference title in 2017.
In Held’s first season at UCF in 2016, the Knights rushed for nearly 2,000 yards.
Before joining Frost at UCF, Held made his name in the coaching community as a junior college, Division II and NAIA head coach. He spent four seasons as a junior college head coach, including two years each at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (2014-15) and Highland (Kan.) Community College (2012-13). Held coached 22 all-conference selections in his final season at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and led Highland to the playoffs in 2013 for the first time in the modern era. In his four years as a junior college head coach, Held sent more than 50 players to Division I schools. His first stint in the junior college ranks was as the offensive coordinator for Butler (Kan.) Community College in 2011, when the Grizzlies went 11-1 and ranked second nationally in total offense.
Previously, Held spent seven seasons as a Division II head coach. He led the Southwestern Oklahoma State program for four seasons from 2005 to 2008, guiding the team to a conference title in 2007, one year after he was named the division coach of the year. Held coached Oklahoma Panhandle State from 2002 to 2004, and his first full-time coaching job was as head coach at Peru State in 2001, an NAIA school in Peru, Neb. Upon his hiring by Peru State, Held was the youngest head football coach in the country (age 26), and he led the Bobcats to a second-place league finish in his only season.
As a player, Held was a two-time national champion as a Husker from 1993 to 1996. Nebraska posted a 47-3 record during Held’s career with three conference titles. At Nebraska, Held was a teammate of Frost’s during the 1995 and 1996 seasons. Following his playing career, Held was an undergraduate assistant coach for the Huskers in 1997 working with the running backs. That season, Frost led Nebraska to a 13-0 record and a national title as NU’s starting quarterback.
Held was a defensive graduate assistant at Tennessee in 1998 and 1999, helping the Volunteers win the 1998 national championship.
Held earned a bachelor’s degree in community health from Nebraska in 1998 and a master’s degree in sport management from Tennessee in 2001. He and his wife, Katie, have two sons, Jacob Ryan and Greyson John. Held also has a daughter, Rhylan.
Ryan Held's Coaching Career
2020-21: Nebraska, Assistant Coach (Running Backs)/Recruiting Coordinator
2018-19: Nebraska, Assistant Coach (Running Backs)
2016-17: UCF, Assistant Coach (Running Backs)
2014-15: Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, Head Coach
2012-13: Highland CC, Head Coach
2011: Butler CC, Offensive Coordinator
2005-08: Southwestern Oklahoma State, Head Coach
2002-04: Oklahoma Panhandle State, Head Coach
2001: Peru State, Head Coach
1998-99: Tennessee, Defensive Graduate Assistant
1997: Nebraska, Undergraduate Assistant Coach
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