A head coach who has brought the program to new heights in over a decade as head coach of the Toreros, Ryan Keckley has led San Diego men’s tennis since fall 2015. The 2025-26 season will be his 11th at the helm of the program.
Keckley’s tenure at USD can be only described as “championship-level” as he has led the Toreros to WCC Championship titles 17 total times, helped guide nine Torero All-American campaigns, annual trips to the NCAA Tournament and premier individual tournaments including sweeping both ITA All-American National Championship singles and doubles titles and having two players in the Wimbledon main draw in 2025.
Nationally, Keckley and the Toreros have finished each of his 10 seasons in the final ITA team rankings, including a program-best No. 6 during the 2025 season, a final ranking of No. 9. They have reached the NCAA Tournament in eight of nine seasons, the second round seven of those times, including hosting a first and second round regional for the first time in program history in 2025.
From an individual standpoint, Keckley has guided several Toreros to All-WCC honors during his time as the head coach, a list that includes five conference players of the year, four conference freshmen of the year, 16 first team all-conference honors in singles.
Keckley has built the Toreros through stellar recruiting and development. His classes are consistently top 25 nationally according to TennisRecruiting.net, a high of No. 5 in all of DI men's college tennis in 2022.
In his first 10 seasons as head coach, Keckley has accumulated a 185-67 (.734) record. He has garnered five WCC Coach of the Year awards and in 2025 ITA Southwest Region Coach of the Year after leading his team to the No. 1 final ranking in the region.
The 2024-2025 season was a remarkable one that had it all for Keckley and the Toreros. It started in the fall when Oliver Tarvet (singles and doubles) and Stian Klaassen (doubles) became the nation's first All-Americans and national champions, sweeping both ITA All-American National Championship titles, just the fifth time a player has won both in tournament history, first since 2015. Tarvet and Klaassen were the program's first ever duo to wear the No. 1 overall seed tag at the NCAA individual championships in doubles, while Tarvet was No. 2 in singles.
The Toreros got off to the best start in program history to begin the 2025 fall dual campaign with eight consecutive wins – five against top-25 opponents – en-route to qualification and the second round of the program's first ever ITA Team Indoor National Championships. USD continued the success, finishing with a 25-4 overall record, an undefeated 9-0 to claim both WCC regular season and tournament titles. San Diego also hosted an NCAA regional for the first time in program history after achieving a best-ever ITA ranking of No. 6, finishing ninth nationally.
In the summer of 2025, Tarvet, under the guidance and training of Keckley and his staff, not only earned a wildcard at Wimbledon qualifiers but made it to the second round of the main draw, facing world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz on Centre court. In the same event, one of Keckley's former players, August Holmgren, out of his fourth grand slam qualifiers, also competed to main draw qualification and made it to the third round.
2022 was also a historical season for the Toreros in team and individual achievement under Keckley. USD compiled a 23-4 overall record, including a perfect 9-0 in WCC play. San Diego won the WCC Championship over Pepperdine and later defeated UC Irvine in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Holmgren completed one of the best seasons in USD Athletics history, including a run to the NCAA Singles title match. Holmgren was ranked the No. 1 singles player in the nation by the ITA heading into the spring after winning the ITA Fall National Championship. USD ranked as high as No. 17 during the season and finished No. 19 in the country, then its highest final ranking in 32 years.
Keckley spent three seasons as USD's assistant coach to Brett Masi from September 2009 through July 2012. In his final year, he was named the ITA Southwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year as the Toreros were ranked No. 26 in the country and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Prior to his hiring as USD’s head coach, Keckley was an assistant coach at Princeton from 2012 to 2015. During his time with the Tigers, Keckley helped Princeton to 48 wins, including the second-most wins in program history (18) in 2015. In that campaign, Keckley and the Tigers also ended a 17-year NCAA tournament drought, returning to the draw for the first time since 1998. For his efforts, Keckley was named the ITA Northeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year, his second such award in four seasons.
Keckley enjoyed a successful undergraduate career at Notre Dame before moving into the coaching ranks. Keckley was a mainstay in the ITA doubles rankings with the Fighting Irish, ending his career with the third-most doubles victories (81) in program history. Notre Dame advanced to the NCAA tournament in all four of his years there, twice reaching the Round of 16.
Keckley earned three All-Big East Tournament Team doubles honors, as well as achieved Big East Academic All-Star status three times. While helping the Irish to three Big East Conference championships, Keckley was ranked as high as No. 7 in the nation in doubles while also reaching No. 115 in singles play. He played in the 2007 NCAA doubles tournament and was also an ITA Midwest Regional doubles champion.
Keckley, a South Bend, Ind., native, was the 2002 Indiana state high school singles champion before moving on to his hometown school.
